President Mahinda Rajapaksa in his Independence Day address to the Nation asserted that no room would be left for any foreign element to interfere in the internal affairs of this country in consistent with the UN provisions as very clearly articulate in the UN Charter. “Sri Lanka’s development and reconciliation is the best response to international allegations. This venue itself is an example where all major ethnicities live in harmony. In the past Tamils as well as Moors contributed to the construction of Vilgamvehera Buddhist place of worshiped. We have undergone immense hardships on the road to Independence”, he said.
“Our foreign policy is based on non-aligned policy. In the UN all member countries are equal and we will not allow resurrection of any religious or ethnic clashes again in our motherland. A country cannot be divided in terms of ethnicities living their. It is not practical either. Creating communal, religious disharmony is identical to promoting terrorism. All citizens are equal and have the right live in peace and harmony. Protection of the country, its people and reconciliation is not a responsibility of the government alone but the opposition also has the same responsibility. People always look forward to reaching a life with comforts and all essential around them. Look at the highways that we have got in this area. When the roads are done people always expect other economic conditions also improve simultaneously”, he added.
President Rajapaksa tracing historical roots of the Trincomalee city, he said that Trincomalee’s natural geological factors brings centre of power in the whole of Asia. We being perhaps the one and only country in the world to have eliminated terrorism, we are used to challenges, from which we became more and more strengthened. Trincomalee represents a modal as a region for co-existence and harmony. “I will not allow any forces of destruction to disrupt that hard-earned peace” the President added.
