SL mindful of reasons for conflict

6 February 2011 07:00 am

Sri Lanka was proud that it had prevailed over the long standing challenge of armed secessionism that sought to dismember the country, but it was also mindful that the errors, gaps and contradictions of the past led to that thirty years war, Dr Dayan Jayatilleka, Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to France said

The Ambassador added that Sri Lanka was in the complex and difficult transition from the termination of an armed threat and large scale violence, to a sustainable peace.

Such a peace can only be built, as the wise saying goes, in the minds of men and women; and must be based on justice, equality and democracy, Dr Jayatilleka said

He further thanked the international community for standing by Sri Lanka in its difficult struggle for the restoration of territorial integrity.

Dr Jayatilleka expressed these views at the reception organized by the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Paris to celebrate the 63rd anniversary of Sri Lanka’s Independence.

The reception was attended by Ambassadors of India, Cuba, Venezuela, Japan, Nepal, Philippines, Germany, the Vatican, Slovakia as well as Chargés d’affaires of several Embassies and Permanent Delegations including Pakistan, USA, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cameroon, Senegal, Kazakhstan, Vietnam, and Kuwait among others were present. (Daily Mirror online)