Sri Lanka, stand united

Sri Lanka has powered its way to another cricket World Cup final, proving once again its superb mastery over limited over cricket. Besides the cricketing prowess of a ‘Test Eleven’, Sri Lanka was buoyed to its triumph by the lusty cheering of Lankan cricket fans.

It was another rare moment in the life of Sri Lankans as they came together as one man to cheer their side to an outstanding victory. This is exemplary togetherness which we hope would be replicated not only at the Cup Final but right through the country’s history.

A multiethnic cricket team has brought a multiethnic country further together and proved to the world that the forces of division and separation are languishing in the fringes of public opinion and the polity.

They are the proverbial lunatic fringe who count for nothing in terms of opinion - moulding and influence but are trying desperately to register a presence through the perpetration of bloodshed and violence.

These sinister forces notwithstanding, Sri Lanka has triumphed superbly and this a triumph for unity, harmony and oneness. If this were not so, cricket could not have acted as a spur for further solidarity and togetherness. We are a united people, it is only the lunatic fringe which is clamouring vociferously for a separate state.

So, as we head for the cricket final we hope this spirit of unity would continue to triumph. We need to demonstrate once again to the world that Sri Lankans are a united people which no force on earth could disunite.

It should be remembered that the Sri Lankan “Test” team had many a hurdle to overcome on the way to the final. The most discouraging of all was the Amnesty International mud-smearing campaign on the cricket field, of all places, on the so-called human rights question.

This campaign was premised on the belief that Sri Lanka could be easily cowed into helplessness. The Lankan cricketers have proved that all this is to no avail. Nothing could prevent them from marching ahead jubilantly. The Sri Lankan morale, in short, cannot be dampened.

Amnesty International, on the other hand, proved that it was nothing less than an agent of malice and untruth. It does not require any special ingenuity to perceive that politics have nothing to do with sports. It is almost a sacred principle that the two fields should never be confused but kept wholly separate.

This is one of the reasons why the world was enraged and aghast when scores of Israeli athletes were cruelly gunned-down at the Munich Olympics in 1971. Sports bring the peoples of the world together and should be kept free of politics.

But this principle was observed entirely in the breach by AI which tried to sully the good name of Sri Lanka in the eyes of the world. However, our cricketers have given AI a most fitting reply by coming well within reach of the World Cup.

The World Cup would be Sri Lanka’s if our cricketers continue with their wizardry on the field. We could make a win a certainty by continuing to back them wholeheartedly. The whole of Sri Lanka must rally round our cricketers at this moment, for, unity is strength.