Daily News Online
Ad Space Available HERE  

DateLine Wednesday, 18 March 2009

News Bar »

News: Yala paddy crop 50 percent more ...        Political: United National Party crisis ...       Business: National policy promotes public private partnership - DG Merchant Shipping ...        Sports: Bloomfield rout Tamil Union ...

Home

 | SHARE MARKET  | EXCHANGE RATE  | TRADING  | PICTURE GALLERY  | ARCHIVES | 

dailynews
 ONLINE


OTHER PUBLICATIONS


OTHER LINKS

Marriage Proposals
Classified
Government Gazette

Moral strength to war hero families

According to a news item in our inside pages yesterday Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa had met families of soldiers who made the supreme sacrifice on behalf of the motherland at the Saliyapura Army camp and inquired after their welfare. During the meeting the Defence Secretary is also reported to have personally intervened and discussed the problems of the members of these families and promised redress.

This is a most laudable gesture by the chief authority prosecuting the war to take time off from his busy schedule to be with families of our war heroes and give a personal ear to their grievances. Hitherto the family members of our departed war heroes came under the public glare only during commemorative ceremonies or Poppy Day solemnities where fallen soldiers are remembered.

The Defence Secretary said the names of these war heroes who sacrificed their lives for the motherland would always be remembered and treasured by a grateful nation. This statement by the Defence Secretary should be harkened to by all patriotic citizens of the country since amidst the present euphoria of war victories there is a tendency to forget the role of those who laid their lives on the battlefront since the inception of the conflict.

Rightly so the focus today is on the victory march and empathy with those who lay down their lives in the final thrust. This however should not blind us to the collective sacrifices made by all soldiers who laid down their lives in the three decades long war.

This empathy shown by the Defence Secretary towards all soldier families with their loss should open the eyes of all patriotic citizens to make common cause with their plight. We say this because while the soldier on the battlefield is deified and rightly so the plight of the families of those who made the supreme sacrifices tends to get obliterated.

True, there are various schemes and projects to help orphaned soldier families such as housing and education facilities. But this alone is not sufficient to salve our collective conscience. There should be moves to establish rapport with these persons at a personal level by the community at large on a permanent basis so that they would receive the moral strength to rebuild their lives and bear their loss with equanimity.

Steps should also be taken to monitor the living conditions and progress of these families on a continuous basis. For some the trauma of their loss may be too big to endure which may place them in a state of drift. It is not just the families of dead soldiers, the Government will also have to deal with all victims from the fall out of the war in the near future when the fighting is brought to an end.

This no doubt will be a Herculean task given the magnitude of the devastation. It is not just the physical wounds but the psychological scars too that would have to be healed as a matter of urgency lest we have to grapple with another problem stemming from post war trauma and stress factor of three decades of bloodshed.

In this respect the steps already taken by the Government in the East to rebuild the lives of the civilian population is an ideal beginning. The training given to youth to find overseas employment and to fit into a vocation and society in general is a move in the right direction. A similar scheme should be replicated in the South to help the offspring of soldiers who laid their lives in battle so that they too could fit into and accepted in society.

As already mentioned, our society at large too should contribute their mite to help these segments of our brethren but for whose sacrifice we would not be enjoying our present freedom. But for the supreme sacrifice made by the fathers, brothers or sons of these families we would not have had a country left to call our own. Alas, this realisation has escaped a majority of our people who go about their lives impervious to the sacrifices of our valiant men.

It is in this context that one needs to censure the conduct certain segments of our society who behave and conduct themselves as if they care a tuppence of what goes on in the theatre of war.

The vulgar display of ostentation and the rich carefree lifestyles indulged in by some in callous disregard of the lives lost on the battle front is obscene to say the least. Even some TV programmes at the height of the ongoing battles betrayed this lack of sensitivity with the latest Super Star culture getting pride of place.

We certainly are not killjoys and life should go on as usual. In fact to do otherwise would give a victory of sorts to the terrorists.

But one should also exercise circumspection and try to scale down all entertainment and indulgences at a time a section of our brethren are spilling blood to salvage the sovereignty of the country.

The least these sections could do now is to contribute generously towards the families of our fallen soldiers and redeem their debt.

One more Left turn

There is one more Left turn in the Americas. Last Sunday people of El Salvador elected Mauricio Funes (49) of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) as their President with an absolute majority. This continues a Leftward shift of power in Latin American countries which started with the victory of Hugo Chavez in the Presidential elections in Venezuela in 1996.

Full Story

Wrong again, Miss Hogg

For a long time, organisations like Human Rights Watch looked no worse than sadly misguided. Their intellectual capacities obviously weren’t up to the analysis of basic facts, and their unshakeable belief in the fundamental goodness of humankind led them to assume that terrorists couldn’t be as dangerous as they seemed, but their intentions weren’t really in doubt. Lately, however, it has become clear that they must have some other agenda.

Full Story

Pertinent musings :

WTC 9/11 and Bush factor

Lotus Prince

Now it is known to all that President Bush is one of the most unpopular US President in short history of America. But immediately after 9/11 attacks, he became the most popular President for his aggressive approach to seek the revenge

Full Story

 

EMAIL |   PRINTABLE VIEW | FEEDBACK

Gamin Gamata - Presidential Community & Welfare Service
www.liyathabara.com
Ceylinco Banyan Villas
TENDER FOR THE SUPPLY OF 50 METRIC TONS OF SECURITY PAPER
LANKAPUVATH - National News Agency of Sri Lanka
www.peaceinsrilanka.org
www.army.lk
www.news.lk
www.defence.lk
Donate Now | defence.lk
www.apiwenuwenapi.co.uk

| News | Editorial | Business | Features | Political | Security | Sport | World | Letters | Obituaries |

Produced by Lake House Copyright © 2009 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.

Comments and suggestions to : Web Editor