A courageous leader - SB

Asela KURULUWANSA, Sanjaya MATHURATA and S. Egodawita

President Mahinda Rajapaksa was a courageous leader and whatever military strength the LTTE had it could not match the courage of the President, former SLFP and UNP Minister, present Opposition Leader of the Central Provincial Council S.B. Dissanayake said yesterday.

He said he knew the qualities of the President as a person who had closely associated him. The UNP was totally responsible for the Black July killings but President Mahinda Rajapaksa together with Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa had defeated the terrorists according to the mandate the people had given and we should congratulate them and the Armed Forces without reservations, he said.