War heroes won for us :

Motherland, National dignity  - Defence Secretary

War heroes have won for us not only the Motherland but also National dignity, said Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa addressing a gathering of relatives of war heroes at the Regional Army Headquarters in Boossa, Galle on Tuesday. He expressed the gratitude of the President, the Government and his own to the war heroes for their contribution to the humanitarian operations.

The Defence Secretary told the relatives of the war heroes that the whole country has been freed from terrorism and all leaders of the LTTE have been destroyed. The value of the sacrifice made by the war heroes could be understood if we compare the magnitude of the loss of lives and property suffered by the country, he added. Prior to the humanitarian mission there were areas in the country where the Security Forces or the Police could not enter and the LTTE had amassed enormous military hardware including artillery, boats, submarines in those areas, he said.The strength of the terrorist could be measured by the stock of arms and ammunitions they had and from the international pressures that were exerted upon the Government on their behalf, the Defence Secretary expla-ined.

The victory achieved by the Security Forces under the leadership of President Mahinda Rajapaksa was possible due to the sacrifices committed by the fallen war heroes, the Defence Secretary told their relatives. Though their loss cannot be replaced the best that could be done is consolidate the victory won, he added.