New tyre factory at Ampara

Irangika RANGE

When four previous leaders who governed the country entered the history books as defeated leaders, President Mahinda Rajapaksa has succeeded in defeating the most ruthless terrorist group in the world, Transport Minister Dullas Alahapperuma said.

The Minister made these remarks when participating at the opening ceremony of a new tyre factory targeting to produce the required tyre demand for buses of the Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) in Ampara on Saturday.

The Minister further said that former Jaffna Mayor Alfred Duraiappa was not the first to fall prey to the LTTE.

It was the SLTB bus belonging to the Velvetithurai depot in Jaffna was burned by the LTTE in 1973. Their brutal terrorism which caused the innocent civilians to lead miserable lives have been completely eradicated by our heroic Armed Forces.

He said that he personally believes that the declaration of Sinhala as the official language in 1956.

This caused great pain amongst the minorities in the country. But, President Mahinda Rajapaksa has rectified this mistake and said that Tamils, Muslims, Burghers and Malays are no longer considered minorities and all are Sri Lankans.

The President has also pointed out that the end of the war and the defeat of terrorism was not a defeat for the Tamil community. Therefore, the Tamil community would not be identified as a minority in the country hereafter.

“It is the LTTE who handled war as a business,” the Minister said. The organisation maintained over 590 suicide cadres while over 4,000 LTTE cadres were trained to commit suicide by biting the cyanide capsule. “That is why we called them the world’s most barbaric terrorist group.

The Minister noted that President Mahinda Rajapaksa has become a great world leader due to his commendable and correct leadership to defeat the world’s most ruthless terrorist organisation. Like Mao-Tse-Tung in China, Shri Jawaharlal Nehru in India and Fidel Castro in Cuba built their nations, President Mahinda Rajapaksa has already entered the history books as a saviour of Sri Lankans,” he said.