‘Winning war with less casualties, a great victory’
Ranil Wijayapala
The deaths reported within the Sri Lanka Army is much lower during
its victorious march to eliminate terrorism from the country compared to
the number of deaths reported during 2000 when Sri Lanka Army was losing
ground to the LTTE, Army Commander General Sarath Fonseka said.
”Therefore, the victory achieved by the Sri Lanka Army sacrificing
5,200 lives is a great victory as it could achieve it minimising the
number of deaths and casualties and could completely eliminate the LTTE
without leaving any trace of it,” the Army Commander said.
Army Commander General Fonseka made these comments delivering the
keynote address at the ceremony to launch ‘ Vanni Avasan Maha Satana’
(The great final battle in Vanni) by Rivira Defence Columnist Tissa
Ravindra Perera at the Library Services Auditorium as the Chief Guest.
The book contained the final phase of the Vanni battle and was published
by Pahan Publishers.
He said the achievement of the Army cannot be challenged by anybody
as they achieved this success after sacrificing 5,200 lives whilst
26,000 Army personnel sustaining injuries.
The Commander also praised the political leadership of the country
and said he was able to conduct the war successfully because of the
President’s leadership. “I did my part militarily and President Mahinda
Rajapaksa played his role as the political leader,” he said.
Civil Defence Force Director General Rear Admiral Sarath Weerasekera
addressing the gathering said that Rivira Defence Columnist Tissa
Ravindra Perera was only the person who continued towards the
contemporary war literature of the country through his four books.
”Above all Tissa Ravindra could boost the morale of the soldiers who
were at the battle front through his books and also through his
newspaper articles, which was one of the requirements when country is
facing a war”, he added.
Military Spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara and Air Force
Spokesman Wing Commander Janaka Nanayakkara were also present. |
