Our temples, shrines showcase Buddhist heritage to world - President

Dharma Sri Abeyratne and Rasika Somaratne

President Mahinda Rajapaksa said Sri Lanka’s ancient temples and shrines showcase Buddhist heritage to the world.

President Rajapaksa was addressing the gathering after opening the reconstructed Kebithigollewa Kalagam Vehera.

The Kalagam Vehera pagoda was constructed over 1,500 years ago by King Kasyapa IV. The pagoda which had been destroyed by South Indian invaders in he 11th Century was renovated by the Civil Security Department.

President Rajapaksa said religious places are the best indicators of the Buddhist heritage.

The President recalled his earlier visit to Kebithigollewa amidst the mourning and grieving of parents who lost their children by brutal terrorist attacks. Recalling those dark days, the President said that parents were mourning and weeping while embracing the dead bodies of their children who died in LTTE bomb blasts. At that moment the President had pledged the parents that there would not be a recurrence of such a tragedy in the future. He said today he was happy that he had fulfilled that pledge by eradicating such brutal terrorism from the entire country.

He said, although terrorism is over, the effects are still existing. The people who supported the terrorists are now tarnishing the image of the country.

“Certain foreign elements are continuing to insult our motherland. They spent money for arms earlier and they are now supporting an agenda to take Sri Lanka before the international courts,” the President said.

”However, the country is marching forward without surrendering to international elements. The country is on a rapid development track. Villages like Kebithigollewa would be developed in parallel to the development of the North and East which were destroyed by terrorist activities,” the President said.