Rally round motherland, President tells Lankans in Dubai

The time has come for all Sri Lankans abroad to feel proud of their motherland which has achieved a miraculous level of peace and development after ending three decades of terrorism, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said when he met the Sri Lankan community in Dubai on October 23 night.

President Rajapaksa was in Dubai to attend the World Energy Forum. A meeting with the Sri Lankan community in Dubai was arranged on October 23, said the President’s Media Division in a release yesterday.

The release said the President who invited Sri Lankans in Dubai to visit Sri Lanka and see the current situation in the country first hand, said terrorism which caused the country’s decline was now over and all communities have gained the opportunity to live in peace and brotherhood.

President Rajapaksa said he would therefore request all Sri Lankans abroad to rally round and announce their motherland’s pride to the whole world.

The President said Sri Lankans abroad, who were rendering a dedicated service to their host countries, should endeavour to render a similar dedicated service to their motherland too.

President Rajapaksa who noted that certain groups sympathising with terrorists were trying to paint a wrong picture about Sri Lanka through the Internet, stressed the need for people using the Internet facilities to beware of such machinations. President Rajapaksa said a person could not make any allegations against Sri Lanka regarding peace and development if he or she visited the country at least once. He said the people in the North and East who suffered at the hands of terrorists as well as people in other parts of the country were enjoying all their due benefits and privileges today. The President said the country today had a network of developed schools, modern hospitals as well as a road network while almost 90 percent of the country’s electricity requirements had been fully met.

Total requirements of electricity would be supported very soon, he said.

President Rajapaksa said new ports, airports, large scale irrigation and highway projects had been completed in the country today. The President who recalled his earlier visit to Dubai in his capacity as Labour Minister, said he intervened to settle many problems encountered by Sri Lankans in Dubai during that visit. President Rajapaksa was accompanied by First Lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa. External Affairs Minister Prof G L Peiris, Parliamentarian Sajin Vaas Gunawardena, Western Provincial Council member Nauzer Fowzie and Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga were also present.