'President rekindled hope and confidence of all by bringing lasting peace'

President Mahinda Rajapaksa after assuming office rekindled hopes and confidence in the hearts of the people as the foremost leader of our times, bringing in lasting peace and lighting up their lives by winning the war in May 2009. Hindu religious co-ordinator to the President Ramachandra Iyer said.

He said, Sri Lankans particularly the Sinhalese and Tamils were living in fear due to the then "on-going" war. They were left high and dry and almost in a state of perplexity as to what is in store for them in the future. The country as a whole was almost gripped by a fear psychosis.

The yearly remembrance of the heroic soldiers who made the supreme sacrifice to ensure the dawn of peace from May 2009 is, indeed, an apt tribute to their memory by the people of Sri Lanka under the leadership of the President, he said.

Likewise, we are also obliged to pay our deep gratitude to the parents who sacrificed their children for the sake of the country. All Sri Lankans will bow their heads in salutation to them at this moment, Iyer said.

The best tribute that we could pay to the memory of these heroic soldiers who laid down their lives for the sake of the country is to lend strength to the President to build this country as a land of excellence as President himself is extremely keen on making Sri Lanka the wonder of Asia, where there is no discrimination whatsoever on grounds of ethnicity or religions, he said.