Lankans must unite to defeat foreign conspiracies'

Priyanka KURUGALA

Cultural and Arts Affairs Minister TB Ekanayake visited Abhayagiriya Museum functioning under Central Cultural Fund. Here the minister observes antiques recently excavated. Cultural and Arts Affairs Ministry Secretary Wimal Rubasinghe, Central Cultural Fund Director General Prof Nimal De Silva, Prof Gamini Adikari and Project Director Sumedha Karunaratna also participated.

All Sri Lankans must unite to defeat foreign conspiracies, Cultural Affairs and Arts Minister T.B. Ekanayake said.

"If the people are not united, the country will be destroyed," he said addressing officers of the Abhayagiriya Museum recently.

"People of the past acted as one unit. Therefore they were able to build constructions such as Abhayagiriya. If we are united, we can definitely make this country the Wonder of Asia," the minister said.

The young generation of this country should be made aware of the country's history, literature and arts as the present generation has limited knowledge on these, he said. The country has a number of heritage sites and some are yet to be excavated. We should protect those sites for the future generations, he said.

"We should make them aware of our traditional dancing, music, folklore, folk poems, puppets and art. At present we have commenced a programme to create awareness on these," the minister added.