W.d.j.seneviratne,minister of Public Administration and Home Affairs

As we are well aware, the coastal belt of our motherland had been under the rule byportuguese from 1505 - 1658 A.D. and of Dutch from 1658-1796 A.D. The year 1815 marked in the history in which the British brought the country under their control. In the meantime Sinhala Tamil and Muslim leaders of Sri Lanka have, whilst extending their cooperation to their freedom struggle, launched a movement to win freedom from British rule. Due to their unwavering efforts Sri Lanka could mark 04th February 1948 as the Independence Day in its history.

The country gained the total freedom from the crown with the transformation of Sri Lanka to a Democratic Socialist Republic in 1972 removing the British Navy camps at Trincomalee. Sri Lanka follows a democratic ruling system which applies a multi -party system for selecting representatives of the people. Even though the country had to face political conspiracies, riots and terrorist activities which were aimed to topple down the governments elected by the people, the country and the government could protect the democratic process defeating such malicious practices. The recent three decades are marked in our history as the period during which the freedom of the people has been suppressed by the terrorism.

However, it is obvious that various international forces have never ceased their conspiracies to harm the independence and sovereignty enjoyed by the people. Therefore, at this moment we should look for a solution to distribute power and authority to all provincial councils and especially to North and East provinces in order to nip any terrorist movement like LTTE. in the bud. The time has come for us to step forward with determination, courage and dedication to protect the sovereignty of our motherland leaving all ethnic, religious and political differences behind. In retrospect of the history of Sri Lanka after freedom, we have now reached a juncture where we should consider whether the progress gained after the independence is at a satisfactory level.

Economic, social and cultural development is one of the critical factors in total political freedom. In the meantime, attention should be drawn to make a revolutionary change in the field of plantation whilst priority is given to agricultural development. The time has come to encourage local production for our consumption changing our attitudes of looking for imports. Therefore, it is our duty and responsibility to cultivate crops for our day to day requirements.

May Sri Lanka be the most prosperous, exemplary and developed country of the world, which ensures higher living standards and harmony to its sons and daughters.

Distributing power and authority will eradicate separatism