Today is the historic day of eradicating terrorism which
surprised the entire world. Some even said that terrorism could not be eliminated. The news of freedom which the entire country was awaiting for, was first telecast by the ITN, five years ago on a day like today. People in the country heaved a sigh of relief when the news of the death of the brutal killer was announced surprising the world. How can the people in this country forget the massive destruction caused to the country by the killer Velupillai Prabhakaran and his group of tiger terrorists who commenced the blood thirst, by killing Jaffna Mayor Dureiappa on 27th July in 1975. The LTTE terrorists killed innocent Tamil, Muslim and Sinhala civilians in North and East and created a fear psychosis period in the country for 30 years. The tiger terrorists brutally killed innocent civilians near Anuradhapura Sri Maha Bodhi, hacked to death people in Dollar Farm, and bombed the Dalada Maligawa which is the most sacred place for Buddhists. The LTTE terrorists of Velupillai Prabhakaran launched suicide attacks on strategic economic centres such as the Central Bank and the Katunayake International Airport killing many innocent civilians. The killing spree started with the killing of Alfred Duriappa, and Tamil leaders such as Appapillai Amirthialingam, Neelan Thiruchelvan, Laksman Kadiragarmar, Nadarajah Raviraj, T, Maheshwaran and B. Yogeswaran. The LTTE killers took the lives of President Ranasingha Premadasa, UNP stalwarts Gamini Dissanayake, Lalith Athulathmudali, Weerasinghe Mallimarachchi and Ranjan Wijeratne. LTTE terrorists killed SLFPrs C.V. Gunaratne, Jeyaraj Fernandopullai, T.M. Dassanayake and Prabhakaran’s own supporters Uma Maheshwaran and Sabarathnam. It was not that state leaders attempted to eliminate barbaric terrorism from the country. However none of them were able to achieve victory over the killer with correct brave leadership. The President and Commander in Chief Mahinda Rajapaksa who took the reins of the country in 2005, invited tiger terrorists for peace. But LTTE terrorists selected the war and wrote their own death warrants. The bold thirsty tiger gang closed the Mawilaru annicut on 21st July 2006, cutting of drinking water to the people, and commenced treading on the final phase of the terrorist path. The peoples’ leader launched the humanitarian operation to rescue the people amidst the objection from certain people in the country and abroad. Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa was entrusted with giving correct directives. The three armed forces, police and civil defence force marched forward. The closed Mavilaru annicut was reopened. The humanitarian operation was launched. Military operations hitherto conducted without an aim, were launched on correct targets. The true humanitarian operations were launched on land, air and sea. Finally the heroic soldiers reached their targets. The LTTE terrorists who were furious sensing defeat, used innocent Tamil civilians as a human shield. The heroic soldiers who marched forward on the instructions of the peoples’ leader and on the plans of Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, were able to rescue lakhs of Tamil people who were under the grips of the killer. The barbaric killer’s life, who did not care for the lives of people, was ended surprising the whole world, at Vellamulli Waikkal Nandikadal lagoon with the correct aim of the heroic soldiers. It was not a war victory but a peace victory achieved by the country, with the elimination of the killer. As the peoples’ channel, the ITN did its duty. Our journalists who went with the soldiers on war front, showed the true story to the country and to the world. The duty done by four groups of our media personnel could never be forgotten. We recall that media duty, risking lives on the day of the 5th anniversary of the victory, because as the peoples’ channel our duty towards the nation will never end.
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