Geneva DPLs attend Sri Lanka Independence Day

Reception & Exhibition

The Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the United Nations Office at Geneva

05^th February 2008 

The Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the United Nations at Geneva and other International Organizations in Switzerland celebrated 60 years of Independence by hosting a reception and exhibition for the diplomatic community and senior officials of international organizations, on 4^th February.

The Independence Day

Celebrations hosted at the UN Delegates Restaurant was attended by Ambassadors and representatives from more that 100 countries. The guests were presented with gifts of Sri Lankan tea provided by internationally renowned Mlesna Teas of Sri Lanka. A promotional video of Sri Lanka provided by the Tourist Board of Sri Lanka was also exhibited, along with posters from both the Tourist Board and Mlesna, highlighting the diverse faces of Sri Lanka and Sri Lankan tea.

This celebration included an exhibition of photographs and paintings of Sri Lanka titled                                

“Oh Sweet Serendipity - an Artist's Journey across the Magical Island of Sri Lanka” by the Swiss artist Joseph Pisani who has recently returned from Sri Lanka after a three-week tour.

Welcoming the diplomatic community in Geneva, Ambassador Jayatilleka said:

“Good evening Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

On behalf of the Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka, I thank all of you, Excellencies, distinguished representatives and friends, for gracing this occasion, the Sixtieth anniversary of Sri Lanka’s achievement of independence. I shan’t bore you with a long speech or lecture, let me just say that Sri Lanka is at a very decisive crossroads in its history, and this you know from the international media. We have reasons on our Sixtieth anniversary to be proud, we have also reasons to be pained, and we have reasons to be purposive and persevering.

Our reasons to be proud are that we have, over these sixty years, retained and preserved our political independence and sovereignty. We have not allowed any part of our country, still as our country as a whole, to become recolonized, or satellite of anybody. We have preserved our independence. That is no small achievement. We have also preserved the sovereignty of our people as manifested in our democratic system. The system may be flawed, may be distorted, and it has come under threat from extremisms, at both sides, both ends of the political structure. But we have defended this system of people’s sovereignty against all comers, when necessary we have done so, with arms in hand. So, these two achievements, the preservation of our national independence and sovereignty, a popular sovereignty as manifested in our democratic system, are things that we are proud of.

But we are also in pain. We know that we face an intertwining of two challenges faced by many of you in your countries, if not now, at some earlier point of your history. We have a cessationist war being waged. And we have it being waged by a movement that practices unadulterated terrorism.

Over the last two days, marking our Sixtieth Anniversary, there were several bombings, including suicide bombings, which were aimed at purely civilian targets: trains, railway stations, civilian buses, even the zoo. But none of that prevented the holding of our Sixtieth Independence Day celebrations, the speech by our President, march past by our armed forces. But we are nonetheless pained that because of things that we all have said and done or left unsaid and undone, we have this conflict which has had a protracted nature. 

But as I said, we are not merely proud, not merely pained, we are also purposive and persevering. We are purposive in that we shall fight and defeat this scourge of terrorism, we shall put down the separatist challenge, and we shall prevail. But we shall do so while maintaining our achievements, while maintaining our democratic system, while maintaining the sovereignty of our people, while maintaining our national independence. But while we are resolved to overcome terrorism, we are also reflective. We know that we must learn from the mistakes of the past and we must construct a new, fairer and more just domestic order which eliminates the roots of terrorism and separatism, and not just combat the symptoms. Here too we are resolved, which is why an all party representative committee has, just a few weeks ago, presented a proposal for provincial autonomy which our President is committed to implement. This then is the story of Sri Lanka at sixty. And we know that we have your friendship, your support, and your solidarity. Thank you very much, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen.”