On this year’s Independence Day, it is my hope that our political leaders will make an attempt to understand the true meanings of freedom and sovereignty, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa says.

All politicians should ask themselves on this 69th independence day whether we gained independence from colonial rule only to divide the unitary state that even the colonial powers had left intact when they left, into unviable provincial units and to sell every valuable national asset we have, to foreigners, he said in a statement on Friday.  

Full statement: We will be marking the 69th anniversary of our independence from colonial rule on 04 February 2017. This is a day on which parents, elders and teachers impress upon school children and young people the importance of contemplating the significance and value of our independence and sovereignty. 

Today however the need is not to impress upon the younger generation the importance and significance of our independence and sovereignty, but to impress upon our political leaders the importance and significance of our independence and sovereignty. We celebrate the 69th anniversary of our independence in a situation where it is uncertain whether there would be a country left to celebrate the 70th anniversary.

Present day political leaders are engaged in a feverish quest to dismantle the Sri Lankan state by creating semi-independent provincial administrations with their own police forces and public administration mechanisms. 

In addition to this the national budgets of 2016 and 2017 have envisaged the sale of virtually every government owned asset from small operations like the Grand Oriental Hotel to the biggest project that our government completed the Norochcholai power plant. Entire free ports, consisting of the harbours in Hambantota and Trincomalee and the surrounding territories have been put on sale.