COLOMBO, Feb 4: President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Wednesday urged fellow Sri Lankans, who had fled their motherland because of war and terrorism, to return as the Tamil Tiger rebels had been defeated and he was well on the road to restoring lasting peace and stability in the country.

“There is no place that is safer to anyone than the land of one’s birth. The time has now dawned for Sri Lankans, who had left their country because of the unfortunate battle that had dragged on for more than 20 years, to return to their land of birth and to the places they lived in,” Mr Rajapaksa said in his oration to mark Sri Lanka’s 61st independence day.

“On this important occasion, on behalf of the entire Sri Lankan nation, I make an open invitation to all Sri Lankans – Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim, Burgher, Malay, and all other communities – who left this country because of the war to return to your motherland,” he said at the colourful function.

He said there should be no divisive thoughts among the children of Sri Lanka, whether they were Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim, Malay or Burgher, for children were the future of Sri Lanka.

Following the anti-Tamil riots of 1983 and the rise of Tamil terrorism, hundreds of thousands of Tamils left Sri Lanka to seek refuge in Europe, Canada, Australia and India.

Many Sinhalese also quit the island in the years that followed, owing to dwindling economic opportunities in the war-torn country. The president dwelt on the military victory against the LTTE, and the role of his government and the armed forces in maintaining the sovereignty and ‘unitary’ character of Sri Lanka against the machinations of some elements – both domestic and foreign.

He stressed on resisting the “attempts of foreign powers and institutions” to dictate terms to Sri Lanka even on the question of tackling the terrorist-cum-separatist threat from the LTTE.

“Many foreign forces attempted to persuade us that the path to achieving peace was to be subjugated by a terrorist organisation that had power on land, sea and air as well as ruthless suicide killers,” he said.

“Together with this, some international institutions sought to show our country as a failed state, which pained the hearts and minds of all of us.”

“We faced this daring challenge with a determination to somehow achieve victory over it,” the president asserted.

“Our troops gave us this victory through their own skills, knowledge and expertise. Our forces did not obtain the assistance of any foreign experts.”

“In fact, the Sri Lankan armed forces had developed their own expertise and were driven by a desire to finish the task on hand somehow,” he added. This, Mr Rajapaksa said, had made Sri Lanka’s victory against terrorism unique in the world.