| HOW WE MARCHED TO FREEDOM |
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| Written by Administrator | |
| Saturday, 08 December 2007 | |
 We celebrate the National Independence Day. Having been under foreign rule for over 400 years ,Sri Lanka won independence on February4,1948. Independence Day is a day for remembering those who fought to attain the very independence we are celebrating today. It should be a time for remembering those who unified the people of Sri Lanka ;those who ied the way and those who bravely followed. Independence Day should be a time of reflection. The dark era dawned with the Portuguese invading Sri Lanka.The Dutch overthrew the Portuguese in 1658 and they were driven away by the British in 1796. While the foreign rulers took control of the maritime provinces, the Sinhalese kings tried to hold onto the hill country,reigning from Kandy.However,the British invaded the Kandyan Kingdom in 1815 and captured the the last king of Sri Lanka,Sri Wickrama Rajasinghe. British imperialist rule prevailed in this country for no less than 150 years.during this period ,the locals fought many battles to regain our lost national independence. Early efforts at regaining independence,though unsuccessful,showed the courage and patriotism of the local people against a foreign power. Partiots like S.W.R.D Bandaranaike,F.R Senanayake,D.S Senanayake, Sri Baron Jayathilake, E.W. Perera, D.R.Wijewardena, James Pieris, Arthur V. Dias, Dr . N.M. Perera, Dr.Colvin R.de Silva, Sir Ponnamblam Ramanathan, Sir Ponnamblam Arunachalam, Sir Mutu Coomaraswamy, Sir Waithilingam Duraiswamy, Sri La Sri Amugu Navalay, C.Y.Thamotherpillai, C.V. Smanatha Aiyar, Swami Vipulananda, Handy perimpanayagam, S.J.V Chelvam, G.G Ponnambalam (Senior), M. Triuchelvam, C. Vanniasingam and James T. Ratnam were among those who dedicated themselves to the freedom struggle.  By 1947, there appeared faint sings that India, which was also under British rule, was well on the road to freedom. D.S Senanayake there fore made a further claim for Dominion Status. This time, the colonial authorities seemed better disposed. The Ceylon Independent Act 1947, was conferred on the then Ceylon, the legislative powers on the older dominions by the Statute of Westminster, 1931 and on India and Pakistan by Section 6 of the Independence Act 1947. The Ceylon Independence Order in- council 1947 removed from the existing Constitution, all those provisions which were inconsistent with independence within the Commonwealth. SriLanka gained independence on February 4, 1948 and became a Republic on May 22,1972. Trackback(0)
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