Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse has said that the current military campaign against the Tamil Tiger rebels was one to liberate the entire island and is being backed by all communities.
Addressing a passing out parade of military officials in the central provincial town of Diyathalawa, the Sri Lankan President said his troops despite severely adverse weather conditions are moving towards taking the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) administrative capital of Kilinochchi.
"The noise of jubilation at the prospect of being liberating the nation in the other parts of the country is much louder than the noise of the gun fire in Kilinochchi," said the president, underlining his military campaign was being backed by all communities, the majority Sinhalese, and minority Tamil, Muslim and Burgher communities.
He saluted the parents of soldiers who had shown valor in fighting the rebels and winning territory over them in the north and eastern province.
He said he started the battle with the Tamil Tiger rebels by sending his son to join the troops. One of Rajapakse's three sons, Yoshitha has joined the Sri Lanka Navy.
Rajapakse, who is also the Commander-in-chief of the government troops, said that Sri Lankan troops have shown them to be exemplary in maintaining high discipline while facing the rebel threat.
Rajapakse's troops said they were poised to take Kilinochchi and Mullaithivu, the last two LTTE bastions remaining in the north and east provinces soon, which would end over three decades of a bloody armed conflict.
The LTTE waged war with the government in the mid 1980s in their quest to set up a separate homeland for the minority Tamils claiming discrimination at the hands of the majority Sinhalese community, reported Xinhua
