A proud Lankan writes

A Sri Lankan in the UAE has written the following letter in reply to an article published in the 7Days, UAE.

This is a reply to the travesty of a yesterday's letter on the current situation in Sri Lanka. I agree with the facts about the economy facing problems and inflation.

Keep in mind though that the Sri Lankan Govt is fighting "the number one" terrorist force in the world. This fact given by non other than the FBI. Sri Lanka is also a democratic country consisting of 11 ethnic races ... not just the two of Sinhalese and Tamil.

I correct the statement that said it was a "racial war". True the whole conflict started some 25 odd years ago because of racial tension. Do not forget though the government has taken leapfrog steps to solve this problem. The LTTE aka Tigers on the other hand have committed high level assassinations, smuggling, fraud, extortion and the list goes on and on...

I personally believe that the country's own people should help their own country instead of foreign assistance. What this person seems to have left out is the four botched ceasefire agreements, the countless murders and of course the "ethnic cleansing" by the LTTE to Sri Lankan Muslims in the Tiger held territory of the country.

Every Govt bears its mistakes. The current govt is currently doing a stand up job on the war on the front as it is holding terror back in its place. Our country has faced the tsunami and a civil war costing 70,000 lives.

Yet I hold myself up proudly as it seems that we are still a country that manages to stave off terrorists with a wonderfully diverse cricket team, pristine beaches and of course lovely people. I am a proud Sri Lankan.

Roman de Silva, Dubai