The Ministry of Foreign Affairs held a special programme today, Monday 9 January 2017 to mark National Integration and Reconciliation week. The proposal by President Maithripala Sirisena, in his capacity as the Minister of National Integration and Reconciliation, to declare the week from 08 to 14 January every year, starting from 2017, as the national integration and reconciliation week, was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers on 21 December 2016. Under the proposal a number of events are to be held island wide to promote unity, peace, understanding and mutual trust amongst all communities in Sri Lanka.
The National flag was hoisted in the presence of all members of the staff and the national anthem was sung in both languages, Sinhala and Tamil, followed by the Reading of the Pledge for National Integration and Reconciliation. The text of the pledges follows below.
Thereafter, remarks were delivered on the importance of National Integration and reconciliation, for Sri Lanka, and the need to respect the country's rich diversity of ethnicity, religion and language.
Sri Lanka Missions abroad also commenced the week, by having events to mark the National Integration and Reconciliation week, including the reading of the Pledge.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Colombo
9 January 2017
ඒකාබද්ධතාවය හා ප්රතිසන්ධානය වෙනුවෙන් වන
ජාතික ප්රතිඥාවයි
ශ්රී ලංකාව තුළ
ජාතික ඒකාබද්ධතා සංකල්පය
යථාර්තයක් කර ගැනීමේ පරම අභිලාෂයෙන්
ජාති, ආගම්, ප්රාදේශීය හා භාෂා ආදී
විවිධත්වයන් පැවතියද
අපි සැවොම ශ්රී ලාංකිකයන් වශයෙන්
මෙසේ ප්රතිඥා දෙමු.
අපි එකම සහෝදරාත්මක
මානව කැලක සාමාජිකයන් වෙමු.
මනා අවබෝධයෙන්, විශ්වාසයෙන් හා
අසීමිත සහෝදරත්වයෙන් යුතුව
ශ්රී ලංකාවේ සියලු පුරවැසියන් හා
ප්රජාවන් අතර සමගිය ඇති කිරීමේ
අධිෂ්ඨානයෙන් යුතුව අපි කටයුතු කරමු.
අපි ඒ උතුම් පරමාර්ථය වෙනුවෙන්
එකිනෙකා සමඟ අත්වැල් බැඳගන්නා බවටත්,
එමගින් සමෘද්ධිමත් දේශයක්,
ශ්රී ලාංකික අනන්යතාවයක්
ගොඩනගන බවටත් ප්රතිඥා දෙමු.
තිරසර සංවර්ධනය හා සමෘද්ධිය උදෙසා
ඒකාබද්ධතාවය, ප්රතිසන්ධානය හා කල්පවත්නා සාමය
නියත අවශ්යතාවයක් බව
අවබෝධ කරගෙන
එය යථාර්ථයක් බවට පත්කරලීමට ප්රතිඥා දෙමු.
**
தேசிய ஒருங்கிணைப்பு மற்றும் நல்லிணக்கம் தொடர்பான பிரகடனம்
இலங்கையிலே
தேசிய ஒருங்கிணைப்பு எண்ணக்கருவினை
சாத்தியமாக்குவதற்கான பாரிய முயற்சியாக
இன, மத, பிரதேசம் மற்றும் மொழி தொடர்பான
பல்வகைத் தன்மைக்கு மதிப்பளித்து
நாம் அனைவரும் இலங்கையர் என்ற ரீதியில்
இந்த பிரகடனத்தை மேற்கொள்வோம்:
நாம் அனைவரும் சகோதரத்துவத்துடன்
மனித வர்க்கத்தின் அங்கத்தவராவோம்.
சிறந்த புரிந்துணர்வு, பரஸ்பர நம்பிக்கை மற்றும்
வரையறையற்ற சகோதரத்துவத்தினூடாகவும்
இலங்கையின் சகல குடிமக்கள் மற்றும்
சமுதாயங்களுக்கிடையே ஒருமைப்பாட்டினை
உருவாக்கும் உன்னத நோக்கிலே நாம் செயலாற்றுவோம்.
இந்த மேலான குறிக்கோளிற்காக நாம்
ஒவ்வொருவரும் கைகோர்த்துக் கொள்வோம் எனவும்
அதனூடாக சுபீட்சமான தேசத்திற்காகவும்
இலங்கையர் என்ற அடையாளத்திற்காகவும்
அடித்தளம் இடுவோம் எனவும் உறுதி பூணுவோம்.
இலங்கையின் நீடித்து நிலைக்கக்கூடிய அபிவிருத்திக்கும் சுபீட்சத்திற்கும்
சமாதானம், ஒருங்கிணைப்பு, நல்லிணக்கம் என்பவை இன்றியமையாதவை
என்பதை உணர்ந்து ஒருங்கிணைப்பு மற்றும் நல்லிணக்கத்தை சாத்தியமாக்க உறுதி பூணுவோமாக.
**
PLEDGE FOR NATIONAL INTEGRATION AND RECONCILIATION
While respecting the richness of our diversity
of different ethnicities, religions, regions and languages,
With the firm objective of making National Integration a reality in Sri Lanka,
we all solemnly pledge in this manner:
We are members of one and the same human race.
We will strive resolutely with determination
to foster peace among all citizens and communities in Sri Lanka
with understanding, mutual trust,
and a boundless sense of unity and compassion amongst all of us.
We pledge that we will join hands with one another
to achieve this noble objective,
and build a prosperous nation
with a Sri Lankan identity.
With clear understanding and recognition that,
to achieve sustainable development and prosperity,
national integration, reconciliation and lasting peace are essential,
we hereby pledge to act and work towards making these objectives a reality.
