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The remains of Late Ven. Sobitha Thera arrives at Katunayake tonight ; 12 th declared a day of mourning

(Lanka-e-News -08.Nov.2015, 8.00PM) The remains of Ven. Maduluwawe Sobitha Thera is scheduled to reach the Katunayake airport tonight at 9.15 by flight , and from there it is to be taken in a motorcade to the Jayarathne funeral parlor. The organizers have requested the public to join in the motorcade.

From Jayaratne parlor  the remains will be taken to Kotte Naga Vihara where it will lie from tomorrow morning (09) to enable the mourners to pay their last respects. The funeral will take place on Thursday the 12 th, and that day has been declared a day of national mourning.  The final funeral rites are to be performed at 3.00 p.m. at the Parliament grounds on the 12 th.

Though the government suggested that the funeral rites be performed at the independence square ,the final wish of the Ven. Thera was : his  final rites shall be conducted at Kotte where the  members of his committee are living . Hence the ground in front of the parliament , Kotte was selected. The invaluable  contribution the Ven. Thera made towards the formation of the present parliament was a key factor considered when arriving at this decision.

The organizing committee leader of the funeral arrangements of Ven. Sobitha Thera is Ven Iththepane Dhammalankara Thera on behalf of the clergy , and the leader representing the laity is the parliament speaker Deshamanya Karu Jayasuriya . Since the latter is the only surviving politician among those whom Ven. Sobitha Thera had association with for a long time, Karu Jaysuriya was chosen.

The people’s movement for a just society of  which the late Ven. Thera was the leader , held a media briefing at Kotte Naga Vihara this morning. At this briefing many people’s leaders expressed their views. The speaker who spoke last stated , since the cherished aspiration of the late Ven. Thera was abolition of executive presidency, his desire should be fulfilled by tabling  the new constitution bill swiftly in parliament , and the abolition of the executive presidency shall be given effect to. It was pointed out that when many sages of Sri Lanka confined themselves to a particular religion , the late Ven. Thera alone on the other hand  did not circumscribe  himself to just one notion , and he was in the vanguard of promoting and strengthening Democracy in SL. 

The People’s movement for just society requests the people to hoist a white flag as a mark of respect for the late Ven .Thera who made a major contribution towards Democracy of the country, and was largely responsible  for its revival. 

In the photograph is the remains of the Ven. Thera when it lay at the SL High Commissioner’s office in Singapore.  Minister  of finance Ravi Karunanayke , Ven Banagala Thera and a large number of Sri Lankans living in Singapore were present on the occasion.  

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by     (2015-11-08 17:52:44)

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