Sri Lankan security forces have arranged special security and traffic plans ahead of the 14th commemoration of the National War Heroes’ Day this evening (May 19).

Thereby, security has been beefed up near the parliament complex while a special traffic arrangement is also in place coinciding with the ceremony.

Speaking in this regard, police media spokesperson SSP Nihal Thalduwa said between 3.45 p.m. and 5.00 p.m. today, vehicular movement will be limited on the entry road to Parliament from Kiyannam Junction to Polduwa Junction.

Sri Lanka will pay tribute to the war heroes, who lost their lives in the thirty-year-long civil war, at the National War Heroes’ Commemoration ceremony which will kick off at 4.00 p.m. at the Battaramulla War Heroes’ Memorial under the aegis of President Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Former Presidents, Prime Ministers, Deputy Ministers, the Speaker the Secretary of the Ministry of Defence, Chiefs of Defence, as well as Commanders of the three armed forces including the Inspector-General of Police and the war heroes who were injured in the war, the relatives of the fallen war heroes as well as school cadet groups, will be to be invited to participate in this war hero commemoration ceremony.

Defence Secretary (Retired) General Kamal Gunaratne said that this war hero celebration has been organized this year, with a special war drum beat and floral tributes to appreciate the bravery heroism and eternal memories of the war heroes of the Army, Air and Navy, Police and Civil Defence Department who laid down their lives to secure the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country.

It has been 14 years since the three-decade civil war in Sri Lanka drew to an end after the leader of the armed separatist group LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) Velupillai Prabhakaran was killed by the Sri Lankan security forces at the Nandikadal Lagoon on May 18, 2009.

The government dedicated May 19 every year as the National War Heroes’ Day or the ‘Victory Day’ with the objective of paying tribute to the cherished memories of all those War Heroes during a state ceremony at the Battaramulla War Heroes’ Monument.

Watch the live broadcast of the ceremony on TV Derana and Ada Derana 24 from 4.30 p.m. onwards this evening...