Two distinguished Lankans to receive Sri Lankabhimanya award

Two distinguished Sri Lankans, Judge Christopher Weeramantry and Dr. A. T. Ariyaratne will be conferred the country’s highest honour, Sri Lankabhimanya, by President Mahinda Rajapaksa at an investiture at Presidential Secretariat today at 11 a.m..

The Sri Lankabhimanya (Pride of Sri Lanka) honour which is conferred to those who have rendered exceptionally outstanding and most distinguished service to the nation can be held by only five Sri Lankans at one time. The current holders of this honour are President D. B. Wijetunga, Sir Arthur C. Clarke and Dr. Lester James Peiris.

Judge Weeramantry was recently awarded the Right Livelihood Award considered the alternate Nobel Prize. A distinguished jurist, he was a former Judge of Supreme Court of Sri Lanka and a member and later Vice President of the International Court of Justice.

Dr. A.T. Ariyaratne is the founder of the Sarvodaya Movement which he has led for nearly five decades. He pioneered the Shramadana Movement in Sri Lanka and is a follower of the Gandhian Principle of Ahimsa.

Dr. Ariyaratne has received many international accolades for his work on peaceful coexistence and adherence to Gandhian Principles.

These include the Ramon Magsaysay Award for community leadership, Philippine (1969), the Mahatma Gandhi Peace Prize, India (1996) and the Herbert H. Humphrey Award, USA (1996).