By Charles Haviland
BBC News, Colombo
**The Sri Lankan president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, has marked his country’s independence day by speaking of the need for national reconciliation.**He was speaking on the first independence anniversary since the end of the war against Tamil Tiger rebels.
The president said that Sri Lankans had faced not only an internal threat but also external ones.
The 62nd anniversary of independence from Britain was marked with lavish military and cultural ceremonies.
They took place in the hill city of Kandy, once the seat of a Sinhalese kingdom.
President Rajapaksa said in his speech that the international community should “understand us” and not apply pressure.
In a separate message he appeared to criticise, without naming them, countries such as the United States, Britain and France, which called for a ceasefire just before the armed forces’ final crushing of the Tamil Tigers last year.
He said Sri Lankans had been faced not only with an armed enemy within, but also with what he termed outside forces who sought to pressure them into conceding to the aims of those who used terror.
Mr Rajapaksa won a convincing victory in last week’s presidential election. But he easily lost the vote in the places where the Tamil minority predominates.
In his speech he was again vague on any political plans he might have to address many Tamils’ desire for more autonomy, saying only that he would bring “people-orientated devolution” to the whole country.