Premalal and Harshani's great love ends in marriage

Though invalid.... 8 year old love ends in marriage
The love affair of an invalid soldier who had a romance of 8 years finally culminated in a charming marriage yesterday in Gampaha.

This occasion happens to be a special one because even after soldier Corporal Mahinda Premalal whose body was made lifeless below the waist after sustaining a serious mortar attack, his girlfriend Harshani Wijeysuriya of Yakkala did not desert him. When the two of them began their romance in 2006;
in the year 2008 he had to face this unfortunate mishap and subsequently he became a permanent invalid and finally had to take shelter in Ranaviru Sevena.

Though some individuals happen to lose their lover after such tragedies, it was not so in the case of Premalal.

Premalal, a young man from Matale area met Harshani in the year 2006 and both of them had been employed in a factory in Yakkala area. While this love affair was in progress, Premalal joined the Forces in 2007 after relinquishing his duties at the factory.

Premalal who was serving the 10th Gajaba Regiment and had gone to the forefront in battle against the LTTE was subjected to a sudden mortar attack while on duty in Kilinochchi in 2008.

During the time when the civil war was at its peak, Harshani got no news about Premalal. During this time when there had been no communication of messages from him for over a period of 6 months, Harshani came to know that Premalal had met with some accident only through a relative.

By that time he had been undergoing treatment at Ranaviru Sevena and she had come in search of Premalal. But Premalal had never thought that she would come in search of him which brought immense happiness to him. The very reason that she stood by him without leaving him he says gave him an opportunity of looking forward to a future in his life.

The bridegroom arrived for their wedding moment to the Belummahara Senethma Reception Hall in a wheel-chair. The two witnesses on the occasion were Minister Basil Rajapaksha and Major General Prasad Samarasingha.

The bride said that she would now be acting with great determination to care and look after the soldier who became a victim of a mortar attack when involved in a humanitarian operation of rescuing the island from the grasp of the terrorists, which comment made everyone feel sentimental.

This happens to be the third wedding of this nature organised by 'Gampaha Siyane Api' Organisation.