Asada M Erpini

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Manik Farm in Vavuniya was labelled by the LTTE supporters and the media correspondents from the West as a concentration camp or as detention centre. All that this anti-Sri Lanka brigade saw was that there were Tamil civilians behind barbed wire fences. The fact that these people who had been rescued by the Sri Lanka army were kept at Manik Farm, and other such refugee centres, until the landmines laid by the LTTE could be cleared and their villages declared safe was rarely mentioned. In all these stories, the Sri Lanka armed forces, which had rescued nearly 300,000 Tamils from the clutches of the LTTE, were depicted as the criminals and were accused of war crimes, genocide, massacre of the innocents, rape and every other conceivable crime.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The news that the Army launched a project to plant 1,000 fruit samplings in the former Manik Farm premises is to be applauded by all Sri Lankans. Taking steps to convert the site to a fruit orchard is highly commendable, and hopefully, the people in the area will join with the army to nurture the plants and reap the benefits of the moves initiated by the armed forces.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Peace-loving Sri Lankans are proud of their armed forces. It is the sacrifices of the latter that delivered peace to the island nation and gave back the country that had been hijacked by a gang of terrorists. Yet, it is highly unlikely that this type of venture will receive any mention in the news and features pertaining to Sri Lanka that BBC, Al Jazeera, CNN or SMH seem eager to disseminate.