Colombo: Slain LTTE Supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran`s "hatred and dangerous concepts" that had brainwashed children have been removed and the government is now moving ahead with meeting developmental goals, Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wicremanayake said.
"Prabhakaran gave guns to children instead of pens and gave cyanide capsules instead of Panchayuda (Lord Vishnu`s five sacred weapons)," the Prime Minister said.
"He (the LTTE chief) brainwashed children and filled their minds with hatred and dangerous concepts. But today all those things have turned upside down," Wicremanayake said while addressing a ceremony to mark World Children`s day here yesterday.
The Government has already changed all such ill feelings (spread by Prabhakaran)," he said, adding the government was stressing on development.
"Freedom is not doing everything or whatever you want. It is living while protecting society, social ethics, culture and the country," the state owned Daily News quoted the Prime Minister as saying.
Child Development and Women`s Empowerment Minister Sumedha G Jayasena said certain persons and organisations shed "crocodile tears" on behalf of IDP children and say that they face difficulties but none of them uttered a word when the LTTE was recruiting child soldiers.
"There are 90,300 children living in IDP camps without any fear because Prabhakaran is no more to recruit them as child soldiers," Jayasena said.
There are 1,064 orphaned children who had already been sent to their parents and relatives, Jayasena said.
"Another 383 children have been sent to children`s homes," she said.
Ratnasiri Wicremanayake said: "At that time (during LTTE domination in the North) both children and adults did not have their rights. But it is not so now."
"Traditional Sri Lankan culture takes care of both children and elders. There was no need for homes."
"But in some foreign countries children walk away from their homes when they turn 18 years. Their parents say children do not obey parents. That is why they need `homes`. But it is not so in Sri Lanka," He added.
Bureau Report
