'Today's vociferous politicians were silent when LTTE enslaved children'

Although many politicians are vociferous today about human rights no one stood for human rights when the innocent lives of Tamil children were destroyed by terrorists who denied them their right to education, and parental care and forcibly recruited them to the LTTE child brigade as child combatants, Power and Energy Minister Champika Ranawaka said.

The minister was attending the first AGM of the Jaffna Hindu-Buddhist Cultural Forum during his tour of Jaffna yesterday.

The minister said the terrorists not only destroyed children's lives but disrupted civilian life by destroying the Jaffna electricity supply network in 1987.

'Without stopping it they destroyed the rail road and the road network in 1990 in addition to civilian lives.

'Many people were displaced from the North as a result but today's critics did not come forward to condemn such atrocities.

Minister Ranawaka said the situation is completely different today.

'The country has achieved a growth rate of eight percent. The economy in the North has recorded a 20 percent growth rate after the return of peace.

'There is religious and communal amity in the Northern peninsula.

'The government was doing its best to uplift Jaffna and the entire peninsula by providing infrastructure and improving educational facilities, he said.