SRI LANKA HOLIDAYS: Battle at the Giant's Tank, Sri Lanka

SRI LANKA HOLIDAYS: THE BATTLE AT THE GIANT'S TANK, NORTH EAST OF SRI LANKA

The Land of Delights, Sri Lanka has the misfortune of giving birth to the Second Pol Pot of Asia. So have his parents.

Inspired by the leadership, the Defence forces, by taking the battle to terrorists, have resolved to put an end to the murder, mayhem & carnage of the mass murderer Pol Pot who has taken the whole nation hostage since 1983.

In spite of the terrorism by the Pol Pot, development of the island has been continued to such an extent, even the so called grievances of the minority (at best, no more than greed associated with minorities & at worst, the box seat mentality infused by the colonialist British) have been gradually been made irrelevant in view of the opportunities made available to modern Asian nations by the age of IT revolution, which has been transforming the world at a tremendous pace in the last couple of decades.

Sri Lanka has been losing ground as well as sea to other Asian tigers such as Thailand & Vietnam: Sri Lanka by virtue of its geographical location could well become the Maritime hub, Telecommunication hub, IT hub & Tourism hub of south & south east Asia, if not for a mass murderer of the caliber of Pol Pot in the island.

The 'Rice Bowl' covers a total of 123 square km & comprises of approximately 153 major & minor tanks forming an irrigation network. The largest tank in the area 'Yoda Wewa'(Gaint's tank) spanning an area 23 sq. km. is a relatively small tank in comparison to "The Sea of Parakrama" in the north central plains of Sri Lanka built by King Parakrama Bahu the Great. While the so called 'Rice Bowl' is in north east of the island, Sri Lanka's main area of of Ancient Sinhalese Irrigation with more than ten thousand major & minor tanks bolstered by modern irrigation is confined to Raja rata (The King's land) or wewe badi rata (The land of reservoirs), the north central plains of the Island. Rice is grown in Central Highlands & Ruhuna (south & south eastern area of the island) too. bunpeiris.

Security Forces attached to the 58 Division under the Command of Brigadier Shavendra Silva achieved a record victory last Sunday with the capture of Mannar ‘Rice Bowl’ which is considered to be the most fertile land in the Mannar district which produced the biggest paddy harvest for the country in 1991.

This is the first time in the two and half decade long history of the North East conflict the security forces have been able to fully liberate the ‘Rice Bowl’ and the Tiger strongholds located in the edges of the area.