They never came, they never saw but they are marvellous liars

Sri Lanka's Killing Fields. Photograph: Channel 4

by Lalin Fernando

(August 10, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) There is a concerted propaganda effort by the scattered and battered but still evil and scheming remnants of the terrorist LTTE like the GTF and their despised British mercenaries (political and media elements)to attempt to frighten SL with R2P(ee) (Western intervention/isolation. Like the scattered Nazi war criminals who lived in South America they have been granted havens in countries that have been brain washed to believe the LTTE are the innocent victims and not the heinous oppressors in 30 years of violence and brutality. Their choice is not South America but the liberal West that unfortunately for them is slowly but surely turning viciously extreme right.

Like the Nazis they have implicit faith in Goebbelsian tactics that the bigger the lie, repeated often, the more likely are people to believe it. Their ‘Eelam’ is UK’s Channel 4 TV (CH4) together with schemers in the UN like ‘expert’ in children’s rights but not of the LTTE Baby Brigades and rape, Coomaraswamy, playboy Darsuman and Pillai. They having paid Brit politicians and TV presenters many times what they earn annually conjured the deaths of 40,000 Wanni ghosts in May 2009.Like Prof GL Peiris said they are trying to ransom SL after 30 years of ruthless terrorism that caused 70,000 deaths with allegations of assorted atrocities in the last 10 days of the conflict. Unsurprisingly, not one country in the 3rd world has criticised SL for its conduct during the conflict. Is this American Custer’s and European Buster’s last stand before monetary collapse, Norwegian super star Breivik and right wingers, al Qaida, racial minorities and the 3rd world finally catch up?

For some time with the aid of some shocking videos incessantly shown, Channel 4 was able to lay siege on the minds of fair minded citizens of SL. Could there have been even an iota of truth in this unsubstantiated sweeping horrid allegations? They were supported by skilful ‘actors’ who have since been exposed as LTTE terrorist hand maids and frauds. There were other shadowy faceless people with concealed voices who had no names. It was broadcast around the western world. It gradually dawned on the SL people that far from being an exercise in pursuing humanitarian rights, this blitzkrieg was mainly political. The timings of all the TV free shows coincided with the SL President’s address to the Oxford Union, the opening of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association sessions in London and such big media events. Even the Test match series against England was not spared.

The initial reaction in SL was magnificently patriotic. All the Southern political parties denounced the allegations and vowed they would not let the SL Forces be harmed. But due to continuous Ch 4 onslaughts, Goebbels was proving right. Even though there was no doubt that the figure of 40,000 dead in May 2009 was grossly exaggerated and concocted, there was unease. Yet the general idea was that all the people were relieved that the LTTE had got what it hugely deserved. Like the Nazis.

At the conclusion of the MOD presentation on first August 2011-‘Humanitarian Operation-Factual Analysis’ this conjured 40,000 figure was completely demolished with official statistics. Several international organizations like the UN, WFP, and ICRC etc had stated at the tail end of the conflict in 2009 that there were less than 240,000 people in the contested Wanni areas. Despite this the officially accepted figure was that given by the Government Agent (GA) present in the area. It was 300,000. The GA was responsible to feed and care (medical, education etc) for them even though under LTTE control. There had to be forward planning too in case they determined to come over to the government controlled areas. They eventually did. It is an unchallenged fact that 294,000 civilians were rescued at the end. This leaves a figure of just 6,000 unaccounted for, at best. Of them, how many were LTTE cadres or were they too all ghosts? What about those escaping from the LTTE who were mowed down like cattle? Were they in hundreds or thousands? There were also 26 (not concocted by SL to read as 26,000) servicemen executed by the LTTE too. Did CH 4 admit even a part of this? How could they?

The original UN figure of 7,000 dead given by security Chief Chris du Toit, a South African Boer was rejected even by the local UN chief. So where did this figure of 40,000 suddenly crop up from, other than in the blocked heads of mercenary Channel 4 partisans. They were full of wine, women, and song and dance with the money of the Tamil refugees referred to as Diaspora and the blood money of SL Tamils extracted by the LTTE. Even Gordon Weise, (no relation to the Nazi General by that name whose 19th Army troops were wiped out in the South of France in 7 days by the American 17th Army in August 1944), admitted when questioned by SL Australians that his story book figure was way too high and should be around 10,000.A great player with figures is Weise.

As SL Gunesekera asks where then did this alleged massacre of 40,000 take place, when and who saw it? It was first allegedly recorded on mobiles of ‘soldiers’. So what posh and idle infantrymen were they fighting in the finale of a very bloody 30 year conflict that took the lives of 7,000 soldiers in the final phase (according to the then Army Commander)? When rebutted it was said to have been taken on video recorders by locally ‘embedded’ TV personnel. These variations were obviously red herrings. It appears to have all come from the LTTE that was adept for all 30 years in videoing each and every massacre of captured SL troops.

They have now produced hooded men with British accents. They say one is a soldier ‘Fernando’ the commonest name in SL. The other’s is one that is completely unheard of. Was this ‘Fernando’ the ghost of the Kaffir (East African) Fernando who despatched the British captives at Lewaya in 1803 come alive? The UN says its ‘witnesses’ will have 20 years of anonymity and cannot be named.Ch4’s two ‘witnesses’ will be cared for with bags if not sacks of Diaspora funds. They can change their versions again and again as long as the blood money keeps coming.

The government on the other hand produced scores of witnesses on video at their presentation. There were old and young men and women and the very doctors who stayed till the very end. They faced the camera, had names and stated where they were from. They were from the 294,000 Tamils who came out of the death camps of the Wanni. They absolutely refuted the CH4 poppy cock about Tamil civilians and captured LTTE cadres being killed or women being raped by the army, the deliberate shelling of hospitals, the lack of treatment and medical supplies for the wounded and food for the civilians. These 294,000 IDPs included over 11,000 confirmed LTTE cadres including women who were sent for rehab and over 1,000 sacrificial ‘Baby Brigade’ survivors (of least concern to Ms Coomaraswamy).The latter were handed over to their parents. None of them accused the forces of misconduct then or now. But from the kept comfort of the UK nearly 10,000 kms away from SL 40,000 dead bodies were seen by CH 4.Yes we all know. On satellites. Like the discovery of WMDs in Iraq. How and why if not where and when would this unaccounted and unexplained 40,000 have been killed? Would it be together, in groups or singly? Are there any names or NOK claims for them? That is other than by ‘Fernando’ and his shadowy henchman, the greedy, wallowing in lucre UK politicians and the well heeled Diaspora mafia that for 30 years encouraged 30,000 Tamils in SL including those in ‘baby brigades’ to , kill and rape and die for them

Any one in SL knows that this is a land for rumours. At the end of the conflict it was floated around that Prabakaran was held captive in Panagoda. Many in Colombo believed this story unreservedly for some time. Some used to say the former SL policeman Pulendran who was the LTTE police chief and his companion were arrested by the forces and taken to Colombo. Then the story was that they were killed on the banks of the Nandi kadal in Mullativu. All this was witnessed from London. Rumours swirled round Colombo amongst a thrill hungry and ghoulish minority. The number of soldiers killed was always exaggerated. One man used to say that he calculated the numbers killed by counting the number of army trucks parked at funeral parlours. He then estimated how many bodies the trucks would contain believing that the bodies were stacked high. He did not know that the bodies were all laid out respectfully. It escaped him that some of the trucks would have contained ‘helpers’ for the funeral too. He then, having a political agenda assiduously spread the word as to his guess of the numbers killed.

However when the UN said 7,000 Tamil civilians had died in the last stages of the conflict, the public believed even that was highly exaggerated. There was not a whisper of any more. It is said to be unimaginable that even 7,000 could have been killed without word coming through. 40,000 is a fancy free figure coldly calculated by highly paid mercenary propagandists. They may have toyed with a bigger figure like 100,000 but probably thought they might not have been believed. They knew they had the technology to fix it at 40,000. It was enough of a figure to shock without being found out. They stuck to it. Not one Tamil in SL made this extra ordinary claim, not the LTTE web site or even the TNA politicians who overtly sided with the LTTE. Not even the one MP who remained in Mullativu right through up to the end. As for rape that was an accusation that was made repeatedly from the time when the first 13 solders were murdered in 1983.The highly respected and intrepid TULF politician Anandasangaree put that canard to rest. He, while the LTTE was rampant, said that such a thing never happened. When ever it happened the country knew. This is a small island. And the guilty were punished –with life imprisonment. Soldiers who were found guilty of murder were sentenced to death.

However every one in SL knows who was capable of cold bloodedly killing by the thousands even if they were Tamils. That was the exclusive uncontested private preserve of the LTTE for 30 years. Amazingly CH4 lacking the skills and ability of Sherlock Holmes ‘admits’ (had to/forced to) that the LTTE killed fleeing Tamils and yet does not admit to any numbers although it says the army killed 40,000 exactly! The greed for money and living for generations on the dole has produced an England that few recognize. The G4 manipulated a well oiled propaganda machine that has much experience and many skills that have fooled many millions.

Now what was the aim of CH 4 other than soaking in money? Did they want to see the errant soldiers punished? They realised that the country formed solid ranks around the soldiers. So they looked for a target that could divide the loyalties of the people. It was easy to find. The Rajapakse’s. The verdict of the war was to be reversed. It fitted the Western world’s global requirements too. China was too close to strategically placed SL. Much could be done.CH 4 would earn its keep as not only GTF UK and its supplicants but even some Americans and a power crazed South Indian would stay on board. After launching its propaganda blitzkrieg, CH 4 stayed on its Goebbelsian course. Its backers are seeking, not justice for anyone far less the SL Tamils but regime change. Like it happened in Chile but failed in Cuba. It is a time for all SL patriots to stand up and never relax their vigil.

The MOD presentation convinced SL that the CH4 allegations were fabricated. Defence Secretary Col G Rajapakse emphatically and categorically denied that he gave any orders to kill LTTE cadres coming over to surrender. It was clear beyond any doubt that no such orders had been given to then Brig Shavendra de Silva. This ‘Fernando’s claims to hearing a telephone conversation between the Secretary and the Brigadier and also hearing the Brigadier who was commanding 58 division giving orders to his Brigade and Task Force commanders. This is pure piffle unless Fernando had been a unit or higher commander. No such rank has fled to the bloody comfort of Judas or Tiger keepers in UK. CH 4 may have believed that military orders in SL are given on loud speakers as though it was a ceremonial parade and not a military operation. It is not difficult to know who started this rumour. It is not only Blake and Homeland Security that knows.

The irony is that rumour had it before the end of the conflict that the Brigadier’s name had been proposed to the Defence Secretary by the Catholic Church to accept the surrenders. It was said the Brigadier had been to a Catholic school-St Thomas’ Matale and would therefore be assumed to be more humane. That was and is Colombo. Spinning and weaving rumours. The Brigadier, now a Major General is of all people now accused by CH 4 of allegedly killing the ‘surrendered’. Curiously no figures are given for his act. Is the accusation then that 58 Division alone did the alleged deed?

Now what will the UN and the West do that it has not already done to SL? The EU has stopped GSP concessions. The USA has cut back on aid. However the SL people have no intention of becoming slaves. SL remembers what happened when it sent the Shell Company packing in the 1960s.The mighty USA went for the kill.SL knows what the global position especially economic is, where the EU and the USA stands, what al Qaida and Taliban are up to and that China has been a friend in need for SL always. While they are forces around that will act as supporters and guides for the West, SL will never surrender its hard won and preserved sovereignty to those who never came, never saw but have become bloody marvellous liars aiming at regime change. Seventy thousand (70,000) paid the price for freedom and liberation over 30 years. The cause they fought and gave their lives for will not ever be forgotten.

SL should now take a firm stand against them all, starting from CH4. As Dayan J says ’enough is enough’. They are our enemy and must be dealt with accordingly. CH4, GTF/LTTE and the mainly western political mercenaries it employs must be exposed as criminal frauds. They, however powerful, cannot be allowed to promote the false cause of SL’s terrorist murderers with ease any more. SL must never allow Western or any other intervention in its own affairs ever. We have sacrificed many generations to a cursed, depraved, homicidal megalomaniac supported from the UK and by Norway. Can CH 4, USA or Norway deny that? There must and cannot be another round.