| by Keerthi Warnakulasuriya
( February 28, 2013, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Channel 4 director Callum Macrae, who is on the payroll of the British Tamil Diaspora, plotting to stage another conspiracy (operation) on the 1st of March, inside the UN building in Geneva. The plan is to screen his 'No Fire Zone' film to the foreign diplomats with the intention of portraying Sri Lanka as a war criminal.
The international NGOs like Human Rights Watch, Amnesty international and ECOSOC (sic) is supporting this attempt. Sri Lanka has already sent a letter to the President of the human rights council Remigiusz Henczel, expressing country's strongest protest against planning to organize a screening inside the UN HQ. The Tiger Diaspora has already given a global publicity about the screening. In reference to the latest screening, the Sri Lanka's Permanent Representative to the UN, Maj.General Shavendra Silva, said:
"This film has to be considered as an outcome of a sinister plan of pro-Tiger elements operating inside Europe. Their aim is to destabilize the country by disgracing Sri Lanka before the eyes of the international community. The primary aim of this plan is to screen this film in Geneva during the human rights session with the aim of building a consensus among the foreign diplomats against Sri Lanka. Prior to this attempt, Callum Macrae was involved in screening his previous film 'Killing Field' in New York. The Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International joined him in organizing the screening.
"I said that this film is absolutely false and challenged Callum Macrae to an open debate. But until now, he has not accepted my challenge. In Macrae's film, there is a statement made by a woman named Vani Kumar. Who is this Vani Kumar? She is a Tiger sympathiser. After coming to Sri Lanka, she overstayed her visa and appeared in three different names. The statements made by her own relatives living in Britain proved that she is a liar. After being released from the Sri Lankan military custody and leaving for Britain, Vani Kumar alias Thamil Vani alias Vani campaigned for Tigers. Callum Macrae is using statements made by such a person in his film. Can we believe the statements of this Tiger sympathiser? There are plenty of video clips on the internet recorded and released by the Sri Lankan security forces. Any of these clips can be easily manipulated to provide a totally distorted picture. If his film is based on truth, why doesn't Callum Macrae accept my challenge and publicly debate me? In New York, I accused Callum Macrae as an outright lier and sought permission to challenge his statements. But the human rights groups opposed. If I had been given a chance to reveal the truth, that would have exposed and embarassed all these human rights groups. There I asked Callum Macrae how can he be so sure that the Tigers would not carry out attacks masquerading as Sri Lankan military. I revealed that when the Tigers attacked the sacred city of Anuradapura, they posed themselves as the members of the Sri Lankan Army. When the Tigers came to attack the Vanni military HQ and Katunayake Air Base, they not only wore Sri Lankan military uniforms, but they even spoke fluent Sinhala. But Callum Macrae keeps throwing war crime accusations at the Sri Lankan Army.
"If we had killed prisoners of war, how do we rehabilitate over 12,000 Tigers? Thamilini is the leader of the Tiger women's wing. We arrested her too. Likewise, we arrested a teacher named Neelaventhani who was also a member of the Tigers. She too was captured alive.
"The reason the Channel 4, the international forces and the NGOs have come together during the Geneva human rights session against us is because that we managed to defeat the Tigers. Few years back, the western countries said that Prabakaran can never be defeated and they even wanted us to hand over North to him. But the Government had faith on the military and took a political decision with the aim of establishing peace in the country. Meanwhile, some of the countries even tried to obstruct the Vanni offensive. But the President never left any space for them to succeed. As a consequence the western countries were embarrassed. Therefore, what all these countries are attempting in Geneva is to humiliate and disgrace Sri Lanka's leadership and the government who defeated the world's dreadest terrorist organization. Despite the fact that the Tigers have been defeated, still there is a Tiger Diaspora living scattered around the world. They have been joined by some groups who are hiding behind human rights organizations and living in Sri Lanka. Even today ,just like in the past, I am not afraid to challenge Callum Macrae to publicly debate me and to corroborate the facts in his film. But the Channel 4 does not have the spine."
Explaining further about the anti-Sri Lankan activities of the Channel 4 television, Mr.Shavendra Silva said that Callum Macrare's erroneous practices would be exposed if he is to accept his challenge to debate him publicly.
He further said: "Even though the Tigers have been defeated, the Tiger sympathisers are still active in Europe. Moreover, the Tiger Diaspora has got an enormous amount of money. This is a fact that has been proved beyond any doubt through the anti-Sri Lankan activities of people like Vishvanathan Rudrakumar who is operating from Amrecia. They are been assisted by certain people who are committing treacherous acts against the motherland through web sites. Here, I would like to stress one thing: There is no precedence in the world where victors get accused as war criminals. In the aftermath of the second world war, the Allies were not accused as war criminals. But when we defeated Prabakaran, the western countries are feeling embarrassed. They have a problem with the Sri Lankan Army for emerging victorious by defeating Tigers when they themselves have failed in crushing terrorism. This is exactly the problem that is now being reflected in Geneva. The fact that we treat prisoners fairly has been confirmed by ex-prisoners who have been through the rehabilitation process. But the entire world knows how the America is treating their prisoners held in in Guantanamo Bay. The simple reason why Sri Lanka get accused by many parties in the Geneva human rights council, is just to take their revenge from us for defeating the Tigers."
Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan government has written to the president of the human rights council Remigiusz Henczel, that to allow the screening of Callum Macrare's 'No Fire Zone' film inside the UN building is a blatantly unethical decision while pointing out that the NGOs do not have any right to screen such a film against Sri Lankan which is a member state of the council. Even previously, Callum Macrare organized a screening of his film - 'The Killing Field' - and showed it to the diplomatic community. Should not this attempt to screen his latest film be seen as a contract provided by the Tigers, when four years have elapsed since the Vanni war?
In parallel with this, another operation has been launched by the former BBC reporter Frances Harrison. She has revealed about two eye witnesses who claim that they have witnessed how two Tiger terrorists - Nadesan and Pulithevan - were executed by the Sri Lankan military. One of these witnesses is claiming to be the bodyguard of Nadesan. The other person had been a school teacher in Vanni. Both of them now live in London. The most serious question is why these two witnesses decided to come into the open just exactly when the human rights council session kicked off, after remaining mum for almost four years. This undoubtedly proves the fact that the foreign media is backing the Tiger Diaspora. The human rights session will go until 22nd and the sources reveal that many more pseudo witnesses may surface during this period.
Source: 'Divaina' Sinhala newspaper | 27.02.2013
URL: http://www.divaina.com/2013/02/27/feature01.html
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