Swallowing the bait

Almost four months have elapsed since Sri Lanka's valiant Security Forces successfully eradicated LTTE terrorism and liberated the entire country.

However, the few remaining LTTE propaganda activists living overseas have been working overtime to woo global sympathy and focus the attention of the International Community. The propaganda activities come in different forms, making the best use of their links in various sectors.

The Channel 4, a British television channel, came up recently with its latest canard about Sri Lanka. A poor quality video footage showing two persons clad in combat uniforms shooting down two others was given extraordinary publicity by this channel, claiming it to be Sri Lanka's Security Forces "summarily executing Tamils".

This goes to prove the hidden agendas of certain international media networks which are engaged in a deliberate propaganda campaign against Sri Lanka and its people.

The so-called "foreign affairs correspondent" of the controversial TV channel, Jonathan Miller, is evidently making another desperate attempt to take a personal agenda forward by filing another distorted story about Sri Lanka. He almost vows that "Sinhalese" soldiers killed Tamils in the video.

Breaching all ethics in professional journalism, he generalises charges against a particular ethnic group of a multi-ethnic country. There is no doubt that this is a highly irresponsible attempt to incite communal hatred.

Miller brings unnamed sources to support his obvious objective of disrupting ethnic harmony in Sri Lanka.

The controversial video and fabricated allegations made against our Security Forces has focused international attention. Unfortunately, the accuracy of the TV report has been hardly questioned.

During the final phase of the humanitarian operation in the North, there was a similar fabricated story on an explosion in the No Fire Zone. In a well organised photo shoot, the LTTE used the civilians to pose for a series of photographs to show that the civilians were running for safety in fear of an aerial explosion in the background.

In doing so, the LTTE tried to mislead the International Community, by projecting a gloomy picture of the Security Forces bombarding the No Fire Zone. But it was later proved that the controversial photographs were doctored as some civilians in the photographs had fearful faces while others in the background were smiling.

If there had been a genuine aerial bombing, there could not have been any civilians smiling while the others ran away.

The Channel 4 drama is yet another 'clever work' to take the International Community for a good ride and discredit Sri Lanka and its Security Forces, which is no second to any army in the world when it comes to anti-terrorist operations. The true sons of our soil have proved their skills beyond question to make Sri Lanka the only country to eradicate terrorism.

Certain countries and organisations do not like to accept this stark fact.

Hence, they tend to make every attempt to devalue the great achievements of our Security Forces. They go an extra mile to give the maximum publicity to those concocted stories of the LTTE propaganda network.

Professional journalism demands that journalists ensure that the information they disseminate is true, fair and accurate. Journalists cannot air their personal grievances and present them as actual facts. Indeed, they have the freedom to express their views and comments but they should be the Gospel truth.

Reverting to the concocted Channel 4 episode, Miller opens his story about the video calling the victory over terrorism in Sri Lanka something to be 'celebrated only by the Sinhalese majority'. This is certainly not the ground reality here in Sri Lanka.

How come a foreigner such as Miller makes such a serious comment about the thinking of Sri Lankan people? He also goes on to say that it has been a "brutal war in which unknown thousands of Tamil civilians were killed". But he does not attribute sources to substantiate his claim.

Showing a carefully edited video footage apparently released by the LTTE propaganda wing during the humanitarian operation, Miller says, "Now, we know that one soldier had a mobile phone". Undoubtedly, this is a deliberate attempt to conceal the authenticity of the video.

The video shows a man wearing an olive-green overall shooting a naked and loosely blindfolded man with his hands tied behind his back. The victim is shot at point blank range in the back of his head. Then the cameraman videos several other males lying on the ground apparently dead. The video footage ends showing another man, in camouflaged combat uniform, shooting the second blindfolded man in the same manner as the earlier one.

The picture quality of the video footage is poor and there was no visible evidence whether the victims were actually injured in the shooting. Those who fired the shots were clad in combat clothes generally worn by all armies in the world and there is no evidence to prove that they were from the Sri Lankan Security Forces.

There were no Sri Lanka Army insignias or other items captured in the video to identify those who fired the shots being from the Sri Lanka Army.

Interestingly, the videographer discreetly avoids directing the camera at those who fired the shots.

International organisations and countries which express their "utmost concern" on the controversial video clip aired in Britain, should first confirm its authenticity.

Is it fair for them to swallow concocted stories of the LTTE sympathisers hook, line and sinker and tarnish the good name of the Security Forces? The Sri Lankan Security Forces have earned a name for themselves as the most disciplined army in the world.