Independent report sent to all embassies and DPL missions:

Channel 4’s video footage debunked

by Uditha KUMARASINGHE

The Government has already sent the independent report and the video footage produced by the Defence Ministry to counter the bogus claims by the first “concocted Channel-4 documentary” to all embassies and diplomatic missions in Geneva to debunk the brazen falsehood of the second Channel-4 documentary telecast on Wednesday, Acting Media Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena told the Sunday Observer yesterday.

Following the Government’s response to the first video footage, the British Channel-4, remained silent as it had lost its credibility completely.

The Channel-4 through the release of its second video documentary made a concerted effort with the help of the pro-LTTE Tamil diaspora to support the US resolution against Sri Lanka.

However, the government has categorically rejected this second ‘concocted’ Channel-4 documentary.

The Government has enlightened the embassies and other diplomatic missions by providing an independent report on the first channel-4 documentary and also the Defence Ministry’s documentary to counter the allegations by channel-4, he said.

The Minister said that Sri Lanka has stepped up lobbing against the US resolution at the UNHRC following the release of the second controversial Channel-4 documentary. Moreover, the government has sent delegations to Muslim countries and to countries where there are no Sri Lanka embassies, to mobilise support at the UNHRC.

Minister Abeywardena said it is obvious that most of the footage shown in the second Channel-4 video is repetitious, having been recycled from the original. The new Channel-4 video footage released prior to the vote on the US resolution against Sri Lanka is an attempt to make uncorroborated allegations and implicate members of the Sri Lanakan Government and the top military brass.

The channel 4’s telecast of this biassed and misleading video at this juncture is not coincidental but strategically driven and motivated by collateral political considerations.

The Channel-4 has apparently ignored many positive post-conflict developments taking place in Sri Lanka. Its intention is to project a distorted and unbalanced view of Sri Lanka and also to thwart the ongoing reconciliation in Sri Lanka, he said.