Murali, a true patriot

Former Sri Lanka spinner Muttiah Muralitharan is known the world over for his milestone achievements in the field of cricket. His most recent spotlight in the international media was certainly not about another achievement in cricket, but his efforts to enlighten British Prime Minister David Cameron on the real situation in Sri Lanka.

The British Premier, who was here to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) 2013 in Colombo, visited Sri Lanka's oldest British club - the Gymkhana Club, over the weekend. Nevertheless, he was taken aback when Muralitharan bowled successive doosras at Cameron who had his reservations on Sri Lanka's achievements in the battle against terrorism and the peaceful atmosphere now prevailing.

Just a few hours before the British Prime Minister visited the Gymkhana Club and played cricket with some youth, he had said that he would "fully back an international investigation" into alleged war crimes, if Sri Lanka fails to establish a credible mechanism to investigate the allegations, by March 2014.

"Let me be clear, using our position in the Human Rights Council, we will work with them and call for a credible international inquiry into alleged war crimes if the Government fails to do so by March next year", Cameron was quoted as saying following a meeting with President Mahinda Rajapaksa the previous day.

Cameron's sweeping statement made Muralitharan feel that enough is enough and that he should play his role by the nation to enlighten the British leader on the real situation. While commending Cameron's decision to attend CHOGM 2013, Muralitharan said that the British Prime Minister had been misled about the ground situation in Sri Lanka.

Muralitharan, who has a wealth of experience on the magnificent transformation that had taken place in the North, said that Cameron "must have been misled by others", adding that "people speak without going and seeing the things there".

While presenting his case diplomatically, Muralitharan said that he "can't say that the Prime Minister is wrong or not", but stressed that Cameron lacks first-hand experience; "He hasn't seen the site, he hasn't gone and visited these places".

During his meeting with Cameron at the CCC grounds, Muralitharan had said he is not a politician, but could guarantee that the situation in the North had improved by "more than 1,000 percent".

Days later, Cameron acknowledged that the world record holder for the most number of Test wickets was right in saying that as a proud Sri Lankan, he was keen to paint a fair picture of Sri Lanka.

"What he wants, as a proud Sri Lankan is to ensure that a fair picture is painted of his country, and he is right to say that," Cameron said in response to a question raised in the British Parliament.

It is evident that Muralitharan's candid remarks have impressed Cameron who told the British Parliament that Muralitharan "made a good point that a huge amount of progress has been made in terms of peace, stability and economic prosperity", adding that the spin wizard's charity organisation brings together Tamils, Sinhalese and others to help forge the country together.

Cameron's remarks proved in no uncertain terms that he was ill-informed before Muralitharan gave him the true picture. "He (Muralitharan) is doing amazing work and we should back that work. I also thought he was right to attend (CHOGM 2013) and raise these issues. What he wants, as a proud Sri Lankan, is to ensure that a fair picture is painted of his country, and he is right to say that," Cameron told the British Parliament.

Muralitharan bowled yet another doosra at the controversial British television - Channel 4 - which had tried to 'use' the celebrated bowler in its campaign against Sri Lanka. Nevertheless, he was intelligent and did not fall prey to the trap laid by its controversial director Callum Macrae.

Muralitharan said that Channel 4 had lost its credibility by airing an edited clip of an interview which distorted the context of what he had spoken. "It was unethical for them to edit three minutes of a 45-minute interview and air it. Channel 4 lost all credibility in my eyes", Muralitharan was quoted as saying.

It was reported that Muralitharan had agreed to be interviewed after the Channel 4 team had assured him that the entire interview would be telecast. But when Macrae and his gang realised that they could not use Muralitharan to suit their agenda, they had telecast only a few minutes of it, distorting the champion bowler's views.

"They promised that they would carry everything. It was not me who wanted to be interviewed. They wanted it badly. The right thing to do was to telecast the entire interview and if they were to edit what I had said, they should have told me beforehand. I would have accepted it, if they had done so, but they did not and I think that was very unethical", a dejected Muralitharan was quoted as saying.

This is no surprise as Channel 4 is notorious for such callous acts as it had done so on many occasions. Distorting facts with a doctored video to suit their agendas have been the hallmark of Channel 4 which has produced documentaries to discredit Sri Lanka's valiant Security Forces.

Muralitharan should be commended for his courage in enlightening Cameron and not permitting Channel 4 to 'use' him for another concocted story. What Muralitharan had told Cameron is not only an eye-opener to the British Prime Minister, but also to those in the international community, including Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

More importantly, all Sri Lankans could be proud of having a leader who does not bow down to international pressure and puts the country before self. In the event Cameron thought that he could dictate terms to Sri Lanka, he was sadly mistaken because Sri Lanka is no more a British colony and we have a leader who does not take orders from extraneous forces.

Sri Lanka would by no means bow down to international pressure and would complete its own inquiries. What the West demands cannot be done overnight. It must respect Sri Lanka's views without trying to push us into a corner and intimidate a sovereign state in an unfair manner. Neither Britain nor any other country in the Commonwealth for that matter could pass judgement on another member country.

Was Cameron exploiting his visit to curry favour with the Tamil community in the United Kingdom? Cameron has the right to quote Winston Churchill, but he should bear in mind that Sri Lanka has its own illustrious leaders who are worthy of emulation.

Hence, Cameron has no moral right to pontificate to Sri Lankan leaders and quote what Churchill had said. Moreover, Cameron has contradicted his own statements from time to time. While turning out to be a self-appointed arbitrator, setting deadlines for Sri Lanka and using his tour to intimidate the host nation, he told a different story on his return to the UK.

It is tragic that Cameron was unable to believe what he had seen in Sri Lanka. He may not have believed his eyes as he was strongly misled by the false propaganda of the LTTE rump in the West.

However, he has quite rightly acknowledged that Sri Lanka has enormous opportunity to march forward with a booming economy. In this scenario, Cameron should not dig into old wounds and jeopardise Sri Lanka's forward march as terrorism is now a thing of the past.

At the same time, Muralitharan should be commended for enlightening Cameron and portraying the true story about Sri Lanka. Muralitharan is not only a cricketing legend, but also a patriotic citizen.