Channel 4 playing 'professional fouls'

Dr. T. Sathyamoorthy MBBS – formerly RDHS Kilinochchi and presently Medical Superintendent, General Hospital Vavuniya. He has visited USA, Australia and Canada in 2011-12.	Dr. Shanmugarajah MBBS – Formerly RDHS District Hospital, Mullaitivu and presently Medical Superintendent, Mullaitivu Hospital visited Geneva, also attended UNHRC sessions March 2012.	Dr. Vardharajah MBBS – Formerly RDHS District Hospital, Mullaitivu. He has been to India several times and subsequently migrated to the USA 2012.
Dr. Sivapalan MBBS – Formerly Medical Officer, Vanni and presently serving as MO, Kilinochchi Hospital in Chavakachcheri.	Dr. Illanchelipalliayn MBBS – Formerly Medical Officer Kilinochchi Hospital. Presently undergoing Post Graduate Studies in Colombo.

The UK's Channel 4, in its new release, has alleged that the Sri Lankan doctors who had made various statements to the international media when they were serving in government hospitals in Vanni during the conflict have changed their stance due to pressure by the Government while under the custody of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID). If the doctors recant their eyewitnesses' reports, they would be imprisoned under Sri Lanka's Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), it has alleged.

This seems to be another loony allegation levelled against the Government of Sri Lanka by the CH-4. The fact remains that when these doctors were in the No Fire Zone (NFZ), they were entirely under the control of the LTTE. The doctors were well aware of the repercussions they would have to face if they say anything against the Tigers.

So they had given exaggerated civilian casualty figures, blamed the Security Forces of arbitrary shelling on hospitals, and so on and so forth to the international media. This they had done for the sake of their survival and to continue to treat the injured, they later revealed.

However, what is interesting here is how the CH-4 has dramatised these allegations according to its imagination and not going by reality. How on earth can the CH-4 say without referring to any of the doctors who are freely available here or abroad, what really happened when they were, for three months, with the CID until the initial investigations are over.

There were five doctors who had served in the Government hospitals in Vanni and were later liberated by the Security Forces.

Out of the five doctors, three have travelled outside Sri Lanka from time to time on personal visits, to receive awards and to attend courses.

The countries visited by them include India, USA, Australia and Canada.

Further to the point, the doctors have provided their testimonies to the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) of their true accounts in the NFZ during the last phase of the humanitarian operation. The doctors have revealed the truth to the world. Also, Dr. Sathiyamoorthy, who was awarded the Inter Action Humanitarian Award 2010 in the USA, has addressed large gatherings of the international community, sharing information on his role, experiences and difficulties encountered.

(theimho.org/blog/18-event-category-in-blog/348-sathiyamoorthy-interaction-humanitarian-award-2010")

Their details including present occupational status and whereabouts are provided here. Therefore, it is obvious that the motives behind the CH-4 new release are only to mislead international community by attempting to bring false charges against the Government. The CH-4 has drifted a long way from professional journalism and seems to be playing professional fouls. Moreover, the CH-4 is now hand-in-hand with pro-LTTE groups and has become their mouthpiece, giving oxygen to the LTTE rumps in exile licking their wounds in a bid to help the outfit gain some legitimacy but in vain.

Therefore, one must think before one jumps into this unwarranted jargon of misinformation as the truth withstands steady above all forces.