By Sunil Jayasiri
The government yesterday said it was disturbed over comments made by the UN office in Colombo regarding the attacks which reportedly took place in the Safe Zone over the weekend.
“We have raised the issue with the UN office in Colombo as it is damaging the image of Sri Lanka,” Foreign Secretary Dr. Palitha Kohona told reporters at a news conference yesterday.
He was referring to a statement UN spokesman in Colombo Gordon Weiss made claiming a ‘bloodbath” in the battle filed as large-scale killings of civilians are taking place.
Dr. Kohona said he contacted the acting head of the UN in Colombo and asked about the role of the UN. “It is not the role of the UN to issue such statements embarrassing the respective governments and in this case Mr. Gordon had released to the media what he got without considering the damage to the Sri Lanka government,” Dr. Kohona said.
He said this was not the first time that he came out with such damaging statements against the government. “He (Weiss) is using the ‘UN Spokesman’ to make such kind of statements,” Dr. Kohona charged.
Meanwhile, speaking at the news conference, Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe accused the LTTE of trying to tarnish the image of Sri Lanka at international level as their last step.
Referring to a statement issued by a government doctor, believed to be in the ‘Safe zone’ that several hundreds of civilians were killed, the Minister questioned the authenticity of the story as there was no independent report about it.
“We are not using any heavy weapons to attack as the there were some considerable number of civilians still in this area, so how can we kill such a large number of civilians,” the minister said adding that “there is no truth about the incident.”
Doctor Eeshara Kottage of the Health Ministry said there was no person called Dr. Subramanian working in a government hospital in this area, as mentioned by some reports.
The Minister also said some parties at the UN Human Rights Council was trying to have a session on Sri Lanka’s situation and were currently collecting signatures from parties of the Council.“But if they able to have a separate session on Sri Lanka, as a country we are not ready to negotiate the outcome of that session as we know what we are doing,” the minister claimed.
Channel 4 fiasco highlights clamp down on journalists - Media groups
The recent deportation of the BBC Channel 4 news team from Sri Lanka highlights the Sri Lankan government’s marked duplicity towards independent media coverage of the humanitarian fallout of the war, leading media rights groups in Sri Lanka said yesterday.
The Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association; Federation of Media Employees Trade Union; Sri Lanka Muslim Media Forum; Sri Lanka Tamil Journalists Alliance and the Free Media Movement said in a statement that last week a Channel 4 news team that reported conditions in a Wanni refugee camp were deported on charges of having discredited and defamed the Sri Lankan government and the army through their broadcast over Channel 4 in Britain and widely available on the YouTube on the web,Channel 4 news correspondents Nick-Paton-Walsh, producer Bessie Du and cameraman Man Jasper were arrested and told to get out of Sri Lanka on Saturday and left the country on Sunday.
“Our organization considers this action by the Government an affront to media freedom and one that ridicules their avowed commitment to giving free access to the media to assess and report independently on the humanitarian conditions close to the theatres of war,” the media groups said.
They said Channel 4 team had entered Sri Lanka legally and with proper credentials but their shocking coverage of conditions in a displaced people’s camp may have embarrassed and subsequently angered the Sri Lankan Government and Defence Ministry in particular.
The media groups said the coverage by the Channel 4 team was possible only by subterfuge, since independent local and international media was not allowed access to cover ground conditions in these refugee camps.
“There was no effort by the Sri Lankan government to engage with Channel 4’s coverage, aside from its usual blanket denials and tired accusations of such coverage being pro-LTTE. No effort was made to open up these areas for other media, domestic and international, to contest or confirm Channel 4’s coverage. We can only believe therefore that Channel 4’s coverage was accurate, providing insights into a reality the Sri Lankan Government finds inconvenient,” the rights groups said in their statement.
They said the lack of any constructive engagement with Channel 4’s revealing news productions and the action taken to deport these journalists from Sri Lankan very clearly indicates the intolerance of dissent and independent media by the Sri Lankan government.“We unequivocally condemn the deportation of Channel 4 news team. We have repeatedly called upon the Government to open up camps for independent scrutiny. In the light of the Channel 4 fiasco, our five organizations urgently demand that the Government meaningfully supports independent media in Sri Lanka. We do not believe peace can be achieved or sustained without media able to freely report in the public interest,” the statement said.
The Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association; Federation of Media Employees Trade Union; Sri Lanka Muslim Media Forum; Sri Lanka Tamil Journalists Alliance and the Free Media Movement said in a statement that last week a Channel 4 news team that reported conditions in a Wanni refugee camp were deported on charges of having discredited and defamed the Sri Lankan government and the army through their broadcast over Channel 4 in Britain and widely available on the YouTube on the web,Channel 4 news correspondents Nick-Paton-Walsh, producer Bessie Du and cameraman Man Jasper were arrested and told to get out of Sri Lanka on Saturday and left the country on Sunday.
“Our organization considers this action by the Government an affront to media freedom and one that ridicules their avowed commitment to giving free access to the media to assess and report independently on the humanitarian conditions close to the theatres of war,” the media groups said.
They said Channel 4 team had entered Sri Lanka legally and with proper credentials but their shocking coverage of conditions in a displaced people’s camp may have embarrassed and subsequently angered the Sri Lankan Government and Defence Ministry in particular.
The media groups said the coverage by the Channel 4 team was possible only by subterfuge, since independent local and international media was not allowed access to cover ground conditions in these refugee camps.
“There was no effort by the Sri Lankan government to engage with Channel 4’s coverage, aside from its usual blanket denials and tired accusations of such coverage being pro-LTTE. No effort was made to open up these areas for other media, domestic and international, to contest or confirm Channel 4’s coverage. We can only believe therefore that Channel 4’s coverage was accurate, providing insights into a reality the Sri Lankan Government finds inconvenient,” the rights groups said in their statement.
They said the lack of any constructive engagement with Channel 4’s revealing news productions and the action taken to deport these journalists from Sri Lankan very clearly indicates the intolerance of dissent and independent media by the Sri Lankan government.“We unequivocally condemn the deportation of Channel 4 news team. We have repeatedly called upon the Government to open up camps for independent scrutiny. In the light of the Channel 4 fiasco, our five organizations urgently demand that the Government meaningfully supports independent media in Sri Lanka. We do not believe peace can be achieved or sustained without media able to freely report in the public interest,” the statement said.
Sri Lanka throws out three Channel 4 journalists
Asia correspondent Nick Paton Walsh deported after report on deaths, food shortages and sexual abuse at refugee camp
Channel 4 News' Nick Paton Walsh and cameraman Matt Jasper leave their Colombo hotel after being expelled from Sri Lanka. Photograph: David Gray/Reuters
Sri Lanka deported three journalists from Channel 4 television today, a day after they were arrested for alleged false reporting on the civil war.
Lakshman Hulugalle, the head of the government security information centre, said the journalists admitted they had "done something wrong" and would not be allowed to come back to Sri Lanka.
Nick Paton Walsh, the channel's Asia correspondent, denied giving a statement to police or admitting wrongdoing.
"This is complete rubbish," he told AP after arriving in Singapore.
Walsh said he was detained with producer Bessie Du and cameraman Matt Jasper by police in the eastern town of Trincomalee and asked to give a statement, but he refused.
Later, a man in plain clothes spoke to him and took down notes, saying they were for his future reference, he said.
Walsh said he believed the arrests were connected to his recent report on the conditions of war refugees and alleged sexual abuse in camps for those who fled the northern war zone.
ITN News, which produces Channel 4 News, said the report, broadcast on 5 May, contained the first independently filmed video from one of the displacement camps. It claimed dead bodies were left where they fell, there were shortages of food and water and instances of sexual abuse – all claims that the Sri Lankan government has denied.
In recent weeks, the government and aid groups have been struggling to cope with more than 120,000 civilians who fled the warzone, overwhelming displacement camps.
The rebels have been fighting since 1983 for a separate state for minority Tamils, who have suffered decades of marginalisation at the hands of governments controlled by the Sinhalese majority.
Sri Lankan troops have won a series of battles and appear to be on the verge of crushing the decades-old insurgency but media rights groups have said the government's success has been accompanied by a ruthless campaign against dissenting media.
According to Amnesty International, at least 14 local journalists and Sri Lankans working for media organisations have been killed since the beginning of 2006. Others have been detained, tortured or have disappeared. Amnesty says 20 more have fled the country because of death threats.
TAMIL TIGERS MAKING USE OF THE HUMAN SHIELD AND KILL SCORES OF CIVILIANS
In order to depend on the victory of a propaganda war against the government the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) started firing at the civilians indiscriminately killing scores of them sources in the North East of Sri Lanka said.
Providing a clue when this shelling started the LTTE connected website, the Tamil Net said it started on Saturday and as as many as 2,000 civilians had been killed.
As usual to distribute their propaganda they used health sources, who have no other alternative but to tell the phoning reporters what the LTTE propaganda machine says.
Dr V Shanmugarajah said he could not confirm that figure but said the makeshift hospital he is working in - at a school in east Mullaivaikal in Mullaitivu district - had so far taken in 378 bodies.
He said 106 of those killed were children.
Military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said the shells were being fired by Tamil Tiger rebels.
“The radars detected the LTTE [Tamil Tigers] positioning their mortars south of the safe zone and firing from there,” he told Reuters.
“This morning, the radar detected two occasions of the LTTE firing to the safe zone to blame the military.”
“Sri Lankan defence spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella told the BBC reports of government shelling were “propaganda” of the Tamil Tigers.
“He said there had been neither shelling nor air attacks on the civilian zone
Providing a clue when this shelling started the LTTE connected website, the Tamil Net said it started on Saturday and as as many as 2,000 civilians had been killed.
As usual to distribute their propaganda they used health sources, who have no other alternative but to tell the phoning reporters what the LTTE propaganda machine says.
Dr V Shanmugarajah said he could not confirm that figure but said the makeshift hospital he is working in - at a school in east Mullaivaikal in Mullaitivu district - had so far taken in 378 bodies.
He said 106 of those killed were children.
Military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said the shells were being fired by Tamil Tiger rebels.
“The radars detected the LTTE [Tamil Tigers] positioning their mortars south of the safe zone and firing from there,” he told Reuters.
“This morning, the radar detected two occasions of the LTTE firing to the safe zone to blame the military.”
“Sri Lankan defence spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella told the BBC reports of government shelling were “propaganda” of the Tamil Tigers.
“He said there had been neither shelling nor air attacks on the civilian zone
Sea Tigers' deputy chief Cheliyan killed
In a fresh blow to beleaguered LTTE, Sea Tigers' deputy chief Cheliyan was killed by the Sri Lankan forces which moved deeper into the fast-shrinking rebel territory in the embattled north.Cheliyan, the second-in-command of the Sea Tigers, was killed in Kariyamullivaikkal on Friday in the clashes with Sri Lankan forces which captured an enemy earth bund, the Media Centre for National Security (MCNS) said today.
Cheliyan, the second-in-command of the Sea Tigers, was killed in Kariyamullivaikkal on Friday in the clashes with Sri Lankan forces which captured an enemy earth bund, the Media Centre for National Security (MCNS) said today.The death of senior LTTE leader was confirmed by intercepts of the Tamil Tigers' communications, the army said. Meanwhile, few soldiers suffered minor injuries in an IED blast which took place during operations in the Akkarayankulam in Mullaittivu yesterday, the ministry said.
The search operations in the area lead to the discovery of an LTTE training centre and a huge cache of military hardware.
The troops further advanced into the no-fire zone capturing LTTE positions in general area Karaiyamullivaikal yesterday, the ministry said.
According to the sources, hours-long fighting took place in the area as Tamil Tigers launched stiff resistance on advancing troops.
Troops, however, breached the enemy defence line inflicting heavy damages to them, the defence ministry said. The LTTE rebels had laid land mines heavily in the area to obstruct the security forces' advances, sources said.
Intercepting LTTE communication channels, Electronic Warfare sources confirmed that several LTTE militants were killed during the fighting, the ministry said. In subsequent clearing operation in the area, troops found two bodies of LTTE rebels.
Meanwhile, Lankan forces continued their offensive march to rescue the civilians held hostage by the LTTE.
After capturing the LTTE built earth bund in general area Karaiyamullivaikal, troops advanced further neutralizing enemy pockets, military sources said.
Meanwhile, troops also uncovered a large consignment of LTTE military items from general area Puthukkudiyirippu, a report said.