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May 25th 2007

While the various international news media express their own particular interpretations of the situation in Sri Lanka with a variety of euphemisms to moot, what they fail to realise is that, what goes on in Sri Lanka today is not a war by the correct definition of the term aligned to rationality but a war against terrorism! The nuances which go towards this definition at times border on ignorance, apathy and irresponsibility and continues in the most erratic trajectory which is often picked up by the terrorists on one side of the conflict and taken advantage of almost as though it was carte blanche towards justification!

Perhaps despite the attrocity of the concept this practise by the international news media to express opinions which in the long run are detrimental to a Sovereign Democracy should be muffled, disillussioned or completely trashed until they get their facts right or find better things to do with their times as they often contribute towards a travesty of justice and interfere rather than help find the resolutions needed towards the problem.

Media jokes by media folks for instance veiled in heavy sarcasm that during a previous phase of Sri Lanka's interminable civil war the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (Tamil Tigers) must surely have already been wiped out entirely, given the numbers of rebels the military said it was killing are completely in bad taste. Once again organizations such as these rather than reporting the realities of the issue which indeed point towards the gradual demise of the Tamil tigers despite their last hurrahs being made manifest by their sporadic actions of the day tend to grossly exaggerate what they see towards those whom they particularly seem to favour and need to be jarred to their senses that they are doing a great injustice to a Nation that is fighting a war against global insurgents of terror.

The least of the worries of the media which get involved in their natterings about the conflict in Sri Lanka should be about who's winning the war as they obtrusively and often misguidedly at times articulate and the casualty figures on either side irrespective of wide or narrow divergence should be of little consequence to the importance of resolving the issue favourably and legitimately withn the Sovereign Nations' best interests at heart and the meaningless related speculations needing to be completely expunged in favour of the rights of the citizens of Sri Lanka towards being permanently rid of the terrorist element which these media often fail to perceive as their primary objective rather than pandering to the terrorists through their lopsided speculations!

Consequently it not the entitlement of any respectable news media to add distortion and innuendo based speculation in the broadbased reporting of Sri Lanka's ongoing conflict that whilst being fought not just at sea, on land and from the air, there's a parallel propaganda war too.It should not be their concern to make such speculations or draw conclusions as in doing so their tarnish their own reputations that they often cross the fine line that separates discretion and cut throat journalism and venture disparagingly into a nether world of speculation where thay themselves are a contributory factor to this very propaganda they broadcast!

The BBC in particular which in recent times has earned the unenvious reputation of being biased over many issues contentious to the more perceptive,( some even call it the Biased Broadcasting Corporation in lighter vein!) becomes the culprit on many occassions towards breaching the protocols of impartial news reporting and needs to be cautioned that the goings on in Sri lanka are terrorist related, it is not a war per se and the terrorists are being gradually ground into the dust where it may not be an overnight manifestation that they will be vanquished but an eventuality which may take considerable time!

The Hindustan Times of India through one of its its bipartisan local resident corresponents in Colombo is also a notorious party to this kind of reporting! They should most definitely and without compunction be give a bit of friendly advice that by making remarks which could be interpreted as terrorist friendly they are bringing themselves and the sources they represent to disrepute and should realistically re-align their direction of dialogue where they would be better off denouncing terrorist activity rather than even inadvertently elevating them as though they have the right to exist in a world which is committed to eliminating their ilk and if they( the media) must speculate. give the Government of Sri Lanka their unconditional support towards their expected end result! ~ A terrorist free Sri Lanka!

In this respect one could draw an example from the manner in which the latest incident involving the LTTE terrorists has been presented in newsform to the world, regarding the incident at Delft Island, off the SL Government-held Jaffna peninsula, in the early hours of Thursday morning. The report starts off by saying that "A flotilla of Sea Tiger boats launched an attack on a navy base. According to the military they were repulsed, four rebel craft were destroyed, two more damaged. Eighteen Tigers were killed and four navy sailors lost their lives. "Next comes the addendum to the incident from a terrorist perspective which reliable sources have learnt comes from one of the most notorious, lying, fabricating and unscrupulous story tellers within the LTTE terror group, a conscienceless layabout calling himself the LTTE's" military" news source,by name of Rasiah Illyanthiran who might as well be a termite which crawled out of the woodwork of LTTE confusion to contribute to the exact diversion,news sources such as the BBC sometimes seem to thrive on regardless of the accuracy!

In reporting that "The rebels' account of the same confrontation was completely different. They said they overran the base in 20 minutes of fierce fighting and held it for several hours. They said the Sea Tigers counted the bodies of 35 dead Sri Lankan sailors and they lost four of their own. "Both sides are trying to show their constituencies, their people, that the war is going well. On the government side they are trying to convince people the military strategy is on course and that they should support the government. "For the LTTE it is to show the sacrifices of the Tamil people are worth it because they are inflicting so much damage on the other side." the BBC seems to have committed that only too obvious Faux Pas where little credibility seems to have been given to the Government report and even goes onto promote the concept that the LTTE are legitimate representatives of the Tamil people of Sri Lanka which is a distortion of reality and a rapidy growing myth losing its credibility!

Perhaps the BBC and other newsmedia if they are hell bent on an agenda which would lend an illegal credibility to the LTTE terrorists should pay some attention to the fact that the Government of Sri Lanka and its Armed Forces have indeed had the upper hand in recent times against the Tamil Tigers, who profess falsely that they want a homeland for the Tamil minority in the North and East of Sri Lanka which is a pipe dream which has diluted itself to the point of complete insignificance and hence unattainable today given the contempt the majority of Tamils in Sri Lanka have for Velupillai Prabhakaran the cowardly albeit criminally damnable murderer and leader of the LTTE where they would by choice assimilate with the rest of a terrorist free Sri Lanka towards posterity!

It must also be pointed out in agreement with the BBC quote unquote that "during 2006 the rebels were driven from many areas they controlled in the East into landlocked jungle pockets. Since mid-January much of the fighting has shifted to the North - around the forward defence lines that mark the southern perimeter of a swathe of territory the Tigers now marginally cling to and a matter of time before they will be sought out and destrroyed . Sri Lankan forces have been operating in small units trying to eliminate rebel positions. There have also been many air strikes on targets in Tiger areas and exchanges of artillery fire" and there has never been a question about the objectives of all these actions where the Sri Lankan Armed Forces are marching towards a successful elimination of the terrorist scourge!They do have many impediments nonetheless where news media such as the BBC need not be a part of if their dialogue is negative towards the truth of it and the objectives of Sri Lanka!

The greater credibility and accuracy towards the situation in Sri lanka which all newsmedia around the globe should align themselves with as reality comes from the latest bulletin from the Ministry of Defence,which has said that nearly 550 rebels have been killed in the last four months, compared to around 50 forces personnel. Regarding the aftermath of a Tamil Tiger attack in the capital, Colombo The Tigers say their losses are nearer 60 but the report of the Armed forces contradicts this as one of the most respected leaders of the Armed Forces next to its Commander Lieut. Gen. Sarath Fonseka has spoken thus. Not mincing his words Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe has unequivocally pointed out that the LTTE are lying and that they don't want to admit to what is really happening, that they are losing ground, they are losing the battle and all of these point to the eventual defeat of the rebels militarily within two to three years.

One wonders whether in the face of all the home truths governing the decline of the LTTE, the foreign news media particularly the BBC and the Hindustan Times will kindly put up or shut up on the issue of LTTE terrorism in Sri Lanka if their stance is bi- partisan and fast becoming contentious to a vast majority!

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