MEDIA RELEASE -SRI LANKA UNITED NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CANADA
The questionable Channel 4 video titled ‘Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields’ screened in Geneva on June 6, 2011 during the UN Human Rights sessions and later broadcast in the UK on June 14th with subsequent airing by PBS and ABC Four Corners has been done irresponsibly without determining the factual position, with the sole intention of shaming and blaming the Sri Lankan government, theƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ security forces and theƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ people of that island nation.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The accusatory tone,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ andƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ misrepresentations made by the narrator Jon SnowƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ does not in any way make the unverified pictures submitted by the pro-Tamil Tiger (LTTE)ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ diasporaƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ for inclusion in the disputed video any thing other than a deceitful attempt to pin the blame on the government forces for crimes committed by the tigers.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
The repeat screenings of this disputed video by the pro-Tamil Tiger diasporaƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ in Toronto and elsewhere to unsuspecting audiences with little or no knowledge of the LTTE’sƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ criminal and deceitful ways could be easily misled into accepting theƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ story lineƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ given by the narrator to each and every picture projected on the screen. In theƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ circumstances, it is necessary to repeat the reasoning putƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ forward by usƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ in our earlier media releases toƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ point out the flaws and falsehoodsƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ contained in thisƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ fraudulent video which is part of the vengeful agenda of pro-Tamil Tiger diaspora, following the failure of their project to break up Sri Lanka by funding the violence and suicide terrorism of the LTTE.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Nevertheless, the Sri Lankan authorities have given the assurance that where credible evidence is provided in respect of HR violations, they would carry out an investigation and take appropriate action against the culprits,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
The descrepancies in theƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ main segment relating to the extra-judicial killingsƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ has been questioned by video technology experts.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Experts hired by both the UN as well as the Sri Lankan government, i.e. Grant Fredericks and Siri Hewavitharne respectively, have stated that it has been filmed with a video camera and not a mobile phone as originally intimated by Channel 4, and that it has been digitally altered with more than one video layer being present.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Channel 4 initially stated that these summary killings had taken place in January 2009, and now claim that it had happened in May 2009, whereas the inscribed date on the video is UTC 2009-07-15 13:17:23ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ which is after the war ended on May 18, 2009.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Also, Jon SnowƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ concludes that the perpetrators are government soldiers as they are wearingƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Sri Lanka Army uniforms and supposedlyƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ speaking some meaningless Sinhala wordsƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ in the background, and that the victims are captured Tamil Tiger cadres,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ without identifying a single person.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ TheƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ experts have concluded that the Sinhala sounds appear to have been later dubbed, and that the voice recording together with 17 frames are not synchronized with the rest of the video.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ In fact a second video has been found where the gunmen speak clear Tamil words which are directlyƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ related to the actionƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ taking place, making it more than likely that the perpetrators are Tamil Tiger cadres masquerading as Sri Lanka Army soldiers dressed in army uniformsƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ which came into their possession when they previouslyƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ overran army camps, vide http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohI3CSD4neMƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ .ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ This video has beenƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ made by the Tamil Tigers as a propaganda ploy to raise funds for their war effort from the Tamil diaspora by displaying their killing capabilities.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ItƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ had been carried in a Tamil website, i.e. www.pulligal.blogsite.com ,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ as far back as November 2008, which pre-dates both of the dates cited by Channel 4 and subsequently doctored to frame the Sri Lankan authorities.
A.A. Gill writing in the Sunday Times of the UK about the same video commented as follows:
ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-The channel has accumulated a large collection of samizdat amateur footage from mobile phones and video cameras – mostly un-attributed and uncorroborated. It mixes this footage with comment from unnamed sources with distorted voices and shadowed faces and human rights lawyers. It was brutal, it was shocking, but it wasn’t journalism.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Not a second of this has been shot by Channel 4; none of the eyewitness accounts comes from journalists.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚
The narrator named Vany Kumar who described scenes from pictures taken by the Tamil Tigers was not an innocent British university graduate visiting relatives living in the war zone in the middle of a hard fought war, but a LTTE activist with three aliases and military trainingƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ who was volunteering her services since 2008ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ on the request of a LTTE leader named Castro.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Even Isipriya described as a journalist is a military trained cadreƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ of the LTTE who has taken part in severalƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ armed attacks. The injured Tamils in civilian clothes shown at a makeshift hospital could well have been those injured at the frontlines where the Tiger cadres supported by an equal number of civilians engaged in combat roles dressed in civilian attire, and not any hit by shelling as made out.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The video showed one hospital where some ofƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ the roofing tiles got dislodged but there was no structural damage or aƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ crater formed by the shell to be seen, as it could have been caused by the vibrations from the firing of long range weapons placed close to the hospital by theƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ LTTE .
A Tamil asylum seeker (Tamil migrant may have taken part in shooting of soldiers, hearing toldƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ – Global NewsƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ )ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ who arrived in Canada on the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”MV Sun SeaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ admitted to have been one of the LTTE fighters who had been asked to shoot and kill Sri Lankan soldiers held captive towards the end of the war, per news report of 4/19/2011 byƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ DougƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ QuanƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ inƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ theƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ PostmediaƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ News.
The gruesome scenes of a Tamil youth tied to a tree being tortured by menƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ in military fatigues wielding a knifeƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ whose faces are notƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ shown laterƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ succumbs to his wounds and dies at the spot.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ This is made out to beƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ an act carried out by Sri Lankan soldiers.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ However, Dr. Noel Nadesan a leading Tamil domiciled in Australia who is the editor of the only Tamil community newspaper ‘UTHAYAM’ has in his article of July 14, 2011 titled ‘Media and the suffering of the Tamil people’ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ published inƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Sri Lanka’s Daily Mirror, says ” I was told by sources in the Wanni that this was an LTTE operation and pictures were taken for propaganda purposes by LTTE. Have a close look and you will find among the so-called soldiers a man in slippers. Sri Lankan soldiers never go about in slippers when they go out on operations.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ “ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
Gordon Weiss the UNƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢sƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ spokesperson in Sri Lanka at the time had estimated the number of civilian deaths to be 7000 during the period January to April 2009, but same was rejected by the UN Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, Sir John Holmes as unverified and unreliable as the UN did not have a presence on the ground.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Apparently, this figure had been arrived atƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ by information said to have been gathered by the UN Security Chief in Sri Lanka, one Chris du Toit, who had previouslyƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ been engaged by South Africa’s aparthied regime to train the terrorist outfit led by Joseph Savimbi in Angola, which would in the normal course have disqualified him for the post.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ On Chris du Toit being found in Mullativu in the height of the war without authority from the UN Resident Representative Neil Buhne or theƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Sri Lankan authorities,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ he had claimed he visited the area to negotiate the release of UN local staff held by the LTTE causing the Sri Lankan Army to temporarily suspend hostilities while he remained in the area.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ He claimed that he spent the night in a bunker and reported heavy artillery shelling in the vicinity which he said resuled in the death of 39 civilians who sheltered close by.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ He could not confirm the direction from which the artillery shells were fired except for one shell which he clearly identified as having been fired by the LTTE, but assumed that the rest were fired by the Sri Lankan Army.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The UN’s count of civilian deaths was mainly based on the unscientific extrapolation of numbers for the four month period based onƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Chris du Toit’sƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ single unauthorized visit to the war front.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The UK Times correspondent who flew over the final battle scene after the conclusion of the war came up with his guesstimate of 20,000 civilian deaths.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Thereafter, the ICG, HRW, AI and the UNSGƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s Panel who were far from the theatre of war have let their imagination run riot and come up with tens of thousands of civilian deaths in their guessing game which they now figure is 40,000, the same figure quoted by the Tamil Tigers propaganda arm called the Tamilnet.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Others who have had access to the war front and spoken to the temporarily displaced Tamil civilians and Tamil doctors who served the IDPs have given figures ranging from 750 to 1400 at the upper limit.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ A large number of Tiger cadres dressed in civilian attireƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ whilst the LTTEƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ also used an equal number of civilians to support the fighters in duties of a cambat nature thereby blurring the distinction between a combatant and a civilian,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ making the latterƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ liable to attack from the opposing forces.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The LTTE which used the civilians as a human shield had killed a large number of civilians who attempted to flee their area of control by firing AK47 guns, mortars, artillery and even unleashing suicide bombers to stop them from escaping into government controlled areas.
Shelling of hospitals, civilian food distribution lines or alleged rape of female Tiger cadres wereƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ mereƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ allegations made by Jon Snow the narrator, but not established.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ There were noƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ pictures of shells exploding at any of these sites.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The Sri Lankan authorities had abandoned the use of heavy weapons after confining the Tamil Tigers to a small area, and making it more of an infantry operation and use of snipers to take out the armed LTTE cadres.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ It hasƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ also been revealed that an air strike on a jungle target was claimed to have been made on a civilian gathering, giving credit to a supposed UN satellite picture, whereas it had been taken from the Sri Lankan Airforce file.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The women who were seen crying and howling in a bunkerƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ weeping the loss of a civilian said to have died from Army shelling could be those engaged to act out scenes for LTTE propaganda footage.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Dr. Nadeson’s article of July 14, 2011 also states the following:ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ “Take the case of Suthanthirapuram which was declared as the first No-Fire Zone for the civilians. The LTTE moved their radio station and artillery unit to fire at Army points from NFZ.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ They were also firing at the advancing army from close proximity to the hospital or make-shift hospital. The AGA Parthipan and Dr Shanmugaraja can confirm this.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ “ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The Sri Lankan Army have at times directed retaliatory fire to neutralize the LTTE’s heavy gunsƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ that were constantly shooting at them from within No Fire Zones,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ close toƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ hospitals and other sensitive civilian locations, after verifying the gun positions via UAV sightings and making surgical strikes to avert collateral damage.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ As a result of the army restraining the use of heavy weapons, the military action dragged on much longer giving rise to nearly 45 percent of the army’s death toll of 6261 men and injury to 29,551 soldiers in the latter few months of theƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ nearly 33 month military operation against the LTTE, a heavy price paid in the interest of civilian safety.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
We would like to close by quoting once again from Dr. Noel Nadeson’s article of July 14, 2011:ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ” The atrocities committed by the LTTE are numerous. Why didnƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t Channel 4 balance their story with the other side? Is this fair journalism?ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ There is the documented story of Velupillai Prabhakaran herding nearly 300,000 Tamil civilians to serve as his human shield when he was retreating. In the last stages he shot the Tamils who were running away from him into the arms of the Sri Lankan forces who were commended or their humanitarian services by the Ban Ki-moonƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s expert panel and even by Gordon Weiss. Any Tamil who was in PrabhakaranƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s human shield will tell you that the Sri Lankan force treated them humanely than the LTTE cadres.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ If Channel 4 produced a film of the atrocities committed by the LTTE against their own people and the other communities throughout the 33-year-old war ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” the longest running in Asia ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” it would shock the world beyond belief.”
Doctored segments of key footage, misconstruingƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ facts behind some of the pictures presented, and the narrator Jon Snow acting as the accuser, jury and judge, thereby displaying conduct unbecoming of a journalist as heƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ accepts the pictures and story lines given to Channel 4 by Tamil Tiger elements at face value,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ almost a willing collaborator of the agenda of the pro-Tamil Tiger Rump hell bent on discrediting Sri Lanka in revenge for the elimination of the three decade long terrorism on the part of theirƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ heroic Tamil Tiger forces on whom they depended to break up Sri Lanka by force of arms.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ This video with its lack of journalistic ethics, and numerous falsifications and fraudulent alterations will no doubt end in the heap of journalistic dung that is cast aside by the discriminating viewer.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
Given below are two examples of Tamil Tiger deceit which they attempted to sell to world, but came back to haunt them after the truth was exposed in each instance.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
Photo 1 : A photo that appeared in Western media and Tamil Net (LTTE website) in May 2009 to tell the world of “shelling of innocent Tamil civilians in the NFZ by Sri Lankan army”. Note the buildings circled in red remain unaffected just as much as the trees clearly seen in the picture taken on May 10, 2009ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ after the alleged shelling.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The absence of the tents andƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ other temporary shelter of the IDPs in the picture of May 10th is due to no other reason than the civilians having fled the area into Sri Lankan Army controlled areas after the security forces carried out an operation to split the safe zone into two in order to rescue the civilians holed up in that part of the NFZ.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
ƒÆ’‚¯ƒ”š‚»ƒ”š‚¿
ƒÆ’‚¯ƒ”š‚»ƒ”š‚¿
ƒÆ’‚¯ƒ”š‚»ƒ”š‚¿Photo 1 : A photo that appeared in Western media and Tamil Net (LTTE website) in May 2009 to tell the world of “shelling of innocent Tamil civilians in the NFZ by Sri Lankan army” . See Photo 2 published below.
ƒÆ’‚¯ƒ”š‚»ƒ”š‚¿
Photo 2 (Unedited version) : However, what was hidden from the world was revealed when the Sri Lankan army later found this in LTTE propaganda material. The unedited photo shows that this was a staged LTTE propaganda stunt. Look at the smiling girl with a professional camera and the men who are not affected by the “shelling” in the background. This is how the LTTE used women and children to and act to fool the West. Obviously more than one camera was in operation (Click here to read more about LTTE’s mis-information campaign PDF).ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ (Web Version)ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Pictures courtesy of www.slnewsonline.net .
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
Yours sincerely,
Mahinda Gunasekera
Honorary President
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
July 16th, 2011 at 8:01 pm
A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS. QUITE TRUE.
JUST LOOK AT THAT GIRL SMILING WITH A SOPHISTICATED CAMERA IN HAND. THE MAN ON THE LEFT WITH THE ARROW IS WITH A HALF SMILE.
THE TAMIL TERRORISTS DIASPORA ARE BULDING A NEW CULTURE OF INTERNATIONAL GULLIBLE FOOLS, IDIOTS, CLOWNS AND IMBECILES. HOW DO THEY DO THIS ? SIMPLE.
THE MAIN THEATRICAL TAMIL ARCHITECTS OF HOAX, GET HOLD OF WEAK CHARACTERED CLOWNS LIKE WEISS AND JON SNOW, AND BRIBE THEM, TO PUBLICLY TELL LIES, USING THEIR POSITIONS, FOR POCKETS FULL OF DOLLARS, COLLECTED FROM THE LOW CASTE TAMIL TERRORISTS DIASPORA. EVEN CONGRESSMEN AND PARLIAMENTARIANS ARE BOUGHT OVER IN THE SAME MANNER.
THIS IS A VERY DANGEROUS TREND IN THE WORLD, FAR MORE WORSE THAN TERRORISM. A THOUSAND TIMES MORE NUCLEAR, THAN RADICAL ISLAMIC TERRORISM.
SRI LANKAN TAMIL TERRORISTS LEADERS IN THE TAMIL DIASPORA, HAVE BECOME THE WORLDS MOST DANGEROUS MAFIA, USING TAMIL DIASPORA DOLLARS TO BRIBE PEOPLE HOLDING THE HIGHEST POSITIONS IN THE DEVELOPED WORLD, AND IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD.
ANYBODY WHO SPEAKS VEHEMANTLY AGAINST SRI LANKA, AND ATTEMPTING TO SUCK THE BLOOD OUT OF SRI LANKA, IS A PATHETIC VICTIM OF SERVILITY TO TAMIL DOLLARS.
ONLY CHINA AND RUSSIA CAN RESOLUTELY ARREST THIS TREND. WAIT AND SEE.
July 16th, 2011 at 10:39 pm
People Worldwide today critical of GOSL humanitarian mission to liberate human shield used by LTTE in their last ditch to save only their Hierarchy from annihilation, forgets the three decades of mass murders committed by terrorists killing not only Sinhalese, Muslims and Tamils but also destroying Economic targets in Sri Lanka in their quest to carve out a Tamil Kingdom in North/East Sri Lanka.
Truth shall prevail always and that’s what is taking place right now. Channel 4 and all other propaganda machinery used by sympathizers of LTTE to castigate Sri Lanka Forces and Leadership have now exposed their ulterior motives. It’s time people encourage and assist re-building the war ravaged areas for the good of displaced innocent Tamils to heal their wounds/ Sena Fernando
July 17th, 2011 at 1:32 am
We have lost the ” Information war” against LTTE. Even our “gospel truth”has failed to counter “blatant lies” of Tamilnet/LTTE offensives.
As a nation we need a pro-active strategy to counter them. Since 19th May 2009, in the information front, all we have done is reacting to LTTE information offensives. Still, World at large is not aware of the true face of LTTE. This is the most vicious group of humans seen since end of Nazis. Although LTTE operating theater was smaller than Nazis, they matched in wickedness. Jewish people have a on going campaign to counter neo-nazis. We need to act against neo-LTTE on daily basis, and for this we need a strategy and Sri Lankans around the globe need to join in.
July 17th, 2011 at 1:39 am
In the above LTTE propaganda picture, did you notice the boy next to the second woman from the left. This is the woman carrying a child. The boy behind her appears to go other way, and just like any teenager would do he is enjoying the fireworks. This is a great propaganda job by Tamilnet.
July 17th, 2011 at 4:05 pm
With all the war crimes the Tamil Tiger Terrosist Diaspora has committed in the past, there are a couple of good things they have achieved. They have proven to the world that one need not be from the third world to sacrifice self respect for the sake of dollars. People like Weiss, Snow, Fein etc descendents from former colonial countries whose ancestors would have trampled, humiliated and tortured Tamils slaves during colonial rule, are today down at the feat of the desecendent of the very same, begging for favours and money, even at the cost of bringing much disrepute to the nations they come from. So Well done LTTE terrorists.
July 18th, 2011 at 3:21 am
Dear Mahinda Gunasekera<
Very interested in your pursuit of facts & truth about the war concluded in may 2009. It is imperative, your organization & many peace loving associations educate some of the people, who have been mislead by Tamil net & other propaganda machines.
Keep us informed about your positive contribution. Thanks again ! Gamunu Alahakkone~ P.Eng Canada