I wrote this and it was published in June 2011.
Today I reproduce it to serve as a look over the shoulder, a reference point. The
events are of the past, but the substance is of now, the present and of the
future. I like to think that I do not tow anyone’s or any ideological line. I believe
that truth must prevail. I believed and I do still that the dominant West has,
and is been unkind to us; the Sri Lankan nation, in analysing, commenting and
acting on the issue of the war waged on terror. Yet, I cannot today, be as boldly
confident as I was then on our way forward. I see several fault lines appearing
and urge for us to set our minds to resolve them to be confident again. This should
not only be by responding and rebutting the lies told, but by demonstration and
through honest, genuine effort in creating for us all, a better future in a
unified Sri Lanka, where all of us can live and construct our lives, without
fear, in harmony, with dignity and with honour.
With the Channel 4 ‘spin’
of telecasting the “Killing Fields of Sri Lanka” programme last week, we were
once again reminded that relating only one side of the story can be as convincing
to an audience, wishing to hear only that side of the story. Watching it on ‘You
Tube’, the question I, as an ordinary Sri Lankan citizen asked through-out its
craftily-spun-rolling was, where then is the LTTE in all of this? They were always
featured as the victims but for a few passing references to just a few of their
crimes, there was very little mention of them.
One-sided affair
It was as if this was
a ‘clapping of hands with one hand’, where the sole agenda is to get a
legitimately elected government of my country and its armed forces on its knees
for effectively wiping out a group of terrorists, or their representatives who
were once ‘friends’ or were ‘friends of friends’ of yours. It was as if there
were no terrorists or terrorism against the Sri Lankan state, citizens of this
country and even on a leader of India
At one point I
wondered, if it would not have been tactically advantageous for the LTTE
terrorists to shell the hospitals located within the ‘No-Fire Zones’ themselves,
to achieve the very objective of attracting the sympathy and involvement of the
‘international community’. This could have been a ploy to discredit the
government and its fighting outfit. I wondered why that possibility was not
even suggested to the viewers. It was to me a portrayal of a totally one-sided
affair and not at all ‘unbiased reportage’ of the end-stages of the defeating
of what was termed by the international media themselves as the ‘most ruthless terrorist
group in the world’.
Hell on earth
For those UN and
Amnesty International ‘officials’, featured in the programme, who have been
party to only a limited period of this bloody conflict, I can only say ‘You
should have lived through what I and twenty million others like me, had to live
through as Sri Lankans during those over twenty five years”. To us, it was
‘hell on earth’ when our brothers and sisters were indiscriminately murdered by
LTTE suicide bombers. It was sure hell to see many lives of our young being
sacrificed while fighting ruthless terrorists on those battle-fields. There
will be testimony on both sides of the fence of mothers, fathers, brothers and
sisters and sons and daughters of those who have been victims of the traps laid
in LTTE killing fields at various locations, at various times, in various forms
and the kidnappings and summary executions carried out during those over twenty
five years.
For these spin doctors
and those who chose only to be associated with one part of the story, such news
goes to achieve their singular objective of wanting to place another obstacle
in the way of a nation, that so yearns to heal its wounds and move on to
achieve a better future for all its citizens.
Our brethren
I, for one am someone who
does not hold any political party affiliations or blind loyalties. I was part
of an entirely voluntary effort working at the interim camps in helping Tamil civilians
in the immediate aftermath of the defeat of the LTTE and met and interacted
with them on several occasions and assisted in solving some of their immediate
problems. There were many others who did very much more and helped ease their
plight. At no time did we associate LTTE’s inhuman ways with any of the
innocent civilians, in those camps. To us they were brethren who had undergone
much suffering.
Just this week in the Deep South where I live, we eagerly wait to welcome and
interact with ten Tamil students and their teachers on a Peace Secretariat, US
AID and Rotary Club sponsored programme. They are here for a week, will visit
schools and have fun meeting their counterparts. Several children here are
gearing to horn their Tamil speaking skills to be able to interact with their
brothers and sisters from the North. I am told that the visiting students are
doing the same. There are yet many other ongoing programmes in the North and
the East and in the rest of the country to help rebuild the lives of these very
people depicted in the film. There are committed counsellors, doctors,
engineers, government employees, members of the armed forces, volunteers and
other well-meaning persons, who are chipping-in to assist our Tamil brethren to
heal their wounds and regain hope and ability to build a better tomorrow.
We are healing
It is certainly the
summation of the work of the leadership, such individuals and events that will
bring us together to cement real peace within our nation. Attempts of ‘spin
doctors’ and their sponsors with PR funds, who seem to be hell-bent on creating
more and more rift and division among us, will certainly not help the process.
The good news is that in
spite of all of this we are healing, and we are fully aware that it is not an
easy road ahead.
On a recent web- forum a
fellow Sri Lankan Asoka Weerasinghe of Canada
“Graphic footage of the murder of Tamil civilians in a powerful
documentary should move the world to seek justice” wrote Chris Cobb.
“I myself was reviled by this documentary as was Chris
Cobb. But my revulsion was for a very different reason. This was a
video when challenged by independent experts as not being authentic footage,
was admitted by Channel 4’s Callum Macrea who directed it, that it was
put together with photographic stills, LTTE (Tamil Tiger) websites, video
clippings, from official Sri Lankan Army video footage and satellite imagery,
contrary to what we were made to believe were completely shot by a simple
mobile phone in the killing fields. I also noted that it was
Channel 4’s News team, Nick Paton Walsh, producer Bessie Du and cameraman Matt
Jasper who were deported from Sri
Lanka 10 May 2009 , as they alleged were arrested for
false reporting on the Tamil Tiger terrorist war and subsequently deported.
Suicide bombing
It is also clear that
the motive to air this video to be seen around the world is to insist that Sri
Lanka has to be tried for war against humanity and war crimes during the final
few months of the war, when we know that the Tamil Tigers did kill over
100,000 innocent unarmed Sinhalese and Muslim civilians, men, women,
pregnant mothers, children and infants for 27 long years and hijacked the
right-to-life of 21 million people who were just scared to step outside their
homes for the fear of being bombed to smithereens by the Tamil Tigers.
They were the terrorists who perfected the art of suicide bombings with
suicide body packs, and executed 388 suicide bombings by the time the war ended
on 18 May 2009 ,
which also assassinated two heads of state Rajiv Gandhi of India Sri
Lanka
Ethical practises and
the precepts or commandments followed by rational and good media, just do not jell
well with efforts such as that of that of Channel 4. They take bits and pieces
of images, thought-lines, comments and commentaries out of context, out of time
lines and thread them together to tell stories to audiences who want to hear it
that way. Ground realities, rationality and facts are ignored as a rule and the
sources are always secondary at best and tertiary most often.
There is no doubt that
we live in an imperfect world and there is so much of wrong-doing that needs to
be exposed. It is also true that the role of the media in that pursuit is of
vital importance. Human freedom and expression would never be the same if not
for the presence of fine, rational media men and women, who often take huge
risks on their own lives to bring to us, the realities of the world as they
are.
Have what it takes
Yet it seems that the
objective and the rationale behind covering ‘bad and sad news’ while being in
the comforts of the studios using the best of technology and doctoring skills,
working with editing machines and with third and second party materials,
without an understanding of what really goes on in the places or the situations
they are reporting on, seem to pass on today as ‘hits’ of stories as they are
touted. What we need today is a new dictum where bad news is not considered
good news. We need to focus more on the good and encourage more and more of
that good to happen more often around us. There is no merit in rubbing on
wounds that are healing. One needs to amputate only cancerous growths and not
healthy tissues.
Once again, I as a
citizen of Sri Lanka
The Way ahead ...
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