SINHALA RACIST REGIMES & SINHALA INHUMAN SOLDIERS TARNISHED THE IMAGE OF SRILANKA..!!! NOT JDSL OR CHANNEL-4 OF UK...!!!

SRI LANKA TO LODGE PROTEST WITH UK

TV scenes of killings

By Sandun A Jayasekera

Sri Lanka said yesterday it would protest to Britain over the Channel 4 TV station telecast of defamatory and distorted images of a Sri Lankan soldier shooting a man and a woman.

Cabinet spokesman and Minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa told journalists at the weekly news briefing that the Foreign Ministry would take up the matter through diplomatic channels.

The Channel 4, Britain’s second largest TV station had telecast the highly damaging video footage reportedly taped in January where a man and a woman stripped naked and bound were shot by a person in military uniform.

The Channel 4 said the video had been sent by a group calling itself ‘Journalist for Democracy in Sri Lanka’ and that the channel could not vouch for the authenticity of the video.

However, many other channels including Al Jazeera and CNN telecast the footage without any comments. CNN only warned viewers that the scenes might be disturbing.

“The purpose of the telecast is no doubt to tarnish the image of Sri Lanka and the security forces at this critical time. The Sri Lankan government unequivocally and categorically dismisses it as a concerted attempt to tarnish the image of our country,”Minister Yapa said.

He said these were the very same people who attempted to block the humanitarian operations and also tried to save LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran through their mud slinging campaigns while now they were on a mission to defame the Sri Lankan Army, which was one of the highly disciplined professional armies in the world.

“We won’t ignore this. We want the Channel 4 and the British government to take action to prevent a repetition of this kind of fabricated propaganda against our armed forces. The Sri Lanka high Commission in London has already lodged a protest with Channel 4,” Mr. Yapa said.

He charged that certain media organizations in the west were hell bent on spreading rumours and half baked information about Sri Lanka and added that Sri Lanka was surely and steadily raising her head on all fronts after vanquishing the most ruthless terrorist outfit in the world that bled the country for 30 years.

Mr. Yapa said the government had given top priority to re-settle the 280,000 displaced people as early as possible and obtain their contribution for the country’s development process.

“Certain elements in the local and international scene do not want this to happen. The Channel 4 episode is another attempt by these elements to pull the rug from under the government,” Minister Yapa said.

He and Information Director Anusha Palpita said they had never heard of this group called ‘Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka’ adding that it could be a front organization for LTTE remnants attempting to pump oxygen to the dying organization.

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