Australian SBS reporter produced fiction from imagination, says Karuna group

COLOMBO: May 2, (Asiantribune.com): Aaron Lewis, the reporter who put together the telecast programme "Sri Lanka's Shadow War" on Special Broadcasting Corporation (SBS), based in Sydney Australia, has been accused of using his imagination to produce fiction by the TamilEela Makal Viduthalai Pulikal (the breakaway group from the LTTE led by Karuna).

Reporter Lewis' feature was broadcast on April 19, 2006 on Dateline. He visited the east and claimed that he was taken to a camp of Karuna's Group and dropped near a Sri Lanka Army checkpoint.

Accusing Aaron Lewis of airing LTTE propaganda, Pradeep, Secretary- General of the TMVP office in Batticaloa, has written to the SBS saying that there isn't a single cadre from Karuna Group in the footage shown by him. "All of them belong to the LTTE. Nor was Lewis taken by them to any Karuna camp as alleged in the report," said Pradeep.

According to TMVP source, the main thrust of his programme was to insinuate that Karuna's group was colluding with the Sri Lankan forces to wage a "Shadow War" - repeating the phrase used by Anton Balasingham - against the Tamil Tigers.

Here is the protest letter e-mailed to SBS by Pradeep of the TMVP:

Dear Mr Aaron Lewis,

Statement contradicting the television broadcast "Sri Lanka's Shadow War," by Reporter Mr. Aaron Smith

"Your recent telecast of the programme under the caption "Sri Lanka's Shadow War" aired in the SBS Television (Special Broadcasting Service based, Sydney Australia), has been brought to our notice. When we went through the telecast, as well as the transcript we regret to note that your report was a calculated move to malign our cause to liberate the Tamils from the iron clutches of the Facist Vanni Tigers.

In your report you have said as follows:

Reporter: I saw around 30 people armed with rocket-propelled grenade launchers, AK-47s, an enormous amount of small arms. Please tell us where you saw these so-called 30 people armed with lethal weapons? None of them in the group belongs to our TamilEela Makal Viduthalai Pulikal. You have gone one step further by imagining that you have visited Karuna Group's military wing and also interviewed our cadres.

You stated: These are the first images of the Karuna Group's camps, and the first time any journalist has been allowed inside. As soon as I arrive, I can see that, despite the government's denials, the Karuna Group's military wing is clearly real.

At the camp, a group of soldiers is brought out to meet me. They claim they've just escaped from the Tigers and surrendered today to the Karuna Group. I know this is stage-managed, because I have already received news that these same men had given themselves up two days before. Not surprisingly, they all tell similar stories of abuse at the hands of their old Tiger commanders.

Soldier, (Translation): I was staying in Madurankeni Kulum, in the Vaheri area. I had been taken away by the Vanni Tigers while I was working there, and I was told that I had been supplying food for Amman's people. They chained me, stripped me and beat me, my leg was disabled, my back and arm were broken during the beating. I had to work for them but I couldn't carry a gun. I told them that but they wouldn't listen, they forced me to work, they tortured me. The commander soon asks these soldiers to surrender their weapons for the camera, and I politely record the 2-day-old scene being re-enacted.

This is a figment of your imagination. We took the trouble to study the video footage you have carried in your programme and found all those men posing in it are from the Vanni Tigers' Group. We know them very well, because many of them were our erstwhile colleagues.

The worst of your insinuation comes in the following statement:

On the way back from the Karuna Group's camp, I'm able to pay closer attention of the landscape. Their camps are set up along the ceasefire line - virtually in no-man's land. I later dropped off by the Karuna Group commander a mere 100 metre from the Sri Lanka Army, a Sri Lanka army checkpoint.

This is the crowning statement of your imagination. You are well aware that you came to our political office located at Govindan Road, Batticaloa and spoke to us. We consented to give an interview to you expecting you will report the facts and nothing else. We never took you anywhere but you have cleverly knitted a story around us to appease your paymasters.

We consented to give the interview expecting you will report the facts and nothing else. If we would have known earlier that you are on the payroll of the Vanni based Tigers to shoot a propaganda campaign for them, we would never have consented to speak to you.

We are sending this e-mail to your TV station also and we expect you to give due prominence to our statement immediately.

In case you fail to broadcast our statement contradicting your telecast on or before Saturday by mid-day Australia time, on 29 April, 2006, then we have no choice other than to bring to the notice of the international media to expose your ploy as well the ploy and duplicity of the TV station you represent. Waiting to hear from you," the e-mail concludes.