Bogus Channel 4 video clip:

Futile attempt to tarnish image of Sri Lanka

The Channel 4 affair, the telecast of a doctored video clip showing some persons being executed by persons the video clip telecasters claim were members of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces killing civilians is a typical example of the ‘holier than thou’ attitude of most people and even Governments of the West. The video footage had now been challenged not only by the Sri Lanka Government but also by Sri Lankans living in the UK who staged a demonstration opposite the Channel 4 TV station in London calling it a bogus news service.

Erik Solhiem was quick to make a statement on the telecast to support the wild allegation against Sri Lanka and it reminds one of an ancient adage among Sri Lankans, ‘Horage Ammagen Pena Ahanawa’ that a person who had lost some valuables had gone to the rogue’s mother for séance to find the culprit! Norway’s role in trying to bolster the bloodthirsty LTTE as is well known does not need further comment as Solhiem was the main player in the latter day version of Hamlet staged in Sri Lanka till its villain was slain.

There was always these holier than thou political figures of the West who had always attempted to tarnish the image of Sri Lanka when it was being attacked by the most ruthless terrorist group, the LTTE and the UK was at one time interested in sending their special envoy to learn about the human rights situation here. But most countries in the West, though not all are still guilty of sending in their troops to Third World countries like Vietnam, Afghanistan or Iraq where their human rights records to use a euphemism were shameful.

Most of the Western media, it is no secret are prejudiced against all countries who wish to resolve their problems by themselves without leaning on the shoulders of the powerful Western nations or looking for the prescription of their brand of governance or human rights.

The Channel 4 pundits need a mild reminder that most of the human rights violations, or annihilation of entire villages, with women, children and infants like the Mai Lai massacre in Vietnam or the killings of civilians in Iraq or Afghanistan may not have crossed the minds of the Channel 4 managers when they telecast the phony video clip that is now being found a fake. That being so a very vital question has to be raised about the intent of the TV station and its integrity.

Were the same human rights issues brought up when former US President George W. Bush invaded Iraq on a bogus mission of finding ‘weapons of mass destruction’ in that country?

The least that could be said about Channel 4’s unauthenticated video clip is that it is a shame that the mass media was being used for unethical purposes by some elements who may be the sympathizers of the vanquished LTTE terrorist group who held the worst record of human rights violations in the present era. - A humane vioce