Blatant lies by Sri Lanka Guardian

Lies, lies, damned lies is what I have to say of the report and editorial comment in the website Sri Lanka Guardian (SLG) of October 09, 2010 titled "From gassing the dogs to human gassing in Sri Lanka". The SLG well known as a propaganda arm of the LTTE, has made yet another attempt to blacken the image of Sri Lanka by targeting its human rights record.

Spokespersons for the government we believe would have answered these dastardly lies.

We, as animal welfare organizations are infuriated by the fact that the SLG, running out of material to fabricate propaganda material has turned to concocting stories of cruelty and brutality inflicted on animals by state authorities, which treatment, according to the SLG is to be extended to the LTTE suspects in the North.

The SLG dares to lie openly, talking about the appalling and brutal seizing and gassing of dogs supposedly carried out even now by the Colombo Municipality, The truth is that the gassing of dogs ended in 2003, and the strategy of seizing and killing dogs introduced to us by the British colonial rulers was stopped by a directive issued by President Rajapaksa in May 2006.

He ordered the immediate stopping of killing of dogs and called for the replacement of this brutal and archaic method by a scientific, humane system of dog population and rabies control.

The President has also released ample sums of money to implement sterilization programmes for dog population control.

Today, contrary to the damn lies spread by the SLG, Sri Lanka has taken the lead among countries including not only in Asia and Africa, but also some European countries and the US, where rabies has not yet been totally eradicated, in introducing a humane policy for controlling rabies.

In November 2009 a national stamp bearing the picture of a community dog was issued to commemorate the "No Kill" policy introduced by the President.

This pro-LTTE lying machine even professes to show concern for Buddhist principles in order to paint a false picture of Sri Lanka, stating that despite being a Buddhist state, it is carrying out the inhumane practice of brutally seizing and gassing dogs.

The President has acted on the Buddha's principle of compassion to all beings in stopping the wanton killing of dogs as required by the British Raj. We deplore the lies put out by the SLG and hope it would in future stop concocting stories about animals for their false propaganda.

Sagarika Rajakarunanayake

Sathva Mithra