A terrorist network
Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha, MP
The meeting at the House of Commons to screen ‘Lies Agreed Upon’, the
refutation of several falsehoods propagated by Channel 4, provided many
interesting insights into the manner in which the whole case against Sri
Lanka is being built up.
Siobhain McDonagh |
The screening was intended primarily for politicians, so that
discussion could be of issues germane to the ongoing political
discussion, but the High Commission also realized there was interest in
other quarters, and it had intended to have other screenings of the film
too.
One was being planned for the media on Saturday 15th, while I was
still in London, since I too had had an expression of interest from the
‘Guardian’ when they rang me about the Liam Fox issue. They also told us
that Tamil groups were upset at not being invited, which seemed strange
because the type of person who had complained had not previously
attended events that the High Commission had organized. Still, since
some Sinhalese who had attended such events were also upset, at the
restrictions that had had to be imposed given the limited numbers
possible, it obviously made sense to have more events.
Move forward
We needn’t have worried. Those who wanted to get in to attack the Sri
Lankan government did so, which was all to the good because they were
told by several Tamils as well as Britishers present that it was
necessary now to move forward.
Amongst the politicians who turned up was one who had come to
disrupt, but after one attempt to divert the discussion to British media
problems, she left and did not come back. This was Siobhain McDonagh,
who it was revealed had been in touch with Channel 4 over the making of
their film. She also brought with her two people who she claimed were
her researchers. One was a young man who had signed himself into the
meeting as Daran who told me however that he was a freelance journalist
called Canaa. He claimed to have been in touch with Dr Shanmugarajah
while the latter was in Mullivaikkal, and promised to send me
photographs that he claimed he had got from him dating to that period.
When the promised pictures did not come, I called him up, to be told
now that he actually worked for the Bank of Scotland, and he would
definitely send me the pictures soon. He was a strange boy, obviously
deeply committed to the cause the LTTE had upheld, though I suspect
that, were it not for people like Siobhain McDonagh who have no scruples
whatsoever in their thrust for electoral popularity, his energies could
be channeled into support for the Tamil people rather than the rump
terrorist movement.
Channel 4 film
It will be necessary however to persuade him to look at facts rather
than to regurgitate falsehoods. When I was discussing the
inconsistencies in the Channel 4 film, and in particular the fact that
it was finally admitted that it had been edited, by the so-called UN
experts, he denied this and said that it had been certified that it had
not been edited.
When I asked him by whom, he said that Channel 4 had said so. I then
quoted to him the extract from the UN expert report that mentioned that
the editing had been upside down as it were for three segments, and that
the experts noted the fifth segment had been taken at a different time
or in a different place, but he thought this could be dismissed in
comparison with what Channel 4 had claimed. Later, when I spoke to him
outside, where he was engaged in what I assumed was journalistic
communication with whoever he worked for, he informed me that it was
‘The American Institute of Technology’ that had asserted the video had
not been edited.
UN experts
I noted that I would not embarrass the young lady from Channel 4,
called Zoe Sale I believe, by asking her whether she would confirm what
the young man said or accept the decision of the UN experts. She
promptly said that since she was not on the Panel she would not answer
questions, which I thought rather proved my point, and was precisely why
I had said I did not want to embarrass her.
The young man from the Times, Tom Whipple, was equally childish,
trying to insist that we answer his question as to whether he would be
permitted a visa, which was precisely the type of red herring we had
anticipated would be flung at us to stymie discussion of the facts our
film revealed. He had started by accusing the High Commissioner of not
giving him a visa, which he thought indicated that no journalists were
allowed into the North, so I had to point out that we had had several
journalists in but the Times had lied and distorted things repeatedly.
This was also true of Channel 4, which had consistently refused to allow
me a hearing, except once when they hastily changed their mind after I
had pointed out their pusillanimity when I appeared on a BBC programme.
Norwegian monitors
Given the pincer movement we had seen just before the meeting in the
House of Commons, in which both Channel 4 and the Times tried to attack
Liam Fox particularly with regard to Sri Lanka, it was apparent that
they had an agenda not very different from that of the rump of the
terrorist Tigers, and that they lapped up whatever information was
provided to them from those who had supported the Tigers.
In such a context the nexus between them and Siobhain McDonagh and
her so-called researchers, with their own wider networks, seems even
more sinister.
We know that the Tigers collected enormous amounts of money, through
fraud and extortion as well as donations, and that much of this was used
to buy weapons, which continued to be taken to Sri Lanka even when they
were supposedly engaging in negotiations. The ship that was blown up
when Norwegian monitors found guns on board was only the tip of the
iceberg as it were, despite which their supporters abroad continued in a
state of denial.
Blood money
We know that the Tiger networks still exist, and still have control
of vast funds. It would be foolish to assume that these are just lying
dormant. Instead they are being used to win over politicians,
politicians who have no qualms about the sources from which they take
money to perpetuate their own hold on power.
We know that a group of Tamils for Conservatives, set up when the
LTTE backers realized that perhaps their reliance on Miliband and his
ilk would be fruitless, has issued barely veiled threats to Conservative
MPs who were positive about Sri Lanka. We know that the BTF and its like
spend enormous sums of money at British Political Party Conferences,
including through donations that should be recognized for what they are,
blood money.
Obviously no one wants to abide by principles if not doing so leads
to personal or political advantage. But given what British politicians
are belatedly discovering about the way the press operates, I hope they
will take measures to ensure greater transparency about the way in which
stories are sourced, the manner in which so-called investigative
journalism stops short at those who fund journalists.
In the process there should be investigation too of those politicians
who take up causes that can also bring them profit and political
advantage. And when selfish politicians and sensationalistic journalists
work in tandem, with no concern for the monstrosities they may be
perpetuating, the gullible youngsters they may be perverting, the
suffering they might cause by allowing terrorism to rear its head again,
there is need of even more vigilance. |