[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 February 2009, 14:47 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s hardline government warned Sunday that Western ambassadors, news agencies and INGOs of "dire consequences" if they attempt to give the LTTE a second breath of life. "They will be chased away (if they try) to give a second wind to the LTTE terrorists at a time the security forces, at heavy cost, are dealing them the final death blow," Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa told The Sunday Island.
The paper said Rajapaksa did not mince his words when he said that some ambassadors, specially the German and Swiss ambassadors, and some news agencies were behaving irresponsibly.
He named, CNN, Al-Jazeera and especially the BBC of trying to sensationalize civilian hardships by telecasting video clips which he said came “from LTTE websites.”
"These video clips do not indicate bombings or explosions," Rajapakse said.
"It was irresponsible not to talk about civilians held in the war zone by the LTTE while making comments that only helped the Tigers," Rajapaksa said.
He accusing BBC Anchor Chris Morris of being known for partisan support to the LTTE from the 1990s.
"If he does not act responsibly and attempts to create panic, I will have to chase him out of the country," Rajapakse, brother of President Mahinda Rajapakse, warned.
Rajapaksa warned that members of the international community, specifically the German and Swiss ambassadors, who are trying to create panic will be similarly treated.
Journalists and aid workers have been barred by the government from going to the conflict zone. For much of the conflict International reports have, however, reported the government’s account of events, with the qualification that there is no way to verify these.
Sri Lankan media has been subject meanwhile to a campaign of state-terror.
At least 14 journalists and Sri Lankan staff working for the media have been killed since the beginning of 2006, according to Amnesty International. Another 20 have fled the country after getting death threats, the London-based rights group said.
However, Tamil media and politicians in Sri Lanka has suffered a strong of murderous attacks for much longer.
The Jaffna-based Uthayan newspaper has been repeatedly attacked, with gunmen once storming its offices in the Army-controlled Jaffna town, brazenly walking from room to room killing and wounding staff.
In 2005 the island’s leading defence analysts, Sivaram Dharmeratnam, was abducted from a street in the fortified capital Colombo and body was dumped the following day.
That “spectacle killing” spread terror through the ranks of Tamil media – largely to muted criticism from Sinhala media and, by and large, the international community.
Four years later, Sinhala journalists are facing the same murderous terror. Whilst many Sinhala nationalists in the media are enthusiastically backing the brutal war to the island’s north, others are being careful how they report.
The latter are kept disciplined by repeated warnings from the state and occasional “spectacle killings” like that earlier this month of Lasantha Wickrematunge, editor of the Sunday Leader newspaper.
Sri Lanka’s hardline government warned Sunday that Western ambassadors, news agencies and INGOs of "dire consequences" if they attempt to give the LTTE a second breath of life. "They will be chased away (if they try) to give a second wind to the LTTE terrorists at a time the security forces, at heavy cost, are dealing them the final death blow," Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa told The Sunday Island.
The paper said Rajapaksa did not mince his words when he said that some ambassadors, specially the German and Swiss ambassadors, and some news agencies were behaving irresponsibly.
He named, CNN, Al-Jazeera and especially the BBC of trying to sensationalize civilian hardships by telecasting video clips which he said came “from LTTE websites.”
"These video clips do not indicate bombings or explosions," Rajapakse said.
"It was irresponsible not to talk about civilians held in the war zone by the LTTE while making comments that only helped the Tigers," Rajapaksa said.
He accusing BBC Anchor Chris Morris of being known for partisan support to the LTTE from the 1990s.
"If he does not act responsibly and attempts to create panic, I will have to chase him out of the country," Rajapakse, brother of President Mahinda Rajapakse, warned.
Rajapaksa warned that members of the international community, specifically the German and Swiss ambassadors, who are trying to create panic will be similarly treated.
Journalists and aid workers have been barred by the government from going to the conflict zone. For much of the conflict International reports have, however, reported the government’s account of events, with the qualification that there is no way to verify these.
Sri Lankan media has been subject meanwhile to a campaign of state-terror.
At least 14 journalists and Sri Lankan staff working for the media have been killed since the beginning of 2006, according to Amnesty International. Another 20 have fled the country after getting death threats, the London-based rights group said.
However, Tamil media and politicians in Sri Lanka has suffered a strong of murderous attacks for much longer.
The Jaffna-based Uthayan newspaper has been repeatedly attacked, with gunmen once storming its offices in the Army-controlled Jaffna town, brazenly walking from room to room killing and wounding staff.
In 2005 the island’s leading defence analysts, Sivaram Dharmeratnam, was abducted from a street in the fortified capital Colombo and body was dumped the following day.
That “spectacle killing” spread terror through the ranks of Tamil media – largely to muted criticism from Sinhala media and, by and large, the international community.
Four years later, Sinhala journalists are facing the same murderous terror. Whilst many Sinhala nationalists in the media are enthusiastically backing the brutal war to the island’s north, others are being careful how they report.
The latter are kept disciplined by repeated warnings from the state and occasional “spectacle killings” like that earlier this month of Lasantha Wickrematunge, editor of the Sunday Leader newspaper.