british channel 4 tv has broadcast a video showing execution of naked, blindfolded, and bound men. they claim it shows tamils being killed by sri lankan military. video is available on the web. here is a
rapidshare link (
h/t bailaman). (
viewer warning - disturbing graphic content )here are few things to keep in mind when looking at video and before drawing any conclusions from it.clearly it is a horrible crime, if real. and those responsible should be brought to justice.
however
in order to take this seriously or any kind of action to be taken, we need clarity concerning several things ( esp given the well documented and exposed doctoring of pictures and video by ltte terrorist propaganda.) .
[let us not forget channel 4 along with some other british media cater to a large tamil diaspora in uk (that includes lot of organized racists that sympathize with and financed the ltte murderers of us, sri lankans.) channel 4 in particular has failed to cover or expose this murderous financing and those involved. so much for its investigative abilities or objectivity]first who provided the video? the video was allegedly provided by a group called "
journalists for democracy in sri lanka (jds)" which has a german address. no names or interviews with anyone from this group were provided by channel 4. why? even though this group allegedly consists of exiled sri lankan journalists.
as they confess,
channel 4 has clearly not independently verified the video. also it is wrong to claim it "cannot" be verified. i have nothing against their broadcasting a video of an alleged crime. however the claims they make (see below) cannot be justified if they have not verified it.
it is not clear where it was made and when. channel 4 claims jds claimed it was made in january 2009. but these are mere claims only, with nothing to back them up. sri lanka has a long history of conflict against terrorists, in north against racists and in south against marxists. lot of other criminal/vigilante/splinter groups too involved in these conflicts. so if this took place anywhere in sri lanka, it could have happened anytime during last few decades.
channel 4 claimed that killers speak a "country boy sinhalese accent" (!?!), in a "casual" tone.
indeed, a
few words are heard in sinhalese in the background.
words as far as i can hear can be
translated-
"as if can see... looked away "
"(indistinct)"
"that is a real..."
"strike? strike (repeated)" (i translated "gahamu" and similar as "strike", may be "hit" is better?)
"take turns like ...(comparison indistinct) ..."
"coming like ...(no comparison)"
"me (or i was) requested (by) this thing(or one- "oka")"
"telling stay and look? ...what? "
"sssstriiiike (sic). ours, its government property ... let's strike"
however
it is not clear that killers in video speak at all, we do not see their mouths. and those killed are silent; no screams or moaning heard .
lot more gun shots are heard than those used for alleged killings in video, which are carried out by shooting one by one in single bursts of fire. where are the other shots coming from? in spite those shots, those recording and taking part in killing in the video, do not seem to feel threatened, even though they seem to be in an open field.
camera for instance is steady and does not respond to shots heard, considering it is hand held.
it is
quite possible that sound in the video was added later from a separate video/sound footage of fighting. this is just a theory but not outlandish given the doctoring of pictures and videos by ltte terrorist propaganda.
and the video was
allegedly made from a mobile phone by a soldier (again channel 4 does not provide any basis for these claims). to a completely inexperienced person on the subject (like me)
it seems to be made from a better quality camera. also there is
no date or other identification marks on video footage.
killers do wear uniforms that show some vague similarity to sl military uniforms, but they are certainly
not distinct enough for claims to be made that they are sl army uniforms.
there is
no basis whatsoever in video to claim that those killed were tamils.
ethics and motives of claims, comparisons, and conclusions
in addition to those questions, there is also
the ethics and motives of equalizing and identifying of various others with alleged killers (esp by "media").
even if this video is authentic. what does it prove? some (usual suspects the
ngo peaceniks etc.) have already tried to make out that sri lankan armed forces are "guilty" and "same as ltte terrorists". others say that sri lanka should prove its innocence with a "neutral inquiry".
those conclusions are unwarranted even if the video is authentic.
how are sri lankans as a whole a guilty of this crime? or even sl military as a whole?
at worst, it is a case of indiscipline by few criminal idiots in military. to slander thousands and millions of others who have no involvement is unwarranted and despicable .
this crime should be dealt with using normal judicial procedures relating to murder and military discipline (if video is verifiable and can be admitted as evidence) or if otherwise, sri lankan and other intelligence services dealing with terrorists' propaganda. those interested can follow those procedures and if there is anything wrong with them speak out .
-
i also don't see how or why this makes sl military same as ltte. ltte deliberately carried out killings of civilians as a policy. on the other hand, there is no proof that sri lankan military or civilian authorities sanctioned anything similar. on the contrary, they ruled out certain weapons and tactics (at the cost of lives for them) bc they can result in civilian deaths when terrorist murderers were holding civilians as human shields.
only a pro terrorist propagandist will claim that this video (even if authentic) proves sri lanka military is same as ltte.-
if you feel that i have not covered any point about the video or that i was mistaken in anything feel free to comment. i may cover this later in another post if more details are forthcoming about the video.
