NationStates Jolt Archive

Sri Lankans arrest UK news team

A British Channel 4 News team has been arrested in Sri Lanka after reporting allegations of abuse in camps for displaced Tamils, the broadcaster said.

The Sri Lankan Defence Minister ordered Asia correspondent Nick Paton-Walsh, cameraman Matt Jasper and producer Bessie Du to leave the country.

The report contained claims that dead bodies were left where they fell and allegations of sexual abuse.

The Sri Lankan government has denied the allegations in Tuesday's report.

Mr Paton-Walsh said the crew was being driven to Sri Lanka's capital, Colombo, with a police escort.

Investigations

Police spokesman Ranjith Gunasekera told reporters the trio were arrested in the eastern city of Trincomalee on Saturday. He said investigations were continuing.

A spokesperson for ITN, which produces Channel 4 News, said: "We will be seeking an explanation from the Sri Lankan government for this decision."

The Channel 4 team had been covering fighting between the government and the Tamil Tiger rebels.

Its report looked at the conditions in camps that had been set up by the government for the refugees who had fled the northern war zone.

It explored allegations of sexual abuse as well as shortages of food and water.

The United Nations estimates that about 50,000 civilians are trapped by fighting as government troops attempt to oust the Tamil Tigers from their strongholds across the north.

The rebels have been driven back into a small pocket of land on the north-eastern coast.

The Tamil Tigers have fought for an independent homeland for Sri Lanka's Tamil minority since 1983. More than 70,000 people have been killed in the war.

Source (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8042170.stm)

An age old saying comes to mind. No smoke without fire. This war between the Tamil Tigers and Sri Lankan forces, like most will have events going on like this. It seems to me that the Sri Lankan government is trying to cover up something they know that is going on.

Also the arrest of the news team will pose quite a diplomatic problem between the UK and Sri Lanka. What are your opinions?

The Tamils should fuck off back to India, or stay where they are but play nicely instead.

I hear Tigers are an endangered species.

I hear Tigers are an endangered species.

Good pun, good pun. That was almost worthy of DI.

The Tamils should fuck off back to India, or stay where they are but play nicely instead.

c.1500BC - Tamils arrive in Sri Lanka

...

c.500BC - Sinhalese arrive in Sri Lanka

c.1500BC - Tamils arrive in Sri Lanka

...

c.500BC - Sinhalese arrive in Sri Lanka

Wow, I phailed fairly epically.

Good pun, good pun. That was almost worthy of DI.

Thanks, I do try.

The violence is in a down turn phase.
Wait 5-10 years for the children in the camps to grow into young adults and teens.
then the violence will be back again.

The violence is in a down turn phase.
Wait 5-10 years for the children in the camps to grow into young adults and teens.
then the violence will be back again.

The violence isn't going to stop. The LTTE will revert to being a terrorist organization purely, and continue it's bombing and murder campaigns.

What will stop (IF the Sri Lankan forces stick to their guns and finish the job this time) is the civil war. The step from Insurrection Level B (military forces fighting a guerilla war using strike-and-fade tactics) to Insurrection Level C (open warfare with the goal of controlling territory and either talking the country or imposing a favourable peace settlement) is the single most difficult for any movement to take; more than one has collapsed under the strain of trying to do so, and many others have never even attempted it despite technically being able to.

Once the LTTE's military wing, currently trapped in an ever-shrinking cordon by the Sri Lankan military, has been destroyed, they will be reduced to Insurrection Level A - non-military terrorist tactics with cells hiding amongst the civilian population. I have serious doubts the organisation will ever be able to restore itself to anything greater, particularly as many of the other governments worldwide have come to the table in recent years and cut off the LTTE's primary sources of funding - expatriate Tamil communities in the west.

Regarding the UK news team - frankly, I don't believe a word of it. They've no corroborating evidence, and I believe they're just repeating the kind of rumours that ALWAYS spring up around relocation and internment camps. I don't doubt that these camps are pretty unpleasent places to be - I don't even doubt the occurance of nasty events, as isolated incidents. But I rate the chances of them being complete hellholes as being quite minimal.

As to their expulsion - the Sri Lankan government has been quite clear that foreign journalists are NOT allowed to approach either the warzone or the camps. This bunch violated the instructions, and the Sri Lankan government has chosen what is probably the least powerful reaction they could have made. London will do nothing - the journalists are merely private citizens, after all, subject to expulsion at any time for any reason.

Wow, I phailed fairly epically.

You really did.


Swiiiiiing and a miss.