S.M.M.Bazeer
"He that is without sin, cast the first stone”
–Verse 7:53-8:11, Gospel of John
This is the final instalment
of my previous article entitled “Channel 4’s Circus Tour ". (http://www.bazeerlanka.com/2013/11/channel-fours-circus-tour-1.html) Since
writing the first part of this article in July 2011, I have avidly followed
Channel 4 circus troupe till it finally landed in Sri Lanka on the pretext of
saving the Tamils of the North and the East from the clutches of Sri Lanka's
President.
With the diplomatic credential
awarded to the British Prime minister, Channel 4’s anchor-man; Jon Snow snuck
into Jaffna, with David Cameron, overlooking the purpose and role of his visit
as a guest at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2013.
Upon arrival in the North, Cameron was endowed with godly
reverence, not dissimilar to that of Pirabakaran or Lord Muruga (Hindu God of
war and victory), in the hope that he would bring the Tamils a solution to
their problems by his “divine intervention” .It seems that the Tamils, have
found a replacement, to fill the god-shaped void of Pirabakaran, in the form of
his Western masters who once fostered terrorists as liberators.
Jon Snow has also gone beyond
the call of duty as a journalist, since embarking on media onslaught against
the Sri Lankan government. His recent visit to Jaffna, where he mingled with
the weeping Tamils, has made him more worthy than their own political leaders,
in resurfacing British imperialism and calling for neo-colonialist
intervention.
David Cameron, who insisted on Channel 4’s media troupe
accompanying him, stealthily smuggled Jon Snow into the region of his interest,
where they both played well, the role of much anticipated messiahs to the
gallery of onlookers.
Despite the presence of several media personnel in the UK
being actively involved in the media on-slaught on Sri Lanka, the barrage of
anti-Sri Lankan government propaganda was brought to the limelight by Channel
4’s troupe; Foreign Affairs Correspondent; Jonathan Miller, News presenter; Jon
Snow and programme director; Calum Macrae.
Channel 4’s Foreign Affairs
Correspondent; Jonathan Miller, has also embarked on levelling allegations of
war crimes against the President of Sri Lanka since the airing of Chanel’s 4
documentary titled “Sri Lanka’s Killing Field”. Since then his career has
veered from media personnel to political activist. Overnight he became a patron
of the Tamil cause in the Western Media sphere of influence and an active
member in Human Rights forums. But, his presentation was flawed,
as he was uncertain about the number of civilian deaths but took journalistic
caution in enumerating the number of deaths in the war.
Despite being an investigate
documentary, he made allegations without producing evidence, such as the death
toll exceeding 40,000 and that most of them had been civilians in line
with UN’s panel assessment. He did not elucidate figures on how many of the
40,000 deaths had been LTTE members. So much for investigate journalism.
Amongst, Channel 4’s troupe,
Calum Macrae is worthy of credit, as he has produced a few documentaries
highlighting various human rights issues elsewhere, but his efforts are only
half-hearted when attempting to highlight what lies at his front door, in the
form of British former Prime Minister; Tony Blair and former American
President; George Bush and their war on Iraq and their alleged war crimes of
this century.
It cannot be denied, that
Calum Macrae did shed light on Iraq and the unlawful killings of Iraqi
prisoners by British soldiers during the occupation of Iraq, but his
documentaries on misappropriation of a development fund in Iraq and British
soldiers’ abuses in Iraq were subject to the scrutiny of his motives, and they
exposed some aspect of the Iraqi occupation by the coalition forces.
Calum Macrae’s documentary entitled “Iraq’s
Mission Billions (2006)”highlighted the Coalition's alleged misuse of billions
of Iraqi fund during the Iraq War. This documentary exposed the failure of
British and American coalition forces in its trusteeship of handling more than
20 billion dollars belonging to Iraqi people that was entrusted to them by the
UNO.
His documentary showed corruption and misappropriation of
funds and shed light on the misappropriation of Iraqi assets but was not
recognised for its merit but filed swiftly amongst the film archives. This was
also the case with his documentary “*On Whose Orders* “(2008), a Panorama
series investigation the allegations of unlawful killings in Iraq by British
troops. This faced vigorous rebuttal from the Chief of British military that
was in charge of occupied Iraq.
Yet again, this documentary highlighted some cases to the
British Judiciary regarding allegations of killings and torture of Iraqi’s by
British forces in Iraq. Alas, it brought forth no result of desired impact of
the unlawful occupation and the war crimes in Iraq but ultimately ended up
in the archives again.
Unlike the above two documentaries Calum Macrae’s “
Sri Lanka's Killing Fields –On the war crimes , “Sri Lanka's Killing Fields:
War Crimes Unpunished Follow up to Sri Lanka's Killing Fields “ and “ No Fire
Zone: The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka “ (2013) .
Unlike his past documentaries on Iraq, his documentaries
on Sri Lanka have conveyed his neo-colonial attitude, over the British former
colonial country. With such attitudes, he has become more noticeable, as an
unwitting spokesperson for the defeated LTTE rump, living in Western
countries. Hence, Macrae has reached the pinnacle of his career as a
journalist and this success, has made him stick more whole-heartedly to the
Tamil’s cause as an arbitrator of war crimes.
Confession of Murder?
In an interview with William Hague on Channel 4, Jon Snow
made an illogical comparison of Libya's Gadafi with Rajapaksa and remarked that
“we eventually had to bomb him and kill him (With reference to Gadafi)”.
William Hague did not deny such a confession by Jon Snow but insisted on engagement
with Sri Lanka and expressed his belief in positive changes in the future
towards reconciliation and an internal investigation on alleged war crimes
prior to any international war crime inquiry being initiated.
Notwithstanding this sound conclusion, what Jon Snow said
was a plain confession of a Killing. His remarks are reminiscent to be that of
an executioner (of Gadafi) rather than that of a neutral journalist.
What decides war crimes?
When the war against the LTTE was at its worst in the
North, thousands of Tamils gathered in front of the British parliament pleading
the British government to intercept in stopping the war. However, the British
government turned a blind eye and made little effort to stop the war and save
the innocent civilians who were used as human shields by the LTTE. At the same
time, the LTTE rump in the UK, expressed encouragement for the heroic people of
the Vanni Homeland, in that they should not leave their motherland but fight
along with the LTTE Till death and stick to their heroic principle of “do or
die”.
This message was broadcast on the pro-LTTE Tamil radios in
the UK and the British authorities who were good at snooping the UK citizens
with the US money, did not understand what was going on behind their back. The
LTTE rump in Britain and other western countries took to the streets to save
their beloved fighters and suicide bombers and not the people who were in the
clutches of the LTTE. Why hasn't the Channel 4 circus troupe pointed
their fingers at the British MP’s for being accomplice in war crimes, or
questioned the Tamils who prevented Tamil civilians leaving the war zones.
It seems, the inadvertent success of a documentary on a
small third world country on its 30 year struggle to rid itself of terrorism
has rallied greater support and momentum, than the far reaching demise of
Western politics. Perhaps, in their renewed hope of false investigative
journalism, the so-called media champions; Jon Snow, Calum Macrea and John
Miller, should tackle the remaining unanswered questions regarding
international politics;
1. Does Channel
4 have the guts to question Tony Blair, George Bush, David Cameron or Barack
Obama and their unlawful war on terror, illegal occupation of Iraq on the
pretext of a false claim of WMDs, the war in Afghanistan or the renditions of
terror suspects?
2. Can the
Channel 4 troupe question Obama with regards to his role in the execution of
Osama, who was reported to be unarmed and bed ridden in Pakistan?
3. Can Channel 4 produce a
documentary on the series of Drone attack killings on thousands of innocent
civilians in Yemen and Pakistan? Or the detainment and torture of terror
suspects for years in prisons both in the UK and abroad without charges,
including Guantanamo Bay prisoners?
3. Will the Channel 4 troupe bring out the Chilcot Report,
which Britain remains to keep unpublished so as to protect the alleged war
crimes of Tony Blair and George Bush in Iraq?
Only time will tell, but in the wise words of Sri Lanka’s
President Mahinda Rajapaksa ' people in glass houses shouldn't throw
stones'.
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