Stop Media treachery against armed forces members!
 We are living in a country, which is badly torn by a
vicious 28 year old war. Over 70,000 lives have perished so far, simply
because we have failed to eliminate the brutal terrorist organization we
have been fighting with. Why we have failed in the battle may have
myriad explanations. Among them what stands out most is the failure of
successive governments to rally sufficient international and public
support to sustain any meaningful military effort. This failure should
be attributed to the strong anti Sri Lankan propaganda mechanism
operated by the LTTE sympathizers and indeed to the lack of counter
strategies on the part of the government.
However, today our nation's struggle to be rid of
terrorism has come to its most decisive stage. It has been proven more
than once that we are dealing with an enemy with whom no rational
dialogue is possible. We suffered many painful losses in learning this
bitter lesson. We may be a nation notorious for having short memories,
but we cannot afford to forget that V. Prabhakaran is a remorseless
megalomaniac. He is in pursuit of an ethnically "pure" state that bows
to the cult of his personality. His followers place their messianic zeal
on this utopian state and are equally fanatical as their leader. On the
orders of their bloodthirsty chieftain and being carefully fuelled by
his extreme tribal ideologies, LTTE cadres have butchered tens of
thousands of people in various terror attacks. Moreover, the bitterest
part of the reality is that there lives a part of our brethren in the
North in the evil grip of a one mad man and his army of fanatics. This
is the truth about this country that no discernible Sri Lankan can deny.
Thus, we must have the right to defend ourselves, we must have the right
to live in a country free of terrorism and that is exactly why our
soldiers are risking their lives in the battlefield.
With the above points we want our viewers to draw
their attention to the relationship among three phenomena, i.e. the
on-going war on terror, anti-Sri Lankan propaganda and LTTE terrorism.
The simple formula that governs the relationship is that whenever the
military is gaining success and the government adapts a bold
uncompromising policy against terrorism, the terrorists intensify
psychological operations and propaganda against the defence authorities.
The obvious aim of this is to bring international and public pressure on
the government to abandon the military effort. The recent trends in the
sections of the media show that these anti-Sri Lankan sentiments have
been reaching its highest levels in the last three decades. The most
recent example is the campaign undertaken by the usual LTTE stooges in
the media over a reported assault on journalist Keith Noyahr.
An NGO, which is known to have great penchant to make
tendentious allegations against members of the armed forces in a
statement on this matter speculates of a connection between the alleged
attack and the soldiers. The Free Media Movement (FMM) as it calls
itself and is glad to spread lies and rumours speculating that Mr.
Noyahr had been beaten up because of his criticism of high ranking
military officials and for his independent reportage over defence
matters.
It states, "There is no other reason for this latest
attack against a journalist than his independent writing and analysis of
the war in the North, if that is a reason at all. His reporting was
critical of high-ranking military officers and the Government's approach
to and conduct of the war".
Interestingly, the FMM made these allegation just days
after it had spread a lie that the defence ministry is committing "cyber
crimes" against web based independent news agencies. Although the
Ministry requested the NGO to withdraw the statement the reply received
showed none other than the insolence and intolerance of this so called
"media rights group" over the government's right to inform the public
about such matters. Further, the same organization had been quoted by
Mr. Iqbal Athas in his foul reportage on the Muhamalai incident to
record the army deaths in hundreds. Therefore, it is natural for any
soldier to feel that this NGO is engaged in a malicious propaganda
campaign against members of the armed forces of this country.
We are humble enough to admit that as soldiers we are
not qualified to enough to write in-depth analysis on media freedom and
related ethics. However, as soldiers who are engaged in the uphill task
of defeating the false propaganda campaigns against our nation we have
some knowledge of the duties and responsibilities of the media
profession. We know it is wrong for any media person to support any
party that promotes communalism; we know it is wrong to give casualty
figures without sources, and we know it is wrong to hold somebody
responsible for a crime without sufficient evidence. In our view, the
FMM's attempt to hold the armed forces' members responsible for the
assault on Mr. Noyahr does not go with the ethics of the media
profession. However, we leave that issue to the learned media
professionals in this country to decide.
Nevertheless, there is something we are quite
qualified to comment on, i.e. about the motives and conduct of a
propaganda work, for it is a kind of a weapon in warfare.
It is a well known fact that the LTTE carries out its
propaganda work through politically sympathetic pressure groups and
media units. Their activities are coordinated by an overarching umbrella
of front organizations that operate in spheres of Human Rights, Relief
work, Civil Rights, Peace Building, etc. Anti Sri Lankan campaign
against the Sri Lankan cricket team carried out during last World Cup,
and the ballyhoos aimed at outvoting Sri Lanka from the Human Rights
Council few days ago, are some of the examples of the terrorist
propaganda work. Not only have the terrorist propagandists lobbied some
populist Human Rights professionals but they have also been able to lure
some of these activists to speak in favour of the most brutal terrorist
organization known to mankind. In reality, the LTTE had a free run in
getting the international opinion in its favour by smartly playing the
Human Rights card until the late 90s.
Apropos of Mr. Noyahr's case, we have seen that even
some truly independent media persons have raised doubts about the
possibility of the armed forces having a hand in the incident. According
them, the FMM has pointed its finger where there is room for doubt, and
nothing more. We can empathize with their feelings on the grievance
about their fellow journalist, and do not try to extenuate the situation
if any armed forces' members are involved in the incident. But we too
have our doubts of how the whole episode had transpired.
Firstly, the timing of the attack was so perfect that
it gave the maximum opportunity for the anti Sri Lankan propagandists to
draw sympathy towards them. The attack took place on the day following
day when Sri Lanka lost its seat in the HRC. This was something that
anti Sri Lankan organizations called a great achievement for them, for
they can get huge foreign findings if exploited effectively. The FMM was
so quick to make a statement blaming the government for the attack. Then
the incident followed a great hue and cry against the Sri Lankan defence
authorities on the part of those dollar vultures in many foreign funded
NGOs. Ironically, but understandably, the FMM even claimed the credit
for the "quick" release of the victim who is said to have returned home
with soaring wounds. In our view, no organization other than the FMM has
benefited by the incident. Therefore, there lies a reasonable doubt on
the real motives of the perpetrators of the alleged attack.
Secondly, we have reasonable concerns over the
behaviour of the FMM itself. We have never seen Mr. Sunanda Deshapriya,
the convener of the FMM, wailing in the Sirasa TV over the media freedom
in the LTTE held areas. Like Sirasa TV taking great care to avoid the
word LTTE in reporting whatever civilian massacres committed by the
terrorists, the FMM observes an abominable silence or self censorship
over all violence committed by the LTTE against media personnel. We can
understand the motives of their paymasters but the acolytes should no
longer be allowed to conceal their work under the free media curtain. In
our view this type of media organizations are the subtlest form of
terror propaganda machines.
Thirdly, we have serious concerns over this "defence
analyst" issue. We do not mind any person trying to make his living by
writing whatever crap to the newspapers. It is the freedom of expression
that we have vowed safeguard even at the risk of our lives. Yet, we too
have our right to lay bare the truth of those cowboy defence analysts,
for the good of the public. War is handled by officers with 35-40 years
of service, who had spend most of their lives in the battlefront, we
seriously do not believe that people like Mr. Iqbal Athas have any
capability to question about military tactics, service promotion schemes
or even about the military procurement.
For instance, some of the so called "defence analysts"
in Sri Lanka have a great tendency to give a misleading picture on
military procurements. They always quote numbers and try to speculate
something fishy about the deals. Nevertheless, they rarely inform the
public about the needs of the soldiers and the urgency of meeting such
requirements. Those speculations are very often aimed at character
assassinations of the service commanders than informing the public. What
these "analysts "hide form the public is that all these procurements are
being made after a thorough analysis by expert technical evaluation
boards and on their recommendations. Also, what the public is unaware
about these mean spirited people is that they are being highly paid by
the weapons dealers for acting as opinion makers for them.
On the other hand, it is often observed that decisions
on promotions of the service commanders are being often criticized by
the media ignoring the damage that such criticism can cause to the
soldiers' morale. It is a well known fact even in the non military
organizations the head of the institution must have the right to choose
the best people for the mission he/her leads. It is the leader who knows
the capabilities of his followers' best than any other person. Thus, if
the media tries showing a picture that the armed forces are being lead
by incompetent people; it will obviously damage the loyalty of the
soldiers towards their commanders on whom they must keep faith in
battle.
Therefore , those people can raise any doubts or even
make false allegations to secure their income, but once they are being
answered at least they should have the courtesy to admit that they were
wrong without cursing the authorities. Gone are the days of such
professionals, it seems. The media freedom in this country has been
encroached upon by few sociopaths that can be found in almost all anti
Sri Lankan outfits.
Last but not least, the concern we have about the work
of these people is the damage they try to inflict on
military discipline. The fighting capability of any military depends on
the discipline of the rank and file. Thus, the best way to ensure the
defeat of an army is to break the discipline by spreading rumours,
promoting disloyalty, exploiting personal grudges, carrying tales,
engineering personal disputes etc. So, whoever lures disgruntle members
of the armed forces to act against the good order and the military
discipline of the service, he is committing treachery against the
nation.
We have seen in the media that the Editor of the
newspaper, Mr. Lalith Alahakoon, had even contacted Defence Secretary
Gotabaya Rajapaksa and informed him about the alleged incident. Further,
the President himself said to have contacted the editor as soon as he
received the information on the incident. That shows importance that had
been given to the plight of journalist in this country. On the other
hand, if Mr. Noyahr had really criticized the soldiers as claimed by the
FMM, he is not the only one who does this for the job. Up to now, no one
has made official complaints that they have been threatened other than
making intermittent cries in the media, just to get some public
attention. Therefore, we do not believe that Sri Lanka's media freedom
has any threat from our soldiers. But of course there may be other
problems that the media people may have to face when they try to do too
much dirty work of their paymasters. Any discernible person who sees
Sirasa TV, or reads the Sunday Leader, the Morning Leader, Iru Dina, the
Daily Mirror, and the Sunday Times, Lanka Dissent, Lanka E news, etc can
understand the way that the soldiers are being humiliated, scorned and
blamed. Up to now, we have never mentioned a word over such shameful
institutions even on this website for we know the public are not moved
by the trite campaigns undertaken by their paid Cassandras. However, we
urge the government to be mindful excessive falsification of facts
committed by some of the agencies as such action may be detrimental to
the national interest in the international forums.
No doubt that media freedom is sacrosanct in a
democratic society. It is secured in our constitution that we have sworn
to protect unto our death. However, it should be noted that the free
media would only flourish in a society free of terrorism. The armed
forces' members of this country are engaged in this noble mission not
only for the benefit of their own but also for the whole nation. Thus,
we call all members of the armed forces to unite and guard against these
treacherous media campaign against them. Also, we request all
responsible media persons to not to undermine the soldiers' effort for
the greater good of the country. Any division of interests between us
will only give the advantage to the common enemy and hand over our
burden to another generation. |
