When the camera lies for terror
In the past few days the international media has been
full of alleged pictorial evidence, mainly through video footage, of
what they claim to be scenes of the "massive humanitarian crisis" said
to be occurring in the north of Sri Lanka, where the LTTE is holding
thousands of Tamil civilians hostage.
Viewers have been shown harrowing details of alleged
bombings of hospitals and of many persons killed and injured, in what
are said to be indiscriminate shelling by government forces, in the No
Fire Zone. All of such pictorial material is attributed to pro-Tamil
pressure groups abroad, especially in the West. Most of these pictures
and video clips are also carried on the cyber voice of the LTTE - the
Tamil Net. Very rarely are the exact locations and the dates and times
when these pictures were obtained stated.
There have been many doubts about the authenticity of
these pictures, and the time when they were captured. The news agencies,
as well as human rights organizations, and Tamil pressure groups
distribute these freely to show the world of the alleged disregard for
humanitarian needs of the Tamil civilians held hostage by the LTTE,
whose basic human right to freedom has been denied by this terrorist
organization.
One of the main sources for this pictorial imagery is
the pro-LTTE Tamil Net, which has been consistent in misrepresenting the
truth about developments in Sri Lanka, especially about the war against
the terrorism of LTTE, and using false pictures to buttress its
stories. Recently, Tamil Net carried a news item, using a photograph
which claimed to show Tamil civilians fleeing what was said to be nearby
artillery fire by the Sri Lanka Armed Forces in the No Fire Zone in Vellamullivaikkal. What was shown as truth was only part of a bigger
lie.
Complete picture
We now have the complete picture. It shows how the
camera has been made to lie for the benefit of those who are seeking to
tarnish the image of Sri Lanka, callously using the suffering Tamil
civilians held hostage by the LTTE. What Tamil Net showed, was only part
of the real picture, which part is seen below on the left. It shows,
people, mainly women fleeing, with some smoke rising in the distance.
This is what Tamil Net wanted the public to see.
On the right is the entire picture, in its unedited
version; from which the imagery on the right has been edited out. It
shows a smiling girl photographing the "fleeing" women. There is a man
behind her who seems undisturbed, and a keen observer of the scene, just
as the female photographer is. There is a parked white van behind the
photographer and the man.
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On left - People fleeing an artillery or
similar attack with smoke rising in the distance.
Terrorists have resorted to such cowardly tactics triggering
large explosions within the CSZ for international consumption. |
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On right - the complete picture shows
a smiling girl photographing the "fleeing" women using what
appears to be a Nikon D Series camera. |
All of this, when take in full context shows that this
was a well staged event, with camera at the ready.
This is how the camera is made to lie, giving the lie
to the worn out adage that the camera never lies.
This is just one example of the falsifying imagery
used by Tamil Net, often a source of news and pictures for major news
channels, and the pro-LTTE pressure groups, to serve their
self-fulfilling warnings of an imminent "bloodbath" and "humanitarian
catastrophe" in Sri Lanka. Closer examination of the still and video
footage put out by these institutions and pressure groups is bound to
give much more evidence of how the viewers and policy makers the world
over are being misled by such calculated false imagery.
There was similar misleading by photography of alleged
craters caused by aerial bombardment from satellite imagery claimed to
be from the United Nations. The UN Office in Colombo later admitted that
these pictures were not released by it to any media or other sources,
and the authenticity of what was claimed could not be established in the
absence on ground verification.
On May 13, 2009, the BBC carried a news item, using
satellite imagery, in a further effort at misleading viewers in with
images that claim to show an alleged aerial attack by the Sri Lanka Air
Force. See pictures below.
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Above photo was posted on the BBC website. It clearly shows
that there are no damages to trees or permanent buildings. No
signs of aerial attack or artillery fire. The right side image
clearly shows signs of a mass evacuation of the makeshift
shelters, probably temporary camps of the hostages who were
dragged by the terrorist on the retreat as a human shield. If
SLAF continued bombarding or SLA fired artillery, how could only
the permanent buildings be left intact. |
And so the merry-g-round of images that lie for the
terrorist LTTE goes on.
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