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International Crisis Group தகவல்துறை பணிப்பாளரின் செய்தி

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Andrew Stroehlein

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Wednesday, 15 June 2011

Sri Lanka's Killing Fields (Channel 4)

Last night, Channel 4 in the UK aired a chilling program on the final days of Sri Lanka’s long civil war, and thankfully, they have made it available for viewing worldwide for the next few days.

"Sri Lanka's Killing Fields" is disturbing. It is revolting. It is horrific. It is also without question one of the best pieces of television journalism on conflict I have ever seen. And I’ve seen a fair bit over the years.

What shines through in the piece is how much time and effort the Channel 4 team have put into this. They have been working on this story for more the two years, and it shows: finding witnesses willing to talk and verifying their accounts, and obtaining video evidence -- including "trophy videos" taking by Sri Lankan soldiers. None of that is easy, quick or cheap. For those, like me, who often lament the scaling back of quality foreign news operations in recent years, this is a reminder that there are still people out there doing fantastic work.

The other thing that makes this documentary so good is that the Channel 4 journalists keep themselves out of the story. Neither Jon Snow nor anyone else working on the piece inserts their own take on things or distracts from the real issues with me-me journalism. The story thus speaks for itself.

And a brutal tale it is, too. As the civil war drew to a close in 2009, hundreds of thousands of civilians were corralled into "no-fire zones", where the army shelled them and rebel Tamil Tigers (LTTE) shot them if they tried to escape. Government forces targeted artillery fire on hospitals and food collection points. There is evidence of organised sexual violence and mass executions. Up to 40,000 civilians were killed in those final months.

While the Sri Lankan government continues to deny any wrongdoing whatsoever, the evidence keeps piling up. The UN Secretary-General's Panel of Experts in April 2011, "found credible allegations, which if proven, indicate that a wide range of serious violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law was committed both by the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE, some of which would amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity."

Channel 4 has brilliantly captured this story in all its horror. I strongly recommend you brace yourself and watch it while you still can.

Reddit சமூக வலைத்தளத்தின் உரையாடலில் கலந்துகொள்ள அல்லது பார்வையிட:

http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/i0891/sri_lankas_killing_fields_is_disturbing_revolting/

குறிப்பிட்ட செய்தி சம்பந்தமாக Reddit நடைபெறும் உரையாடலின் சில பகுதி:

[–]Frontcannon 16 points 10 hours ago

This was a horrific experience, I cried for the first time in a long time (where the anonymous father describes the death of his shelled son, that really got to me, also the screaming of the daughters in the bunker who couldn't get out to help her wounded mother because the government fired delayed shells to hit the the people who aided the wounded).

The footage is disturbing. I don't recommend watching it if you have a sensitive stomach, and if you do, it's really going to ruin your mood.

Makes you feel shit for feeling like shit.

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[–]flux88mph 8 points 9 hours ago

That got me too. even more so when they found the "trophy video" of that female reporter. That hit me hard.

But not as hard as the red cross getting coordinates for the hospitals and the result of that system being exploited.

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[–]pocket_eggs 5 points 6 hours ago*

That poor anchor really got to me. She was beautiful and professional looking, she was definitely loved by many and made many proud. They looked at her news casts and were able to imagine, to see, a future.

This is precisely why when the Tamil resistance fell she became a condemned woman, to be hunted and killed. Because she was liked and she gave hope. And I liked her too, so I became involved despite my otherwise strong ability for detachment to the misfortune of faraway people on television or the internet. A woman was raped and killed because others felt exactly how I felt.

It seemed curious to me the images of her demise became available to the Channel 4 reporters - it seemed highly unlikely given the scale of the carnage. On second thought these images probably were widely disseminated and quite popular.

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[–]withtheillbehaviour 4 points 6 hours ago

Me too. One minute the face of a new society, the next lying half naked dead in the forest. And in all likelihood a target for mass rape too.

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[–]neutralaccounting 2 points 6 hours ago

Do you know how they spelled her name? I can't seem to find any information about her on the internet.

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[–]pocket_eggs 1 point 6 hours ago

There are a few links about her as "Isaippiriya".

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[–]faceinthesand 3 points 8 hours ago

It was the targetting of the makeshift hospitals that was the last straw for me, up until then it was relatively bearable. I don't understand the motive for the government's actions.

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[–]dread22 2 points 6 hours ago

Collective punishment, which military forces are exceedingly good at

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[–]kimchifart 1 point 5 hours ago

That hit me hard too mate, that was fucking horrendous.

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[–]staticmotion 1 point 4 hours ago

Try watching this clip: youtube.com/watch?v=Ugy3DmTcUlk

I'm quite used to blood and gore but found the scenes at the end really sad to watch. I had bookmarked it a while back but the clip appears to have been uploaded back in 2009, and probably proves that this conflict was pretty much ignored by the world.

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[–]blodyf8 44 points 12 hours ago*

I like Andrew Stroehlein's post but Channel 4's website is a bit strange so I will post the direct link to the documentary right here:

Temporarily low-quality YouTube upload:

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[–]Shark_Bait 15 points 10 hours ago

For those blocked by the channel4 site, here is the whole thing on YouTube.

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[–]fake_again 4 points 9 hours ago

At around 9:30 in that vid it says that the Sri Lankan military had Israeli military planes. Can anyone explain why or how they came to have them?

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[–]bagga 51 points 9 hours ago

Money can be exchanged for goods and services.

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[–]fake_again 5 points 9 hours ago

But why is Israel, in particular, arming Sri Lanka, in particular? Simply for profit?

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[–]siskoraban 8 points 9 hours ago

Is much other motivation needed?

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[–]fake_again 10 points 9 hours ago

Obviously not, but I'm just wondering if Israel has some stake in the game. I'm not being combative, I'd just like a definitive answer based on evidence or facts rather than glib generalities.

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[–]Bic823 14 points 9 hours ago*

Countries sell military hardware to other countries, especially older models that have been phased out of service.

Iranian F-14 Tomcat

In this case Sri Lanka probably just said "Hey, we want to buy some jets", and Israel said "Okay"

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[–]on_timeout 4 points 7 hours ago

Its the Jews man, they're behind everything.

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[–]iconoclaus 1 point 4 hours ago

but who's behind them? turtles?

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[–]RabidRaccoon 0 points 4 hours ago

I'm not being combative

Yes you are.

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[–]helm 3 points 8 hours ago

Example: Sweden is a small country, but we had the boneheaded idea to design and build our own Gen 4.5 jet fighter (JAS 39 Gripen) for 50-100 billion USD. The last 20 years Sweden has tried to sell them to 15-20 countries upgrading their airforce, and had moderate success with four.

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[–]tq92 -3 points 8 hours ago

LTTE is to Sri Lanka as Palestine is to Israel.

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[–]staticmotion -1 points 7 hours ago

Not really. LTTE have themselves committed many terrible atrocities.

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[–]looks-shopped 2 points 6 hours ago

so you're saying PLO or Hamas are pacifists?

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[–]staticmotion -1 points 5 hours ago*

Not really but the LTTE violence is on a completely different level and the two scenarios are very different. Equating LLTE to Palestine is very unfair to the Palestinian cause. Has the Palestinians ever done something like forcefully removing over 75,000 people from an area and then raping and killing the one's left behind?

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[–]tq92 1 point 6 hours ago

LTTE is a thousand times worse than the Palestinians, but Israel is still trying to get rid of them like Sri Lanka is trying to get rid of Tigers

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[–]looks-shopped 1 point 6 hours ago*

Shelling hospitals is just as bad as tear gassing schools. FTFY

also, i'd like to know more about your twisted ways of comparing different acts of violence against civilians (which none of the above mentioned have ever restrained from)

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இலங்கைப் போர்க்குற்ற விசாரணைக்கு ஐ நா செயலாளர் நாயகம் மீது, அமெரிக்கா போன்ற நாடுகள் அழுத்தம் பிரயோகிக்க வேண்டுமென International Crisis Group தெரிவித்தது.

சனல் 4 தொலைக்காட்சி தயாரித்து வெளியிட்டுள்ள இலங்கையின் கொலைக்களங்கள் என்ற விவரணத்தில் தெரிவிக்கப்பட்டுள்ள விபரங்களை ஏற்றுக் கொள்வதாக International Crisis Group தெரிவித்தது.

அந்த அமைப்பின் மூத்த துணைத் தலைவர் மார்க் ஷ்னைடர் அமெரிக்காவின் Pடீளு தொலைக்காட்சிக்கு இந்தக் கருத்தைத் தெரிவித்தார்.

ஒரு வருடத்திற்கு முன்னர் தமது அமைப்பு வெளியிட்ட சிறப்பு அறிக்கையில், ஆயிரக்கணக்கான பொதுமக்கள் கொல்லப்பட்டமை குறித்துக் குறிப்பிட்டிருந்ததை அவர் நினைவுபடுத்தினார்.

ஐக்கிய நாடுகள் செயலாளர் நாயகம் பான் கீ மூன், இலங்கை தொடர்பாக விசாரணை நடத்துவதற்குக் குழுவொன்றை நியமிப்பதற்கு அமெரிக்கா, பிரித்தானியா போன்ற நாடுகள் அழுத்தம் பிரயோகிக்கவேண்டுமென எதிர்பார்ப்பதாகவும், அதுதான் இந்த விடயத்தில் ஏதாவது நடப்பதற்குள்ள ஒரே ஒரு வழியெனத் தாம் கருதுவதாகவும் மார்க் ஷ்னைடர் தெரிவித்தார்.

இலங்கை அரசின் போர் தொடர்பான கொள்கையை நடைமுறைப்படுத்திய இரட்டைக் குடியுரிமையைக் கொண்ட உயர் அதிகாரிகளை நீதியின் முன் நிறுத்துமாறு அமெரிக்கா போன்ற நாடுகளை அவர் கேட்டுக் கொண்டார்.

இந்த ஒளிபரப்பில் கருத்து வெளியிட்ட அமெரிக்காவுக்கான இலங்கைத் தூதுவர் ஜாலிய விக்கிரமசூரிய, சனல் 4 விவரணம் போலியானதெனவும், பரப்புரை நோக்கம் கொண்டதெனவும் குற்றம் சாட்டினார்.

http://thamilfm.com/thamilfm/NewClients/NewsDetail.aspx?ID=8219

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