Sri Lanka Broadcasting Chairman Hudson Samarasinghe on Saturday (Nov. 29) blasted those who demanded to know why the SLBC had blocked out LTTE boss V. Prabhakaran’s so-called Heroes Day speech. Speaking over the Isira radio channel Samarasinghe asked whether those raising this matter expected in the name of media freedom a state-run radio station (maintained with public funds) to broadcast the “voice of a bloodthirsty animal” trying to bisect the country.
[ad#200×200]Strangely, the issue whether the Tiger radio permits broadcasting President Rajapaksa’s full speeches, does not seem to have not occurred to these critics, before questioning the SLBC Chairman.
He noted that while the entire world’s attention during the past couple of days was focused on the terrorist attack on Mumbai where the terrorists also targeted Westerners, the BBC’s Bush House buffoons were busy giving oxygen to Prabhakaran by denigrating Sri Lanka’s armed forces and repeating a hackneyed old story of white vans abducting people. Samarasinghe said that it was no secret that some BBC staffers were on the LTTE’s payroll.
It is a known fact that when Islamic fanatics commit terrorist acts they are terrorists to the BBC. But these same hypocrites see the Tigers as rebels and not terrorists. When the BBC interviewed LTTE supporter Virendra Sharma, who is Britain’s Labour MP for Ealing and Southall on the Mumbai incident the question was never asked from him why he called the Mumbai attackers terrorists and the LTTE freedom fighters or rebels.
As for Mangala Samaraweera who branded Army Commander Lt. General Sarath Fonseka (who nearly lost his life at hands of a Tiger suicide bomber) a person who is unfit even to lead the Salvation Army, the SLBC Chairman wondered whether Samnaraweera has gone bonkers.
The SLBC Chief asked “Is this the kind of statement that a person born in this country will make unless he is out of his mind?”
Apparently Samaraweera is playing the role of LTTE spokesman even better than LTTE Political Chief Nadesan, the Tiger proxy Tamil National Alliance, Australia’s Sinhala Tiger Brian Senewiratne and former U.S. Deputy Attorney General Bruce Fein.
Whether ‘Sun God’ Prabhakaran conferred this appointment on him or whether he conferred it on himself is not known. Has this clown ever considered the fact that by making such allegations against the Army Chief at this juncture he is only serving the Tigers’ cause?
Samaraweera calls Lt.Gen. Fonseka a misfit and says he is guilty of indiscipline and corruption too. If these accusations are true the Army’s anti-LTTE campaign would have ended in failure many months ago.
The crucial issue is this. In no country at a time of national crisis will a Military Leader be unduly criticized or condemned unless he has made a major blunder in the battle field that reversed all the gains that troops under his command have made. If there are allegations against the commander they can be raised in Parliament only after the end the war.
There is no denial that allegations have been made against military commanders in other wars too. In World War II U.S. General George S. Patton was accused of slapping (actually by mistake) a shell-shocked soldier and it was given wide negative press publicity.
But to the American pubic at large it was not a major issue because they were more concerned with winning the battle against the Nazis and that Patton fully achieved.
Prime Minister Winston Churchill lost British General Elections only after he led his country to victory in war.
By Janaka Perera
Source: Asian Tribune