Rajiva Wijesinha

“ But continuing bitterness, as religious leaders of all sorts have taught us, only creates further suffering. And when bitterness privileges terrorism, when it condones through silence the killing of moderate Tamils who had sought political compromises, when it degenerates into a game of atrocity snap, it needs to be dealt with firmly, albeit with kindness and even sympathy.
Unfortunately such bitterness is often excited by the media which, understandably, prefers the sensational soundbite to accurate analysis. ”

“ Sadly, just as good money drives out bad, so too it is sensational falsehoods that settle deep in the minds of the world at large, fuelled by the propensity to believe of many Tamils who were so badly treated in the eighties. ”

“ Sadly, those practices still appear in our media in Sri Lanka. More worryingly, they are reproduced in the international media, which sometimes blindly follows assertions that are never checked. Thus, if I might refer to one of the incidents highlighted yesterday, the deaths of several young girls at Sencholai, when it occurred, the LTTE claimed that this was an orphanage. With more efficiency than generally manages, the government of Sri Lanka revealed that the orphanage had been moved from there several years previously. ”