Shavendra Silva responds from New York to the false allegations made by Channel 4
An effort made to harm the reputation of Sri Lanka using the Channel 4 documentary has failed.
Sri Lanka was cleared of the allegations at a meeting held to raise awareness amongst all member countries of the UN regarding the Channel 4 documentary. The conspirators were made speechless by the answers offered by Sri Lanka.
The meeting organized by three well known international humanitarian organizations was held in New York yesterday in order to exert pressure on Sri Lanka. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and International Crisis Group were the three organizations. The producers of the Channel 4 documentary were also present. The Channel 4 documentary was showed to the representatives of all member countries of the UN. Thereafter the fact finding session was held. The Sri Lankan Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Major General Shavendra Silva responded to the questions posed by the representatives of member countries, media personnel as well as the representatives of the institutions that organized the programme. The plan to discredit Sri Lanka was rendered useless due to the answers given by Maj. Gen. Shavendra Silva. UN Permanent Representative Dr. Palitha Kohana was also present. Addressing the gathering Maj. Gen. Sahavendra Silva said that he should have been invited to the meeting as he witnessed firsthand what transpired during the final stages of the conflict. He was able respond to the questions reasonably as he attended the meeting as the Deputy Permanent Representative without even having an invitation. He was able to point out more than 20 incidents that contained false information. The representatives of the member countries as well as the media personnel were convinced that the Channel 4 documentary was based on false facts. The opportunity that could be used by the newspapers and magazines in the US and the BBC to publish news items that could harm the image of Sri Lanka was lost due to this.
