Shenali D Waduge

A much-looked forward to interview was aired. Prior to delving into the details of the interview, it was clear by the panelists & a quick look at the audience that the interview was not only well planned but questions were also well prepared & RanilW was unknowingly entering the tigers den.  All of the questions were sensational sans any trace of evidence, claims were pure conjecture and clearly a witch-hunt. Ranil must have wondered why a diaspora that threw bouquets over decades were now throwing bricks! Some food for thought for the former President. But the role of Mehdi in this drama completely erased his credibility as an unbiased journalist.

Ranil claims the interview that lasted 2 hours was edited to 45minutes. He also claims Al Jazeera lied about the panelists who were present.

What we can agree with Mehdi

• Former Ranil Wickremasinghe was always part of the very establishment” that people were trying to get rid of. This would inevitably answer his next question as to why people did not elect the former president as President in 2024.

Factually incorrect statements by Mehdi

• Sri Lanka’s conflict was never a CIVIL WAR – the UN defines it as a Non-International Armed Conflict. The perpetrators, the LTTE who were all Tamils killed scores of Tamils while also endangering the lives of scores of Tamil children denying them their human rights & fundamental freedoms by turning them into child soldiers. Mehdi’s next interviewee should be Adel Balasingham who lives happily in London after training innocent children to kill & commit suicide too.

Mehdi mentions Civil War” at least 20 times.

• The anti-Rajapakse” slur is unbecoming of a supposed to be unbiased & independent journalist going so far as to say I’ll challenge him (RanilW) on his relationship with the Rajapakses”.

Questionable panelists

• Mehdi selected 3 panelists of which Niranjan Devadithya has also faced criticism for supporting pro-Tamil eelam ideology & pro-LTTE groups, echoing calls for war crimes after LTTE defeat while ignoring 30 years of war crimes by LTTE though he was an envoy of RanilW.

Francis Harrison (former Amnesty International reporter) the next panelist author of Still Counting the Dead” from UK. She has written 5 books all only on Tamil Tigers. Interesting why!

Her BBC documentary Sri Lanka’s Unfinished War”2013 eventually exposed the asylum seeker racket taking place in manipulating the UK govt. Nandani’s story featured 1^st post-conflict rape. Her mother living in Sri Lanka’s story was far different. BBC would not have expected her mother to be traced. BBC says Nandai was kidnapped in early 2013, her mother says she left for UK in 2012. Nandani had been lodged in Colombo from 2006 to 2012. So how could she have been picked up at her home in Jaffna. The documentary does not mention she was married to a pro-LTTE activist Uhan Padmarasa who was sent to UK in 1995. He went to marry Nandani in India in mid 2000. Her attempts to join him failed. Rape was the last option & crediting blame to the armed forces was the best solution. The training for asylum seekers costs minimum 5000-6000 pounds & excludes processing fees. This racket needs to be investigated instead of spreading fake documentaries.

The last panelist was Dr Madura Rasaratnam whose research is alleged to be sympathetic to Tamil eelam which was the goal of the LTTE terrorists. Her husband Dr. Shanth is allegedly linked to LTTE’s ideologue Anton Balasingham, a claim RanilW has also made following his interview.

The hypocrisy is that all of the human rights activists” were silent when LTTE committed war crimes but became active only after LTTE defeat.

Mehdi Questioning Justice

• While Mehdi is questioning justice” & accountability in Sri Lanka, being a Brit he may like to question why Bloody Sunday accountability took 35 years. The massacre that took place in 1972 only had an inquiry appointed in 1998 (26 years after the incident) though David Cameron apologized there was no criminal justice against the soldiers who were found guilty. Where was the justice for this war crimes, Mehdi?
• Mehdi & panelists who are throwing all sorts of wild allegations at Sri Lanka’s soldiers may like to be reminded of the scores of war crimes that UK soldiers were accused of but did not get any jail terms.

As for Sri Lanka’s soldiers simply screaming war crimes & genocide & holding biased interviews cannot erase the key fact that no dead bodies – no war crimes. Where are the 40,000 dead – where are their names – where are their skeletons … with none to prove no one can claim 40,000 civilians were killed while LTTE dead cannot be counted as civilian dead though LTTE & LTTE supporters annually shed crocodile tears for terrorists.

Ranil’s role in Economic Crisis

• Mehdi carried away in throwing personal attacks at RanilW completely omitted to mention the $12.5billion ISBs and the amendment of Foreign Exchange Act that largely contributed to the catastrophe that unfolded in 2022 with creditors demanding their dues & country having no foreign exchange with exporters/importers parking their profits in overseas banks instead of depositing back home as was mandatory while a campaign was launched discouraging expats to send their earnings home falsely claiming the Govt would cease the money. This important aspect was never touched by Mehdi.

With the expose by the Trump administration on USAID funding it is not difficult to assume the role that foreign funded local entities played in the 2022 people’s protest” that justified going to IMF & agreeing to all of its neo-liberal capitalist conditions to which Sir Lanka is now trapped for a paltry $2.9b loan which is given in tranches & which has to be paid back with interest from 2028 while a former Minister was on record to say that Sri Lanka’s exporters/importers are keeping a minimum $55b in off shore accounts! No one especially the Central Bank seem to be bothered to recover this money or willing to reverse the 2017 amended Foreign Exchange Act.

Who is to blame for Sri Lanka’s Economic Crisis?

Rather than who the question should be what. Unmonitored ad hoc ill-planned & ill-advised open economic policies since 1980s where the nation’s deficit kept widening due to excessive imports killing any form of self-sustainability while virtually killing local producers where eventually imports & commissions became the name of the game.

Mehdi on Ranils handling of protestors

Mehdi says you had an opportunity to listen to young protestors who were out on the streets in Sri Lanka & you squandered it”.

Sri Lanka has been regularly holding elections pre & post-independence. Representatives of the people are voted out not thrown out of their homes or offices by people stampeding & destroying public property.

Mehdi also claims within hours of becoming President ……you called in the military, …..to do whatever is necessary to restore order”

Mehdi may recall the use of excessive force by UK police which included beating protestors during the 1990 Poll Tax riots in Trafalgar Square which led to PM Thatchers resignation. What about the 2009 G20 London Protests against austerity measures & corporate greed resulting in police beating protestors inhumanely with batons & led to the death of Ian Tomlinson, a newspaper vendor,

Then in 2010 students across UK protested against govt decision to raise tuition fees. Police beat these students too. Then there is the London riots in 2011 following the police shooting of Mark Duggan which later led to looting & arson. The same year saw more anti-austerity protests in London resulting in clashes with police.

When people protested during Covid lockdowns, UK even changed its protest laws in 2021 (Police, Crime, Sentencing & Courts Bill) The bill included clauses on right to protest & introduced new laws to allow police to impose conditions on protests & protestors including their ability to block roads & use loud speakers, police could stop protests that would last too long & slapped harsher penalties for those found guilty. Imagine if these laws existed in Sri Lanka in 2022?

Ranil Wickremasinghe’s response was quite correct. What will you do if the Parliament is being taken over by a mob” which translates to Will Mehdi or UK govt allow protestors to storm & throw out the UK PM or King Charles from Buckingham Palace?

Mehdi’s counter to RanilW’s question was to quote Amnesty International – this is an entity that accepted $50,000 from a banned d LTTE front. Its 2019 report on Saudi Arabia execution allegedly failed to distinguish individuals involved in terrorism. Its 2011 reporting on Assad’s Massacre” was allegedly exaggerated with unreliable sources while it was also pointed that some sources had questionable credibility. Its 2016 ISIS Recruitment in the Philippines” report claiming Philippine military used torture was also said to be exaggerated/fabricated using unreliable sources. Its 2017 Myanmar Rohingya Report was criticized for insufficiently covering context of the conflict even by analysts with disproportionate blame on the Myanmar Govt overlooking the role of insurgent groups & the historical context of the conflict. Its 2015 European Migrant Crisis Report that highlighted the mistreatment of refugees by European Union was also questioned. Amnesty’s 2014 report on Sri Lanka was also accused of being one-sided & based on unverified sources & completely ignored terrorist tactics used by LTTE & not addressing any of the crimes committed by LTTE.

RanilW quite correctly reminded Mehdi what the protestors committed – killing one Member of Parliament & nearly killing another MP while also burning a large number of houses, & went on to attack Parliament.

Mehdi’s response was to claim that the European Union claimed the GoSL used unnecessary violence” against protestors. We can give another list of excessive force used by police in EU nations against peaceful protestors to question EUs handling of their own people.

RW went on to claim that the same EU funded some of the agencies that called for his resignation but praised RW as the man who took the nation out of the economic crisis.

Mehdi must take a look at the figures & statistics on the vandalism & destruction to state & private property by the so-called peaceful protestors” of 2022.

Mehdi’s raising of not holding local government elections is valid & RanilW did not adequately respond to that question. Mehdi did not mention how US-India funded regime change in 2015 that brought Sirisena-Ranil to power also held no local govt elections until 2018.

Mehdi on Rajapakse’s

From the tone & content of the questions it is quite obvious that Mehdi holds a bias against the Rajapakses. He questions why RanilW has not taken action against them for corruptions. The financial crimes division was created, bribery commission were created. If Mehdi & co must file evidence.

What is Mehdi’s problem in RanilW attending the birthday party of Mahinda Rajapakse? Mahinda Rajapakse remains the only President who had the guts as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces to order the troops to defeat a 30 year old terrorist outfit banned by 32 nations including the UK. This ban remains active even 16 years after LTTE defeat even in the UK.

There is a legal maxim innocent until proven guilty” (Ei incumbit probatio qui dicit, non qui negat”) – this internationally accepted fundamental principle holds a person INNOCENT of any crime unless evidence is presented in a court of law to prove their guilt.

The responsibility of the prosecution or anyone accusing like Mehdi falls on the accuser to prove the guilt of who he is accusing. The accused does not have to prove their innocence. This concept is tied to presumption of innocence in criminal law.

Thus a biased journalist like Mehdi cannot use his program to make anyone guilty unless he goes to court with the evidence & the court declares the person guilty. So just because Mehdi may hate the Rajapakse’s he cannot demand RanilW or anyone else refrain from associating the Rajapakses. What a bizarre logic!

Mehdi may recall Queen Elizabeth’s letter to Ugandan dictator Idi Amin when he invited her to attend their independence in 1972. Her letter to him ended I am your good friend … Elizabeth R” (anyone is welcome to google) Pity Mehdi couldn’t bring the Queen on his show & question her!

Mehdi let slip I have been opposed to the Rajapakse’s all this time” (why, on what basis, heresay or where is his evidence) is this some kind of international criteria to be accepted into some inner circle only if one hates the Rajapakses?

This statement automatically removes his claim to be unbiased or independence.

Factually incorrect remarks by Dr. Madura Rasaratnam

She claims RanilW was made President by the Rajapakses. This is not true. Parliament voted – Ranil received 134 votes & Dullas Alahapperuma received 82.

She claims the protestors wanted total system change”. This was how the LTTE ruled their own people. The protestors in total were hardly 300,000 in a total population of 22million people. So the protestors were no majority or even voiced the will of the whole of the Nation. Sri Lanka is a democracy not a nation where a bunch of hooligan’s stampede buildings and demand who they want to be placed in power.

She is loosely using words like grave crimes” genocide” but these are sans evidence & baffling is how a Tamil population figures can increase statistically while being accused of committing genocide”. Must be mathematics of people living in UK.

Ranil’s envoy Niranjan Deva Dithya pointed out how the civil service stopped working because RanilW tried to take action.

Francis Harrison asks why RanilW did not hold Gotabaya Rajapakse accountable. Accountable for what? He was elected to power in Nov 2019, Covid struck in 2020, lockdowns ceased productivity, he did not take a single loan. He did not waste state funds. On what grounds is she asking Gotabaya Rajapakse to be held accountable? If she claims there are cases against him, these can be taken up now that he is no longer President. She also mentioned misusing pension fund. Valid question which she must also pose to the US investors who used US pension fund for the ISBs in 2019.

RanilW quite rightly says there’s no charge against him” when Mehdi asks him why Gotabaya Rajapakse was allowed back to Sri Lanka.

It is very clear from the interview that Mehdi was using the interview to attack the Rajapakses & questioning RanilW for not taking action against them. Head to Head may be a kangaroo court but that is not how decent nations go about governance.

Mehdi claims they are accused of massive crimes” – what are they, where is the evidence?

Easter Sunday attacks

RanilW claims that the Supreme Court has cleared him. Mehdi says that the Presidential Commission of Inquiry finds both President & Prime Minister accountable for dereliction of duty”. But RanilW says the Supreme Court found President responsible not PM.

Mehdi next comes to Channel 4 & no wonder as the main culprit of that is seated grinning away in a front seat row. So we can guess how prepared the questions against Ranilw would have been with all pro-LTTE inputs. Irony is that they all held RanilW is high esteem and supported him for decades & the curious thing is why they are now all ganging up against him?

The blockbuster thriller” by private funded C4 timed annually for Geneva sessions presents one Hamsa (we can recall their previous star witness Vany K who claims she mixed blood & water to give patients-anyone knows the ultimate outcome of that – she turned out to be a former LTTE)

The C4 fiction attempting to tie a respected intelligence official to Easter Sunday through an asylum seeking Hamsa who can go running to a private foreign media but did not produce his evidence before the presidential commissions. The Justice Imam report declared C4’s allegations as hoax though the Cardinal was quick to congratulate C4 in a 3 page letter hours after their program was released. C4, Hamsa & Cardinal has failed to prove the alleged official was in Sri Lanka in February 2018, failed to affirm he visited a coconut estate in Puttalam, failed to affirm that he spoke to Hamsa & failed to provide he was in Sri Lanka during the Easter Sunday attacks. These constitute character assassination filled with lies & fabrications. Moreover the former SIS head claims 15,000 knew something would happen” before the attacks took place. Does this not warrant to even why the heads of the Church did not fall into this 15,000 list?

The Imam Committee actually refers to Channel 4 broadcast as yellow journalism” & calls to restore journalistic integrity by media when reporting matters of national security using credible sources & verifiable data instead of using journalism as a tool for harm & character assassinations.

Hereto Mehdi’s attempt is to pinpoint Easter Sunday attacks on the Rajapakses. Being a Muslim he must surely wonder how 7 Muslims would commit suicide attacks on orders of a Sinhala Buddhist to make him President.

Mehdi says no one has faith in the Committees” – are we supposed to have faith in what Mehdi & his pro-LTTE panelists say?

Mehdi claims the Catholic Church has rejected the reports.

RanilW says that he knows the politics of the Catholic Church. If the Church has evidence where is the evidence. They too cannot be like Mehdi making wild allegations & expecting people to accept what they say as facts”.

Let’s go back to the conflict.

Firstly, Sri Lanka did not have a civil war – we had a terrorist conflict.

LTTE killed Sinhalese, Muslims, Foreigners & even Tamils

Sri Lanka’s conflict started with a wave of killings by LTTE militants – where was Mehdi and where were these panelists or human rights activists or even the UN.

Let’s get the facts right first

• If LTTE in civilian clothing died engaged in hostilities – they are not civilians.
• If LTTE child soldiers in civilian clothing died engaged in hostilities – they are not civilians
• If civilians” were engaged in hostilities voluntarily or forced – they are not civilians

All above cannot be categorized as CIVILIAN DEAD

Who can distinguish the dead when LTTE fought in civilian clothing, when LTTE had a civilian armed force and LTTE child soldiers also fought in civilian clothing. Can Harrison or anyone else count this first.

Next, why are all the dead been credited to only the armed forces. There is sufficient evidence that LTTE even killed their own injured cadres putting them into buses & setting fire to the buses.

LTTE blurred the distinction of civilians”. A civilian not involved in any form of hostilities can only be categorized as civilian as per Geneva Conventions.

Therefore, can Harrison count & tell Mehdi

How many LTTE died fighting in civilian clothing or LTTE uniforms?

How many in LTTE CIVILIAN ARMY died

How many actual civilians died after being forced to engage in hostilities. How many actual civilians died after voluntarily engaged in hostilities.

Can Harrison, Mehdi or Dr. Ramaswamy tell how many civilians who were not members of LTTE, not members of LTTE Civilian Army & who did not engage in hostilities either voluntarily or by force died – how they died & whether they died because of LTTE fire or Sri Lanka Army.

Without making these distinctions – how can anyone accuse a national army of war crimes or genocide? No one not even UN officials or UNHRC officials have any right to flog the term genocide” without proper evidence.

So far the claim of 40,000 has only been a number – no one using this figure can provide names of the 40,000 dead, there are no skeletons of the 40,000 dead either. Those who throw numbers & claim that to be genocide should produce the names of the dead & ensure these dead are CIVILIAN and not LTTE dead. No one can scream war crimes & genocide against terrorists when they were given 3 opportunities to lay down arms & surrender but they refused.

Interestingly Dr. R whose organization PEARL claimed 70,000 to 169,796 were killed. Can this panelist produce the names of the dead?

Mehdi also questioned RanilW on the Missing Persons Commission. In 2013 the Paranagama Commission was appointed there were only 18590 complaints of which 5000 were missing Sri Lankan soldiers. How come Mehdi or human rights activists omit looking for these missing soldiers & want to look only for terrorists?

Why has PEARL not filed 70,000 or 169,796 missing with the commission?

Mehdi may like to look back at the records.

The UN Country Team said 7721 civilians died between Aug 2008 & 13 May 2009.

Indian embedded Journalist Murali Reddy confirmed that from 13 May 2009 to 19 May 2009 there were no civilians in the 1.5km strip LTTE were confined to.

Sri Lankan Govt census by Tamil teachers in Feb/Mar 2012 placed war related deaths at 7432.

The 3 member panel on a personal capacity by UN Secretary General in their 2012 report claimed civilian deaths could be” as high as 40,000. Could be does not mean 40,000 died. However former UN Spokesman Weiss ran off with the 40,000 number which he used to launch his book & reduced the number to 10,000 when questioned at the launch.

Even LTTE website Tamilnet put casualty figures at 2972 until 5 April 2009 while UNHRC head Navi Pillay put civilian deaths at 2800 in her 13 March 2009 report.

So now Mehdi & his panelists must show how from 2800 dead in 13 March 2009 the figure rose to 40,000 by 19 May 2009 when 2 days later UNSG Ban Ki Moon landed & took a helicopter ride over the war terrain. No one reported newly dug graves. So where did these 40,000 newly dead bodies vanish to? Asking these basic & fundamental questions should make readers realize that this figure accompanied by war crimes/genocide chorus is nothing but fake news simply to keep their money making entity alive. Janes Intelligence claimed LTTE profits in the mid 2000 was around $300-400. That LTTE kitty must be treble the amount with the sale of souvenirs and other eelam programs being launched while fooling the Tamil people back home of working for a Tamil Eelam while holding foreign passports. Thus the question is who are these diaspora commemorating – LTTE dead or civilians killed by LTTE as Maaveer Naal is a commemoration for LTTE dead.

So Mehdi needs to realize if he & his panelists are claiming an x number are dead or missing then they have to prove who are the missing who are the dead & numbers. Mehdi cannot be demanding justice without providing x number dead.

On Shavendra Silva

Next Mehdi questions why Ranil reappointed Gen. Shavendra Silva as the Chief of Defense staff because the US govt backlisted for gross violations of human rights, namely extra judicial killings. Perhaps Mehdi has forgotten that Sri Lanka is a sovereign country & just because another country backlists people, Sri Lanka is not bound by that.  For that matter UK has banned LTTE but UK police does nothing against pro-LTTE protestors brandishing LTTE flag & LTTE paraphanelia? LTTE is banned in both US & UK. US banned foreign terrorist organizations which are also on UK watchlists include Al Qaeda, ISIS, Hezbollah, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Hamas, Al-Shabaab, Kurdistan Workers’ Party who are allegedly operating even from UK. Has Mehdi questioned this too?

Mehdi cannot claim surveillance, intimidation, harassment or land grabs without proof. To claim any land belongs to x, y, or z they cannot go to Medi, the UN or foreign missions & cry this is our land” they must present a valid & unforged land deed. No one claiming land has been able to provide such. In terms of surveillance only the guilty have a problem.

Is Mehdi aware that UK has 6m CCTV cameras that is 89.5 cameras for 1000 people (6m/67m people) There is 1 CCTV camera for 11 people in public spaces.

In US, there are 50m surveillance cameras (50m/333m population = 150 cameras per 1000 people) this excludes the cameras used by govt for surveillance.

Mehdi seems to repeatedly claim Mahinda & Gotabaya Rajapakse are accused of multiple war crimes – accused by whom? Who has found them guilty? Is it Mehdi court, Madura’s Court or Harrison’s Court?

Has Mehdi conveniently forgotten that President Rajapakse defeated LTTE terrorists & not Tamils.

Has Mehdi forgotten that LTTE scores of Tamils – that list is longer than the names Harrison & Madura can produce to claim civilian dead.

Why should President Rajapakse be put on trial or sent to prison for defeating LTTE? Is this anger & interview to seek revenge against them. Are they all angry that LTTE leader & LTTE military was defeated by President Rajapakse & the Sri Lankan military.

Why should President Rajapakse be put on trial for defeating terrorists what right do pro-LTTE separatists have to demand people be put to trial.

Mehdi has not mentioned a word on LTTE crimes.

UN did not estimate 40,000 dead – this is an abject lie.

Madura should refer UN records before making such poor statements.

So far none of those pointing fingers can produce facts or figures with evidence.

Mehdi finally tries to corner RanilW on Batalanda. Ranil must be wondering what happened as the forces that treated him as their darling are now all ganging up on him.

A member of the audience questions Ranil on self-determination. What is ironical is that no Tamils living in Sri Lanka are asking for separatism or self-determination except for Tamil politicians funded by the LTTE Diaspora and foreign passport holding Tamils living in foreign shores. Shouldn’t we all be wondering why people living overseas want to separate Sri Lanka & not Tamils living in Sri Lanka.

A woman in the audience who claims to be a survivor of the mullaivaikkal” next raises a question. What we have to first wonder is, was she one of the 297,853 Tamils that Sri Lanka Army saved, was she one of the 12,000 LTTE combatants that surrendered to the Sri Lanka Army, was she one of the 594 child soldiers that surrendered to the Sri Lanka Army? Now she is living in UK, if there was genocide how come 297,853 people were brought to safety sacrificing 6000 soldier lives? Why would the Sri Lankan Army kill an x number of people (who have no names, & there are no skeletons to prove they were even alive) but save 297,853 people? Readers please ask this question.

The co-sponsorship of the UNHRC Resolution has now backfired on RanilW as he & Mangala not only agreed to co-sponsor but also delisted LTTE fronts who are now ganging up on RanilW.

Callum McCrae’s question was on Gaza on an article titled Rajapakse plan for the complete destruction of Hamas’ suggesting Israel should adopt the same tactics that Rajapakse applied. Clearly, he wanted to bring up the No Fire Zone. The status quo of the NFZ needs to be also brought to the attention of the readers. An official NFZ is agreed & signed off by both parties. In this case the Sri Lanka NFZ was created only by the Armed Forces for Tamil civilians to come to. LTTE went to the NFZ fired from inside it putting people in jeopardy. By compromising the lives of Tamils LTTE is at fault & not the Army. The Army dropped leaflets in Tamil too. It’s a first if Israel has to learn from the Rajapakses!

Mehdi is totally wrong about humanitarian aid being blocked because all the details are available. Most of his quotes are unverified too. Mehdi must look up all the crimes the UK soldiers accused in Iraq.

What about the destruction of the Buddhist sacred sites as well as archaeological heritage sites? Why is no one speaking about these?

Playing the Buddhist card

Eventually RanilW sought salvage in Buddhism because that was the only way he could twist the argument in his favor.

However, what is clear is that this Al Jazeera interview by the supposed to be unbiased Mehdi Hassan was nowhere near that. It was well planned and  questions were well prepared & Ranil fell for the tiger trap.

Shenali D Waduge