The ‘Channel 4’ drama -journalism on the wrack - EDITORIAL

The Channel 4 drama - titled Dispatches is holding our country in thrall. Everybody is talking about it and everybody has a different opinion on it. Our political parties in Opposition, the SJB, and the JVP are calling for an international commission to be set up to inquire into the Channel 4 expose.

The leader of the Catholic Church in this country -whose flock was the target of the Easter Sunday bomb blast- was the first to call for an independent international commission of inquiry. More recently even the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has jumped onto the bandwagon calling for an independent and transparent investigation into the Easter Sunday attacks with international assistance.

President Wickremesinghe has promised to set up another Parliamentary Select Committee to further investigate accusations made in the Dispatches documentary. He has also promised to appoint a retired Judge to probe accusations made in the Channel 4 programme.

The star of Channel 4 -Moulana- an asylum seeker who was a translator and aide to one-time LTTE militant -Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan aka Pillaiyan- who cloned into a politician. According to Moulana, he set up a meeting on the advice of Pillaiyan between NTJ members and Suresh Sallay the Head of National Intelligence to hatch a plot to destabilise the country and help the Rajapaksas back into power.

Both Pillaiyan and Gotabaya Rajapaksa are known for their anti-Muslim agendas. The mind boggles at the idea of the two linking up with the extremist NTJ, or of that organisation joining hands with known ‘Muslim haters’ to bring the Rajapakas back into power.

Again, Suresh Sallay himself denied the accusation when spoken to by personnel of Channel 4, claiming he was in Malaysia. However, Channel 4 has not mentioned whether they contacted Malaysian authorities to verify his (Sallay’s) statement.

The claims of the programme have not been substantiated and are based on ‘he said, she said’ unverifiable conspiracy theories, somewhat similar to the novel Chaura Rejina (Bandit Queen) where author Victor Ivan claimed the Town Hall bomb blast of 1994 which blinded former President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge in one eye -was planned by Chandrika herself in an effort to win the then Presidential election!
According to Ivan’s theory the woman was probably, hired to wear a suicide jacket, which was then detonated remotely.

A separate conspiracy theory which did the rounds involves the assassination of then Minister of State for Defence Ranjan Wijeratne during the Presidency of the late President Ranasinghe Premadasa. Rumour had it Minister Wijeratne was killed on the instructions of the late President as he feared Wijeratne was becoming more popular than himself.

The death of General Denzil Kobbekaduwa also sparked conspiracy theories based on “he said, she said,” “I was told by high-ranking military contacts, that war hero Kobbekaduwa was killed on orders of the late President Premadasa. This theory circulated even though LTTE supremo Prabhakaran decorated team members for the act. The theory continues to this day.

The 9/11 conspiracy theorists claim the US used the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center to gain power over the Middle East and the American people. According to the theorists the World Trade Center was destroyed by a controlled explosion and the Pentagon was hit by a missile. Then US President George Bush was accused of involvement in the attacks.
Saudi dissident Saas Al-fagih made the claims in an interview with the TV magazine Frontline quoting similar ‘he said, she said’ accusations.

What is surprising is our government’s overreaction to the unsubstantiated claims of Channel 4.
Neither the US government nor the political opposition responded to the conspiracy theories, talk shows and so-called documentaries doing the rounds in the US in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.Neither President Kumaratunga nor President Premadasa went out of their way to contradict the allegations against them.
Why did the government go to such ridiculous lengths to deny unsubstantiated claims made in the documentary? Similarly, why does the Opposition demand punishment of officials accused by Channel 4’s star witness without proof?
Another surprise is the about-turn of the JVP regarding international intervention in local events.