SHAME ON YOU ANNA NEISTAT & BOB DIETZ FOR BOMBARDING US FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE HEARING ON SRI LANKA WITH LIES

Shripal Nishshanka Fernando

26th February 2009
Few minutes ago, the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations adjourned hearings on ‘Recent Development in Sri Lanka’ and three persons comprising two liars who unfairly criticize Sri Lanka were called as witnesses at the hearing.

The three persons called as witness were the former U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Jeffrey Lunstead, Dr. Anna Neistat of human Rights Watch (HRW) and Bob Dietz of Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

The hearing was presided by the Democratic Senator from Pennsylvania, Robert P. Casey, Jr. and chaired by John Kerry of Massachusetts.
As there was no representative from the Sri Lankan government or the international aid organizations currently assisting the trapped civilians, the one sided hearing was seen as a competition for the best liar.

Anna Neistat, Senior researcher of HRW and Bob Dietz, Asia Program Coordinator of CPJ accused Sri Lankan government of killing Tamil civilians and journalists in the guise of fighting terrorism. Ms. Neistat said that the Sri Lankan forces are shelling hospitals and so-called safe zones and slaughtering the civilians by using rockets and bombs. She informed the committee that the SLG forces are killing these civilians by hundreds everyday.

Bob Dietz giving details of the assassination of Lasantha Wickramathunga said that Wickramathunga’s assassination had taken place closer to a Sri Lankan forces camp and the assassins had gone towards the camp after the assassination. He said that there exists credible information that the ‘Sirasa’ attack was also committed by the Sri Lankan government and most of the journalists in Sri Lanka are living with fear for their lives. He also said that Lasantha Wickramathunga had predicted his own death in one of his articles. He requested that the US should take necessary actions to provide security and necessary welfare to the journalists who leave Sri Lanka and said that steps should be taken for them to return back to Sri Lanka and live there without any fear.

These witnesses were competing with each other with full of baseless lies to discredit the Sri Lankan government and requested the committee to recommend US not to provide any kind of aid to Sri Lanka as the government is massacring Tamil civilians. Anna Neistat said that calling for a special UN Security Council meeting to discuss the situation in Sri Lanka will not be fruitful, because of the possible objections from China and Russia.

When asked by the president of the committee what they would predict as a possible outcome of the present situation, Anna Neistat said that all the present refugees will be move to confined camps later on and they will never be released by the forces but systematically kill them. She said that Sri Lankan forces had been abducting Tamil civilians for a long time and they had been disappeared without any track.

The question is how much Anna Neistat and Bob Dietz were paid by the terrorists and the Tamil Diaspora to present this heavy bunch of lies to accuse Sri Lankan government. These kinds of dramas may take place internationally in the near future by the organizations supporting the terrorists and Sri Lankan government should implement effective counter measures to overcome these threats.
The Sri Lankan Ministry of Foreign Affairs shall handle the situation occurred today in the US Foreign Relations Committee with utmost urgency and summon the Sri Lankan diplomats to brief how to prepare for future situations, specially as most of the current Sri Lankan diplomats in foreign missions seem to be good for nothing.

http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items09/260209-3.html