BBC Hard Talk – National Anthem in Tamil?

By Selva Gnanam, Melbourne.

In his 9 part series(made 2010) BBC ‘Hard Talk’ host Stephen Sackur looks at the Sri Lankan government’s child soldier rehabilitation programme (parts 7-9)  He talks to the programme director, teachers ….. and to the teenagers themselves, about their horrific experiences and new lives. The programme, he says, poses a troubling question – “Should the victorious Sri Lankan military be responsible for the rehabilitation of traumatised and vulnerable Tamil teenagers?” He always stresses the point that the people engaged in this whole operation are “Singhalese” and the overall control is still with the “victorious Sri Lankan military”  In his eagerness to harp on the fact that “Singhalese” are in total control, he calls the English teacher of the school, Bernadine Anderson a  “Singhalese” ??  Earlier in his commentary, he says that the Sri Lankan army was their enemy, but now they raise the national flag and sing the national anthem in “Singhalese” (giving the subliminal message that the students have no choice) At the end of  part 9 he asks the OIC,  Brigadier Sudantha Ranasinghe whether he is trying to “reprogram”  the minds of these “Tamil” youth by getting them to sing the national anthem of Sri Lanka in “Singhalese”  I would have burst out laughing at the question but the Officer, very seriously, gives the right answer …  which was that no country in the world has her national anthem sung in different languages. He should have answered Sackur, who is British,  by asking him whether Britain has her national anthem sung in English as well as Scottish, Welsh and  Irish!!

Right throughout all the interviews he conducted in 2010, including those with Frederica Janz, Sarath Fonseka and R.Sampanthan the words “Terrorism /Terrorist” is not used even once but “War crimes” is mentioned several times and one question comes to mind always. Is he collecting evidence against the “victorious Sri Lankan military”  and the “Singhalese” people, ….. to be used as evidence of “war crimes” ??

We have to remember that the Anglo-American Empire supported the LTTE terrorists for thirty years and these Anglo-Tigers have not changed their stripes even if the situation has changed ….. which they consider to be “Temporary”  They targeted Colonel Gadaffi of Libya for forty years …. sometimes wined him and dined him …. and even hugged him ….. and finally murdered him …. to steal the oil wealth of that country.

To safe-guard our country,  we have to protect the people who saved us from the clutches of terrorism … and never forget that the Tigers were nurtured and fattened by milk from all the Western nations.