Lankan envoy says pics are handiwork of 'fringe groups'

The recent allegations against the Sri Lankan army and their Government for human rights violations, with pictures of 12-year-old Balachandran  Prabha- karan being executed, released in the media appears to have been repeatedly deflected by the island nation stating they were morphed.

Speaking with Deccan Herald on the sidelines of the road show being conducted by Sri Lanka, to promote their Country, Deputy High Commissioner of Sri Lanka to India, OL Ameerajwad said that his country was being targeted by “fringe groups”.

“These people are taking pictures, which in this modern day and age can be morphed, and making decisions about publishing them in London,” he said, inferring to the Channel 4 documentation of Balachandran Prabhakaran’s execution.

He said the “fringe groups” were out to “malign” Sri Lanka’s image in the world and was trying to get traction for the Geneva Resolution of probing into allegations of human rights violations in their country.

Meanwhile, on the possible impact of the human rights allegations on the tourism sector, Ameerajwad said that the two things were completely different. There was no impact on their tourism industry. “Even from Tamil Nadu there has been an increase in air traffic to our nation. We have four to five daily flights, Sri Lankan airlines, which are running full every day. This suggests that there is no impact on our tourism sector due to these allegations,” he said.

Sri Lanka is currently promoting their nation for economic development, by interacting with the Indian private sector in seven different cities, with claims of no more security threats with the end of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the onset of the Mahinda Rajapaksa government.