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Jul-17-2011 16:21printcomments

European Tourists Waylaid in Sri Lanka, Resurgence of 'White Van' Crime

Tim King Salem-News.com

European tourists were white vanned on their way to Kandy from Passikudah.

White Van in Sri Lanka
One of the actual 'white vans' courtesy: muthutamil78.blogspot.com

(COLOMBO) - Today, our newsroom was sent the story, "European Tourist white vanned on their way to Kandy from Passikudah", published by Tamil Daily. The white vans are an ominous symbol of state terrorism in Sri Lanka. This is what the government used to disappear journalists and others sympathetic to the Tamils, before the massive Genocide ordered by President Majinda Rajapaksa commenced just over two years ago.

We reported on 5 July, that Sri Lanka was again allowing people to visit the Tamil regions in the north, which have all been under heavy military occupation since the Genocide. (see: Sri Lanka: MOD to Allow Foreigners' Travel to Northern War Zone Area)

Needless to say, many look at this news with trepidation, as Sri Lanka continues to boldly proclaim that the video and photographic evidence documenting their massive killings of Sri Lankan Tamils were all 'faked' - a suggestion thoroughly disproven at this point by international inspectors.

A comment from an anonymous user was attached to my report, Fields Should be for Sports, not Genocide... Sri Lanka , at 8:23 p.m. PST.

After feeding the comment copy into Google, I saw that a number of pro-Sinhalese news agencies in Sri Lanka and India had carried the information.

The comment contained information from this report: Sri Lanka: Briton held for Channel 4 video on war crimes - rediff news.

It advised the following:

"The Sri Lankan police has arrested a British national for allegedly providing false video footage to a British TV channel 4 to produce a documentary that accused Lankan troops of war crimes. The court was told the Briton Kandanam Jegadishwaram had 71 DVDs in his residence in Kandy. He also had the original video of 'Sri Lanka's Killing Fields' that was 'doctored' by the British channel 4. This original video footage showed Sri Lankan soldiers being killed by the members of the Liberation Tigers of of Tamil Eelam and had a Tamil sound track rather than the Sinhala language heard in the 'doctored' version. Has Tim King also being bribed by the expatriate LTTE Tamils with the same blood money they collected to finance the LTTE terrorists who killed thousands of innocent civilians?"

Tamil victim of a past white van abduction by Sri Lanka's govt.

The backers of the Sinhalese govt. of Sri Lanka are so low on explanations and excuses, that they seem relegated to claiming the footage is "fake" and "doctored", and that the reporters are affiliated with the Tamil Tigers and somehow funded by them. I can tell you for a fact I am not, and we don't miss the implication of the above comment. Of course there is no LTTE funding.

Supporters of governments that kill for the sake of ethnic cleansing operate from a set of principles so vastly different from ours, that their lack of understanding is anything but surprising.

For those who don't know, the Genocide of Tamil people in Sri Lanka that may have left over 100,000 people dead, was highly documented, first by Tamil people as the government forces converged on them, and then through the still and video cameras of the Sri Lankan soldiers themselves.

The United Nations has thoroughly examined the footage showing executions and sexual degradations and worse, that was originally supplied through Channel 4 in London. As Sri Lanka's claims drone on in a context that is nothing less than incredulous, everything we report is fully backed by verifiable facts. (see: USTPAC Welcomes UN Panel's Report on Sri Lanka)

So as we learn that a journalist related to Channel 4 was recently taken by government forces over the Sri Lanka Killing Fields documentary, we discover that tourists from western Europe traveling in these alleged 'tourist friendly' areas are being waylaid by men dressed like Sri Lanka soldiers:

In a most shocking and brutal attack, two tourist were way laid in Habarana, by 3 Sinhala military looking thugs. The tourist were robbed of their small suitcase from a public bus, with over 30 other passengers and one other foreign passenger in addition to this couple from Western Europe.

It is reported by reliable sources to the Tamil Daily that one of them attempted to rob the “Back Pack” of the young lady in her mid twenties, but failed to steal it. The tourist held on to her bag, despite falling to the ground during the struggle.

Tamil Daily suggests that this will mean serious ramifications for the tourism industry, which Sri Lanka relies upon. They are reporting that police and media are involved in a serious cover up of the tourists being robbed, and that Colombo-based diplomats are fully aware of this highly unfortunate incident.

"The Big question" the media group says, "Is why were these two tourists targeted, robbed, terrorized and virtually packed off from the island in absolute fear?"

On the subject of the 'White Van' operations, Tamil Daily simply states that the military, police and the para military were active once again 96 hours ago, displaying their omnipotence in the Island when they blatantly attacked the two European tourist in broad daylight and 50 witnesses.

Even a revolver was used in the attack, by the military looking personal on the public passengers in the bus, in Habarana, physically attacking the European journalist who were on their way to Kandy from Batticaloa-Passikudah visit.

The bus driver had later mentioned that the white van was followed for about half an hour on their way to Habarana on the Madampitiya-Habarana road.

This disgraceful and despicable attack by the MOD forces or connected Goons, is just the news the Sri Lankan Tourist Board and Sri Lankan Airlines did not want to hear. Now the whole of Europe will know what happens to their Tourist who visit Sri Lanka.

All lies aside, it is indeed hard to hide Genocide. Anyone considering visiting Sri Lanka, particularly journalists, should strongly consider the circumstances they would potentially be facing. This is a government that has no credibility, and that is not opinion.

'Stay Human' Restiamo Umani
- Vittorio Arrigoni

Learn more: http://www.tamildaily.net

Some of our past reports on the Tamil Genocide in Sri Lanka;

_________________________________________________________

Tim King: Salem-News.com Editor and Writer

Tim King is a former U.S. Marine with twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. In addition to his role as a war correspondent, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. Tim spent the winter of 2006/07 covering the war in Afghanistan, and he was in Iraq over the summer of 2008, reporting from the war while embedded with both the U.S. Army and the Marines.

Tim holds awards for reporting, photography, writing and editing, including the Silver Spoke Award by the National Coalition of Motorcyclists (2011), Excellence in Journalism Award by the Oregon Confederation of Motorcycle Clubs (2010), Oregon AP Award for Spot News Photographer of the Year (2004), First-place Electronic Media Award in Spot News, Las Vegas, (1998), Oregon AP Cooperation Award (1991); and several others including the 2005 Red Cross Good Neighborhood Award for reporting. Tim has several years of experience in network affiliate news TV stations, having worked as a reporter and photographer at NBC, ABC and FOX stations in Arizona, Nevada and Oregon. Tim was a member of the National Press Photographer's Association for several years and is a current member of the Orange County Press Club.

Serving the community in very real terms, Salem-News.com is the nation's only truly independent high traffic news Website. As News Editor, Tim among other things, is responsible for publishing the original content of 82 Salem-News.com writers. He reminds viewers that emails are easily missed and urges those trying to reach him, to please send a second email if the first goes unanswered. You can write to Tim at this address: newsroom@salem-news.com


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Anonymous February 10, 2014 10:10 pm (Pacific time)

Mother fuckers

ramani chandrakanthan August 16, 2012 11:28 pm (Pacific time)

Tin tin dont spred evil please.u are a messenger of Devil.

tyagarajan,jaffne August 16, 2012 11:24 pm (Pacific time)

Dear Editor,thank you for your attention to the sufferings of tamil people.But what what I read here on this site is shocking!After all we do live in peace now!It s polititions that spred war not we ordinary tamils and our kind sinhala brothers,What you write is bringing misunderstanding among people sir!

Dear Tyagarajan Jaffne, I assure you that my only goal is to see a bright future for your country.  The white van incidents are a matter of grave concern and I have discussed this with a ranking member of your government and he also agrees they are a problem, he does not agree that the government is behind them, but he confirmed the existence of this frightening issue.  So, again, my goal is simply to remind people that this is still taking place, I wish well to all people of Sri Lanka sincerely, all Tamils and Sinhalese. 

Tim King, Salem-News.com News Editor

Muthamizh July 18, 2011 11:29 pm (Pacific time)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1OJ_ug1COwandNR=1

White Van abduction

http://muthutamil78.blogspot.com/2011/07/white-van-abductions-against-tamil.html

Muthamizh Vendhan July 18, 2011 11:20 pm (Pacific time)

White van abductions against Tamil People in srilanka - Photo's

http://muthutamil78.blogspot.com/2011/07/white-van-abductions-against-tamil.html

 Editor: Thank you Muthamizh

Manjula July 18, 2011 4:18 pm (Pacific time)

Another gullible website fallen for Tamil lies.
1. The picture of a white van was not from Sri Lanka. That Ford Transit van model is not available in Sri Lanka and the building in the background and the tiled road syrface and the blue bus also not Sri lankan type. The photo was from a european country.

Editor: First, this is a very serious subject.  Second, there is no truth to the white van program being Tamil, the world knows that.  As far as photographing vans under operation by SLA thugs looking for Tamil sympathizers to kidnap and kill, why don't you take a picture?  This is a 'white van' (like those used in the abductions)  Now that I think about it, I believe I do have an image of an actual white abduction/state terrorism van, I will try to replace.

2. White van crime was started by Tamil gangs in Jaffna immediately after the war and few months later northern army command captured the group of Tamil youth who did the white van crimes in order to bring insult to the government.

Editor: Jeez, all you guys can do is blame your crimes on the Tamils, they aren't perfect but they are all angels compared to the SLA, that includes the LTTE.

 Tamils are now world renowned for lying and cheating. They operate credit card scams around the globe. They operate human smuggeling rings around the globe. They are involved in illegal weapons trade. They do drug trafficking. Tamils are fast becoming a cancer to the world.

 Editor: I am only including this to illustrate the lies about Tamils that circulate.  Surely all of our readers know that you can't throw a blanket over an entire culture and judge them in one fell swoop, no way.  There are great Tamils and Sinhalese people, but this is about government control and religious bigotry.  

Don't believe their lies.

Editor: 'their lies' - again you expose your half thought-out attempt to excuse the Genocide, nobody believes you, nobody believes Rajapaksa.

SriMal July 18, 2011 5:06 am (Pacific time)

You Idiot, Dont publish these lies in the news room. F*ck you

Editor: Oh we will keep publishing them, and you will live with the consequences.  

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