On 19 April 2006, the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS), based in Australia, aired a programme about armed Tamil groups operating in the Eastern province of Sri Lanka. We have investigated the claims made in this report and the following comments are offered:

We note that the SBS telecast has been used by the LTTE and its affiliated organizations to claim that it presents proof that the Government of Sri Lanka supports groups which the LTTE labels as paramilitaries. The specific reference in the programme is to the alleged Karuna group. However, this claim is unsubstantiated by the video footage. The video provides no indication that a Karuna Group camp is located in the cleared areas of Batticoloa.

The reporter claims that the filming of the alleged Karuna group camp takes place in the cleared areas of Batticoloa. However, in the Eastern province, unlike in the Northern province, the demarcations between cleared and uncleared areas are not always obvious and the edges remain porous.

Further, the video footage shows combatants with semi-automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades, but not a camp. The lack of infrastructure such as barracks, canteens, training grounds, firing ranges, tents or office of a commander, communication facilities, or defense points make it unlikely that the location is in fact a camp.

There is footage of a political office of the Tamileela Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP), which is known to be located in a cleared area. The Government encourages Tamil parties to enter the political mainstream.

The ‘showdown exercise’ presented in the video are similar to the training exercises shown in video copies of child soldiers being trained by the LTTE, raising the possibility of that armed persons in video are LTTE cadres posing as Karuna group members. In fact it is also likely that the programme uses some old video clips of the LTTE. There is no positive indication that the people filmed in the video are members of a Karuna group.

It is possible that the video was commissioned by an LTTE front as a propaganda exercise, and not as an objective fact-finding documentary. The choice of issues to cover, the way in which the video footage is edited, and the corresponding narrative raise questions about the producer’s agenda. For instance, the statements made by the Secretary of Defense have been edited, most likely spliced out of context, in order to misconstrue the Government position on armed groups. It is also interesting to note that the pro-LTTE web site Nitharsanam.com, known to be under the direct supervision of Pottu Amman, LTTE’s Intelligence Chief, provides a link to the SBS video.

The reporter of the programme also failed to reflect the interviews and press statements that have in the past been issued by Karuna. Most recently, in an interview with the Sunday Times on April 23, 2006, Karuna highlighted the autonomy of his group from the Government of Sri Lanka – he notes that the his group emerged as an LTTE dissident group, and he is motivated by his revulsion at the LTTE’s tactics, especially the poor treatment of cadres from the East who have been treated as cannon fodder.

The timing of the release of the video raises questions about whether the release of the documentary was timed to coincide with the LTTE’s refusal to attend the second round of talks in Geneva as scheduled. Among the LTTE’s cited reasons for not attending the talks is the allegation that the Government is supporting paramilitaries.