No Indian visa for Sri Lanka war documentary maker

[Sashan]

CHENNAI: India has denied a visa to Callum Macrae, the director of a documentary that exposed war crimes in Sri Lanka.

Macrae, whose team was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize last year, made news again last Thursday when UK's Channel 4 telecast footage acquired from him showing LTTE TV anchor-actor Isai Priya's capture during the last phase of the Lankan war. Priya was found dead on May 18, 2009, with visible marks of torture. The video was telecast worldwide and caused an uproar that cast a shadow on the Colombo Commonwealth summit mid-November.

"I am due to fly out on November 6 for a screening of my documentary in Delhi the next day. I find it extraordinary that I still do not have my visa, despite the fact that I first applied more than eight months ago," Macrae told TOI over the phone from London. "I know that the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the last few months of the civil war in Sri Lanka are a matter of considerable concern to the government in India. And I am at a loss to understand why they are giving the impression they want to prevent me coming over to talk about my film and the evidence that we have been gathering for more than three years."

Minister of state for external affairs E Ahamed told TOI he didn't interfere in granting visas. "There are set protocols, and the visa officer has to take a call," he said. Macrae said he applied for the visa in February to attend a pre-launch press conference on the documentary, around the same time he had released photographs of slain LTTE leader V Prabhakaran's son Balachandran apparently in the custody of Sri Lankan forces, shortly before the 12-year-old was allegedly shot dead towards the end of the Lankan war.

"My passport was then returned with the remark 'visa applied for.'" he said. "I approached the Indian high commission in London many times, the latest on Monday, but there has been no response from the officers. I sincerely hope this has been caused by a bureaucratic mix-up and is nothing that could be perceived as some kind of attempt to prevent discussion of this issue," said Macrae, who had had an exchange of mails with the Indian high commission in London, and had sent two letters to the Union home ministry.

Macrae said Sri Lanka has been trying to systematically prevent screening of his documentary, 'No Fire Zone: The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka'. "They protested over screenings in the UN and the European Union. In Malaysia, they are accused of putting pressure on the government to stop a screening organised by the Human Rights NGO Pusat Komas in Kuala Lumpur. Indeed when the screening went ahead it was raided by between 30 and 40 members of the Censorship Board and the police. They did not manage to stop the screening, but they arrested the organizers and one of them, a brave young woman called Lena Hendry, is now awaiting trial and could face a maximum of three years in jail," the film-maker said.

"I sincerely hope that this pattern of pressure from the Sri Lankan government does not have anything to do with India's decision not to give me a visa. If so it would be doubly ironic given that Sri Lanka itself - under pressure from the Commonwealth - has publicly agreed to give me a visa for CHOGM," Macrae added.

Times View

India has done itself no favours by denying Callum Macrae a visa to visit this country. True, Colombo might have been displeased if New Delhi had issued a visa, but that is hardly a good reason for taking such a step. It only makes India look like it is willing to bend over backwards to please even a small country like Sri Lanka, hardly the kind of image a nation wanting to project itself as a "superpower" in the making would want to acquire.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...ar-documentary-maker/articleshow/25235282.cms

 

[manlion]

Sri Lanka has approved on arrival visa to controversial UK Channel 4 Director, Callum Macrae, despite the fact that he has not been granted a visa to enter India to join a delegation led by UK Prime Minister, David Cameron, who will be in New Delhi on 14 November.


Macrae, who earned the ire of Sri Lankan authorities for his documentary, No Fire Zone: The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka, was expecting to fly to Sri Lanka to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), after his visit to India.


Minister of Mass Media and Information, Keheliya Rambukwella, confirmed that the on arrival visa has been granted to Macrae and that he had applied for the visa with a group of 30 UK based media personnel who will come here along with the UK Prime Minister from India on 14 November, to attend CHOGM.

 

[Gibbs]

Madrasis and homeless cats.. What a comedy show

 

[manlion]

Not surprised why India cannot be a Super Power...Not even a seat in the UN security council.

 

[Skyline]

Sri Lanka has approved on arrival visa to controversial UK Channel 4 Director, Callum Macrae, despite the fact that he has not been granted a visa to enter India to join a delegation led by UK Prime Minister, David Cameron, who will be in New Delhi on 14 November.


Macrae, who earned the ire of Sri Lankan authorities for his documentary, No Fire Zone: The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka, was expecting to fly to Sri Lanka to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), after his visit to India.


Minister of Mass Media and Information, Keheliya Rambukwella, confirmed that the on arrival visa has been granted to Macrae and that he had applied for the visa with a group of 30 UK based media personnel who will come here along with the UK Prime Minister from India on 14 November, to attend CHOGM.

on arrival visa?

 

[Sashan]

dna edit: India's muddled policy

The controversy over Callum Macrae's visa undermines New Delhi's credibility and highlights its confused approach in dealing with Colombo.

The pressure on New Delhi, both internal and external, is mounting as the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) nears. Regrettably — but unsurprisingly given the reactive, ad hoc manner in which Indian foreign policy has been conducted in various past instances — the government seems to be letting that pressure harry it into making the wrong calls. It is now well on the way to letting domestic political concerns decide the vexed question of whether Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should attend the CHOGM meeting or not. And it has compounded the problem by veering to the other extreme and getting embroiled in a controversy over giving Callum Macrae, director of a documentary that exposed war crimes in Sri Lanka, a visa — the motivation for any dithering presumably being appeasement of Colombo. This is a muddle-headed strategy on many levels.

dna had advocated in an editorial on October 31 that the Prime Minister attend the CHOGM — not as unqualified approval of the Mahinda Rajpaksa government and its handling of the Tamil question, but in order for New Delhi to stay engaged and nudge Colombo towards addressing that question as it had begun to do with the Northern Province elections. Adopting this approach means tempering engagement with straight talk behind the scenes about the human rights abuses perpetrated by the Sri Lankan army in the course of the LTTE’s 2009 defeat and the need for justice to be done — and seen to be done. Allowing individuals like Macrae the space to speak freely about the abuses is an integral part of this.

The matter goes beyond geopolitical concerns. India portrays itself on the global stage as the world’s largest democracy; it is a tag it wears with some pride. Being a democratic nation, however, does not mean merely holding elections. It entails adherence to certain ethical norms and observance of fundamental rights such as freedom of expression. Macrae’s team was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize last year and it has been less than a week since the UK’s Channel 4 broadcast his footage giving more evidence of human rights abuses by the Sri Lankan military. The uncertainty over his being allowed to enter the country now chips away at the foundations of those norms and rights.

Unfortunately, New Delhi has made such compromises in the past and allowed foreign governments to dictate to it. Tibet is a case in point. For all that India has sheltered the Dalai Lama and a great many Tibetans, in recent years New Delhi has shown a disturbing trend of stifling Tibetan protests — to the extent of closing down Tibetan neighbourhoods and placing hundreds of Tibetans under arrest last year — for the sake of appeasing Beijing.

The fact of the matter is that Indian internal security policies — whether in Kashmir, the Northeast or Naxal-affected areas — already place a severe strain on its credentials as a nation that upholds human rights and follows the rule of law. It cannot afford to compromise itself any further. In matters of foreign policy, this means adopting a nuanced approach; in this instance, talking to Colombo but keeping up the pressure at the same time. New Delhi must change course before it fails on both counts.

http://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/editorial-dna-edit-india-s-muddled-policy-1914387 
When Srilanka can grant visa to Callum Macrae, what is the issue with the idiotic Indian officials? Stupidity at best by these dithering idiots.

 

[Sashan]

I am really surprised that none of the Indian members here has commented on this policy indecisiveness by the Indian Government.

 

[manlion]

White Van Waiting For Callum

I can’t see how the Government of Sri Lanka can refuse me - Callum

Q : What were the real threats from the Sri Lankan diplomat aimed at you regarding CHOGM and your intended visit to Sri Lanka?

In a letter to UK MP, Siobhain McDonagh, Alistair Burt, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, explained that the UK government had decided to attend CHOGM, despite the concerns over Human rights issues in Sri Lanka. However he made it clear that the UK government was, in effect, seeking certain assurances from the Sri Lankan Government as a pre-condition. One of those was to do with freedom of the press. He said: ‘… we will make it clear to the Sri Lanka Government that we expect them to guarantee full and unrestricted access for international press covering CHOGM.”

On that basis I announced that I was applying for accreditation as a journalist at CHOGM. I attended CHOGM in Perth as a fully accredited representative of the press, and I certainly expect to do the same in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka’s Consul General in Sydney, Australia, Bandula Jayasekara, who is not only a senior diplomat but was also once the Presidents Media Advisor, responded with a series of tweets. Many were simply absurd – for example accusing me of being paid by “terrorists” despite my clear statements that the LTTE too, are guilty of war crimes, (as more than adequately explained in Ceylon Today a couple of weeks ago).

But more serious was his extraordinary tweet – specifically addressed to me - in which he said: “ ‘I will make sure you don’t get a visa to come to Sri Lanka.’

With that incredible remark Jayasekara has profoundly embarrassed both the British and the Sri Lankan governments. He has shown – unless his government disowns his remarks – that the GOSL has no intention of respecting the international media’s right to “unrestricted access” to do its job.

He has also left the British government in a position where it has no choice, if it is to be consistent, but to refuse to attend. Unless, of course, the Sri Lankan government disowns Jayasekara’s remarks and makes out clear that I – and all other legitimate foreign journalists – will be welcomed in Colombo in November.

There is another real problem with Jeyasekara’s intemperate language and his absurd threats to “make sure” I don’t get a visa. In a democratically accountable nation which operates according to the rule of law, a consul General in Australia has absolutely no right to unilaterally declare he can ”make sure” someone doesn’t get a visa. That he even thinks he has such power it is disturbing – if he actually has such power it is doubly so.

But there is another problem too. When Jeyasekara accuses me on twitter – absurdly, in the face of the evidence – of being ”that LTTE tiger terrorist propagandist, Callum Macrae”, he invites the kind of comments we saw on the internet in response to my declaration that I expect to attend CHOGM

One anonymous comment, for example, read: ‘Absolutely, white van is waiting at the airport. Another said: ‘Callum Macrae – do not come to Sri Lanka. You will be abducted in a white van, and sent to meet Lasantha Wikremasinghe.’ I do not need to tell a Sri Lankan audience what those threats mean.

 

[Gibbs]

Maybe the Rajapaksa's doubled the price the LTTE homeless paid to McCrae.. In the end most probably MM Singh will make it to Colombo and party and the poor Madrasi's will be sh!t faced once again.. Hilarious stuff

 

[Skyline]

It looks like Indian PM will come to CHOGM next week, he should announce it early then we can see the spicy 'celebrations' in Tamilnadu.

 

[Gibbs]

It looks like Indian PM will come to CHOGM next week, he should announce it early then we can see the spicy 'celebrations' in Tamilnadu.

Looks like they are already getting ready for a massive "bonfire" if you know what i mean..

 

[JanjaWeed]

On one hand high level govt ministers & regional parties want PM Singh to cancel his visit to SL for CHOGM as a sign of protest against Lankan govt & in support of Tamil minorities.
& on other hand they denied visa to someone who made a TV documentary that exposed SL govt's atrocities & the plight of tamil minorities.
Absolute chaos & confusion within Indian ranks....

 

[Gibbs]

It looks like Indian PM will come to CHOGM next week, he should announce it early then we can see the spicy 'celebrations' in Tamilnadu.

Celebrations have started..

Rajiv Gandhi's statue vandalized in Tamil Nadu

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...alized-in-Tamil-Nadu/articleshow/25313932.cms