Chennai: In the backdrop of Tamil opposition to the PM's participation in the Commonwealth meet, disturbing new images prove that LTTE news broadcaster Isaipriya was not killed in combat, but in cold blood by the Sri Lankan army.
UK-based ‘Channel 4’ on Friday telecast a shocking video clipping showing LTTE news reader Shoba alias Isaipriya being captured alive and taken away by Sri Lankan army men, with hands fastened behind. The shocking footage of Isaipriya’s cold blooded murder was shot by an unidentified Sri Lankan soldier and released to the British channel. Her body was found during “clean-up” operations after the war ended in 2009, according to official reports.
The Channel 4 video shows a partially clad pro-Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) news broadcaster Isaipriya alias Shobha being dragged away by Sri Lankan soldiers. The video was purportedly shot towards the end of the war on the island in 2009 when the LTTE was defeated. She is asked in Tamil if she is LTTE chief Prabhakaran's daughter, to which she replies in the negative. Later on, the video shows her dead and the unclad upper portion of her body is fuzzed out.
The Channel 4 report says she was sexually assaulted and killed. The video taken by a Lankan soldier shows Priya lying in a muddy sea water ditch when Lankan forces find her. They initially treat her with dignity and cover her with a sheet of white cloth. Later on, the video, obtained by Channel 4, shows Isaipriya lying in a ditch with deep cuts on her face. UK-based journalist-filmmaker Callum Macrae, in an earlier award-winning documentary, ‘Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields’ in June 2011, had released visuals of 27-year-old Isaipriya’s battered and semi-clothed body, with severe wounds and evidence of sexual assault.
However the Sri Lankan army denied the allegations and they called the video as fake one. With this expose, political parties in Tamil Nadu are strongly protesting against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's participation in the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Colombo on November 15.
