Sri Lanka main opposition sends letter of protest to head of state TV over LTTE flag waving

Sri Lanka's main opposition United National Party (UNP) has sent a letter of protest to the head of the state media institution, the Independent Television Network (ITN) over a news telecast that had created a row against the party. UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake has sent the letter to ITN Chairman Rosmand Senaratne over the news item telecast on ITN on Monday night of a person waving an LTTE flag at the join opposition May Day rally in Jaffna. Attanayake has pointed out that
it was only the ITN camera that had captured the LTTE flag waving man and that he had been waving it at the ITN camera. People had then taken the cameraman to UNP chairman Gamini Jayawickrama Perera and he has told the party chairman that he had acted on the instructions of the ITN chairman. According to Attanayake, since the LTTE is a banned terrorist organization, the ITN cameraman should have immediately informed the police or the military about it, which he had not done - an act that amounts to an aiding of terrorism. The UNP General Secretary has called on the ITN chairman to immediately handover the video to the authorities, adding that it was unfortunate that the head of a state-owned institution aids Tiger terrorism in this manner, at a time when the government claims it had eliminated terrorism. Following the telecast of the footage, the ruling party supporters have called for the government to take legal action against the UNP for displaying the flag of a terrorist organization at its May Day Rally.