Channel 4 ‘completely distorted’ my comments in Easter attacks documentary - Kongahage

Former Ambassador Sarath Kongahage has accused British television network ‘Channel 4’ of ‘completely distorting’ his comments during the interview in their latest documentary on Sri Lanka’s Easter Sunday bombings of 2019.

Speaking to the media in this regard on Tuesday (12 Sep.), Kongahage revealed that nearly one year ago, during the anti-government protests, Sri Lankan media personality and British citizen Faraz Shauketaly had requested the ex-diplomat for an interview, claiming that it was for the Independent Television News (ITN), a UK-based media production and broadcast journalism company.

Claiming that the context of his full interview had been misinterpreted in the full documentary, Kongahage stated; “I said that this was completely the work of the ISIS and Muslim extremists. When they asked me how Mahinda Rajapaksa won the presidential election in 2005 and 2010, I told them it was because he was the most popular leader at the time. These were the only two parts they took for the interview.”

Raising concerns as to how the British TV channel had obtained certain footage used in the exposé, Kongahage claimed that they were “definitely” obtained from the archives of a Sri Lankan media channel.

“They never came and shot these visuals, they were given from a local channel”, he alleged in this regard.