EPDP calls for an independent probe

    The Eelam Peoples’ Democratic Party (EPDP), a coalition ally of the ruling Rajapaksa Government in a surprise move has called for an independent probe into the latest Channel 4 footage of the surrender of an LTTE propagandist to the Sri Lankan forces although the Defence Ministry has claimed she died in battle in May 2009.

Government Minister Douglas Devananda whose EPDP suffered a humiliating defeat in the Northern Provincial elections in September wrote to President Mahinda Rajapaksa calling for an inquiry into Isipriya’s death, the party said.

Devananda told the President that Tamils all over the world were in a state of shock after the latest Channel 4 Footage surfaced giving evidence that Isipriya was in security forces custody before her death.

The Minister said in his letter that he had called for an investigation into other allegations about the final phase of the war as well and was now making an appeal for the Government to independently probe the killing of Isipriya.

Meanwhile, Indian Finance Minister P. Chidambaran told the media in that country that he had seen the latest Channel 4 footage and believed it to be authentic. The Indian Minister has called on the Government to launch a probe into the allegation.

The footage shows the LTTE affiliated Journalist as being mistaken for Tiger Leader Prabhakaran’s daughter and treated with respect by Sri Lankan Army officials. However earlier footage obtained by Channel 4 in their Killing Fields Documentary had shown images of Isipriya killed and allegedly sexually assaulted. The footage is available on Callum Macrae‘s No Fire Zone documentary that also revealed evidence that Prabhakaran’s youngest son Balachandran was in army custody before his alleged execution.