I will visit CHOGM summit - No visa for "Killing Field " director

Director of the controversial documentary, No Fire Zone: The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka, Callum Macrae, confided that he has little chance of coming to Sri Lanka to cover the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), as certain heads of Sri Lankan missions have warned him that he will be not welcome in the country.

However, he insisted, as a media person he has the right to be in Sri Lanka to cover the event. “In a letter to UK Parliamentarian, Siobhain McDonagh, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Alistair Burt, explained the UK Government had decided to attend CHOGM, despite concerns over human rights issues in Sri Lanka. However, Alistair Burt had said ‘...we will make it clear to the Sri Lankan 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,” Macrae said. “However,” he added, “Sri Lanka's Consul General in Sydney, Australia, Bandula Jayasekara, 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.” Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella voicing his opinion about Callum Macrae’s media credibility said, “On the pretext of being a press personnel, Macrae is doing his rounds funded by his well-wishers – the Tamil Diaspora.” He also said, all media personnel attending CHOGM will be screened before issuing the visa and that this is applicable for Macrae too.