பொய், பொய், சுத்தப்பொய்

Solheim’s main defence so far has been to cry louder than Karuna saying that "All seven points are lies and nothing but lies."

“Lies, lies and lies” & Erik Solheim

Wed, 2006-12-06 06:09

Colombo, 06 December, (Asiantribune.com): Erik Solheim, the Norwegian Minster for Development, has rejected the accusations made by Karuna, leader of the TMVP, and the former deputy to Velupillai Prabhakaran, as "lies, and nothing but lies." Solheim’s main defence so far has been to cry louder than Karuna saying that "All seven points are lies and nothing but lies."
In a reply sent to Ms. Ira de Silva of Canada, an Asian Tribune reader, who raised the accusations of Karuna with J. Stoltenberg, the Prime Minister of Norway, Solheim states: "All seven points are lies and nothing but lies. There is not the slightest truth in any of them."

He also adds: "Norway is also extremely surprised that a government newspaper will print such baseless lies."

The seven charges dismissed as "lies" by Solheim are:

(1) Erik Solheim's house in Norway was bought with money donated by the Tigers;

(2) Solheim always told Prabhakaran in Karuna's presence that the Norwegians were with the Tigers;

(3) Solheim gifted a 6ft TV screen to Prabhakaran, a TV addict, despite the former Deputy Minister, Vida Helgessen objecting to it;

(4) Solheim showed them military bases and donated transmitters;

(5) Solheim advised Prabhakaran how to govern - i.e how to run his military outfit;

(6) Solheim gave 16 million kroners to Anton Balasingham immediately after the signing of Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) in Oslo;
Note: Karuna was an eye-witness to this transaction.

(7) the Tigers bought arms and ammunition with that money and unloaded ammunitions 40 days after the CFA was signed. "We unloaded shipments against the CFA," said Karuna.

Political analysts point out that Solheim is facing the unexpected flak from a friend who has fallen out. When they were in the same camp they were very lovey-dovey and told their secrets to each other. But when they fall out they spill the beans. Analysts argue that when friends fall out the truth comes out.

Solheim, not expecting this serious blow to his career, worked with leading members of the Tamil Tigers. During that time the Tamil Tiger hierarchy was close to him and his tactic of getting close to them was to offer cash and other goodies to keep him in their good books. But it backfired when the highest-ranking military commander, V. Muralitharan, (alias Karuna) exposed the partisan role played by Solheim in an interview with the Editor of the Daily News, Bandula Jayasekera.

Solheim’s second defence is to blame the Daily News, a state-owned newspaper, for publishing "baseless lies." The implication is that the state-owned newspaper should have protected him by refusing to publish "the baseless lies" of Karuna. Solheim is annoyed that the Daily News has published Karuna’s eye-witness accounts. As Prabhakaran’s most trusted and successful filed commander he alone had the privilege of approaching Prabhakaran wearing a pistol. Prabhakaran, who is paranoid about outsiders, has forbidden anyone to approach him armed with a weapon.

Of the two Karuna is more credible than Solheim as the latter is forced to go into defensive mode crying: "Lies, lies and lies!" Assuming that only one of the charges is valid and not all the seven charges Solheim still has to answer for his actions. Solheim cannot pretend to be the only truth-telling party in this sordid episode. Even if one of the charges is valid then Solheim will have to go. He shouldn’t be allowed to disgrace the Royal Norwegian Crown any more.

Asiantribune