In October 2013 less than 24 hours before the film NO FIRE ZONE was due to be premiered in New Delhi the Indian Government finally decided not to grant the film's director Callum Macrae a visa to attend the premiere.
Visa refusal disappoints film maker
While CHOGM is on in Sri Lanka amidst protests, why is ‘No fire Zone’ such a problem?
The refusal of a visaby the Indian government to British documentary maker and writer Callum Macrae not only impinges on the rights of Indians to a free flow of ideas and information but, in Macrae’s opinion, is also an indication that “India is not liking what I am saying.”
Macrae had applied for the visa eight months ago because he wanted to be present in India for the premiere of his revelatory documentary ‘No Fire Zone: The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka’.
He hinted the denial of the visa was an appeasement of Mahinda Rajapaksa’s regime and that India was possibly complicit with Sri Lanka’s actions against the Tamil population during the operations against the LTTE in 2009.
The Arunachal pioneer
No Visa for ‘Sri Lanka war documentary maker’ Mr Callum Macrae
India has denied a visa to Callum Macrae, the director of a documentary that exposed war crimes in Sri Lanka.
Macrae, whose team was nominated for theNobel Peace Prize last year, made news again last Thursday when UK’s Channel 4 telecast footage acquired from him showing LTTE TV anchor-actor Isai Priya’s capture during the last phase of the Lankan war. Priya was found dead on May 18, 2009, with visible marks of torture. The video was telecast worldwide and caused an uproar that cast a shadow on the Colombo Commonwealth summit mid-November.
UK Tamil News
India Shouldn't Have Denied Visa to Callum Macrae
Macrae, whose team was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize last year, made news again last Thursday when UK's Channel 4 telecast footage acquired from him showing LTTE TV anchor-actor Isai Priya's capture during the last phase of the Lankan war. Priya was found dead on May 18, 2009, with visible marks of torture. The video was telecast worldwide and caused an uproar that cast a shadow on the Colombo Commonwealth summit mid-November.
Salem News
Statement on denial of visa to British Director Callum Macrae
The denial of visa is clearly part of the Indian government’s appeasement of the Sri Lankan regime of Mahinda Rajapakse, which has been accused of war crimes during the last phases of the civil war in 2009, which resulted in the deaths of over 70,000 civilians.
Kractivism
No Indian visa for Sri Lanka war documentary maker
India has denied a visa to Callum Macrae, the director of a documentary that exposed war crimes in Sri Lanka.
Macrae, whose team was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize last year, made news again last Thursday when UK`s Channel 4 telecast footage acquired from him showing LTTE TV anchor-actor Isai Priya`s capture during the last phase of the Lankan war. Priya was found dead on May 18, 2009, with visible marks of torture. The video was telecast worldwide and caused an uproar that cast a shadow on the Colombo Commonwealth summit mid-November.
Lanka Newspapers.com
India denies visa for director of No Fire Zone
India has denied a visa to the director of No Fire Zone, Callum Macrae. Speaking to TOI, Macrae said:
"I am due to fly out on November 6 for a screening of my documentary in Delhi the next day. I find it extraordinary that I still do not have my visa, despite the fact that I first applied more than eight months ago,"
Tamil Guardian
India disappoints Callum Macrae
Expressing his “disappointment” at Indian authorities not granting him visa to come to India for screening of his documentary based on war crimes in Sri Lanka during civil war, filmmaker Callum Macrae said the world was looking at India to lead the search for justice and not silence those who have evidence of crimes against humanity in Sri Lanka.
DNA
No Indian visa for Callum Macrae
India has denied a visa to Callum Macrae, the director of a documentary that exposed war crimes in Sri Lanka.
Macrae, whose team was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize last year, made news again last Thursday when UK's Channel 4 telecast footage acquired from him showing LTTE TV anchor-actor Isai Priya's capture during the last phase of the Lankan war. Priya was found dead on May 18, 2009, with visible marks of torture. The video was telecast worldwide and caused an uproar that cast a shadow on the Colombo Commonwealth summit mid-November.
Ceylon Today
Callum Macrae, the Nobel Prize nominated director of the film No Fire Zone: the Killing Fields of Sri Lanka has expressed concern and surprise over the fact that it appears he is being denied a visa to attend the premiere of his own film in Delhi on November the 7th.
He issued a statement expressing his “deep concern” over the delay in issuing him with a visa, adding: “I know that the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the last few months of the civil war in Sri Lanka are a matter of considerable concern to the government in India – and I am at a loss to understand why they are giving the impression they want to prevent me coming over to talk about my film and the evidence that we have been gathering for more than three years.”
Colombo gazette
No Indian visa for Sri Lanka war documentary maker
India has denied a visa to Callum Macrae, the director of a documentary that exposed war crimes in Sri Lanka.
Macrae, whose team was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize last year, made news again last Thursday when UK's Channel 4 telecast footage acquired from him showing LTTE TV anchor-actor Isai Priya's capture during the last phase of the Lankan war. Priya was found dead on May 18, 2009, with visible marks of torture. The video was telecast worldwide and caused an uproar that cast a shadow on the Colombo Commonwealth summit mid-November.
Times of India
Indian door not yet open for Macrae
India has denied a visa to Callum Macrae, the director of a documentary that exposed war crimes in Sri Lanka.
Macrae, whose team was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize last year, made news again last Thursday when UK's Channel 4 telecast footage acquired from him showing LTTE TV anchor-actor Isai Priya's capture during the last phase of the Lankan war. Priya was found dead on May 18, 2009, with visible marks of torture. The video was telecast worldwide and caused an uproar that cast a shadow on the Colombo Commonwealth summit which is held in a couple of days time.
Independent Sri Lanka
Denial Of Visa To Callum Macrae A Repressive Act
The Indian government’s dithering over grant of visa to British film director Callum Macrae is a needlessly repressive measure not befitting a large and established democracy like India.
Mr Macrae was scheduled to attend the premiere of his documentary ‘No Fire Zone: The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka’ in New Delhi on 7th November and had applied for his visa almost eight months ago.
While the visa has not been outright denied as yet it has been inexcusably kept ‘pending’ without any explanation in a clear signal that the Indian government wants to appease the Sri Lankan regime of Mahinda Rajapakse, whose involvement in war crimes and crimes against humanity have been exposed by Mr Macrae. It is ironic indeed that the Sri Lankan government itself has announced in public its willingness to grant Mr Macrae a visa to attend the upcoming CHOGM in Colombo.
Countercurrents
India has refused visa to Callum Macrae, the Channel-4 documentary maker, who produced a series of video documentaries exposing the war-crimes committed by the Sri Lankan military during the war on the Tamil people in Vanni where, according to UN estimates, the Petrie Report, more than 70,000 Tamil civilians were killed in 2009 alone. Macrae was planning to fly out on November 6 for a screening of the latest documentary in Delhi. The video contained footage showing LTTE TV anchor-actor Isaippiriya’s capture during the last phase of the Lankan war. Still images released earlier showed Isaippiriya was bound, tortured and shot naked, and experts alleged that she was severely raped in custody before being shot by the Sri Lankan soldiers.
Tamil News Network
No Indian visa for Channel 4’s Callum Macrae
India has denied a visa to Callum Macrae, the director of a documentary that exposed alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka.
Macrae, whose team was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize last year, made news again last Thursday when UK’s Channel 4 telecast footage acquired from him showing LTTE TV anchor-actor Isai Priya’s capture during the last phase of the Lankan war. Priya was found dead on May 18, 2009, with visible marks of torture. The video was telecast worldwide and caused an uproar that cast a shadow on the Colombo Commonwealth summit mid-November.
OnLanka
Film-makers decry denial of visa to British director
A group of film-makers has flayed the Indian Government for refusing a visa to award-winning British film director Callum Macrae, whose film No Fire Zone on the plight of Sri Lankan Tamils, is to be premiered in Delhi and Mumbai.
“The denial of visa is clearly part of the Indian Government’s appeasement of the Sri Lankan regime of Mahinda Rajapakse, which has been accused of war crimes during the last phases of the civil war in 2009, which resulted in the death of over 70,000 civilians,” a press release issued by Anand Patwardhan, Lenin Rajendran, K.P. Sasi, Suraji Sarkar, Anjali Monteiro and Sanjay Kak, among others, said.
Business Line
No Indian visa for Sri Lanka war documentary maker
