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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.
In an appeal to “all freedom-loving citizens, groups and organisations,” the film-makers urged them to challenge this “violation” of freedom of expression enshrined in the Indian Constitution.
They alleged that the Ministry of External Affairs had, on earlier occasions, too, denied visas to artists and intellectuals to attend seminars, exhibitions and public events.
Human rights abuse
Macrae’s documentary film depicts human rights violations and crimes that include rape of Tamil women, torture and murder of journalists and human rights activists.
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