“The Western media are not doing enough and they just don’t bring the reality of the situation in Sri Lanka to the western world” according to the chairman of UK charity White Pigeon..

Dr Sathiya Moorthy graphically recounted as an example a recent incident in the northern village of Mannar where a Tamil family of four were killed, “The mother was raped, the children they were disembowled, and then they were all hanged by the military forces. This news didn’t arrive in the Western media”.

He said that coverage has focused more on Southern areas of Sri Lanka, either because members of the media are not allowed access to certain areas or because “some of them just don’t want to go into affected areas”.

He added “they just stay in Colombo and cover from there using whatever they get from local sources”.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka braced itself for more bloodshed this week as the Tamil Tigers celebrated the 19th Black Tiger day to commemorate their 261 suicide bombers.

Security was stepped up amid fears of renewed bombings.

Also this week Sinn Fein MP Martin McGuiness vowed to aid the peace process in Sri Lanka. During secret talks on a recent visit to LTTE controlled Kilinochi, the Mid-Ulster MP urged the group to re-engage in the stalled negotiations.