The Sri Lankan government is on the lookout for people providing information to the British television broadcaster channel 4, reported a Sinhala daily paper, The Divaina.

The paper reported that the Ministry of Defence had requested the public to report any members of the public that they suspected of 'betraying the country for monetary gain' by passing on information to Channel 4.

The Ministry of Defence alleged that Channel 4 documentaries that accused Sri Lanka of war crimes  had used unauthenticated evidence.

The producer of the Channel 4 documentary on Sri Lanka, "No Fire Zone:The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka" , Callum Macrae, responded to the Sri Lankan Ministry of Defence's attack on the credibility of his documentary. 

See below for excerpts of his statement.

"In relation to the statement apparently issued today from within the Sri Lankan Ministry of Defence i would like to make it clear that not one person living anywhere in Sri Lanka helped us make this film. Furthermore we have not paid anything to anyone for any evidential material or interviews. That is simply a fact."

"What is even more astonishing and disturbing is that these threats come from government sources."

"The eyes of the world are on Sri Lanka just now, as the UN Human Rights Council considers how justice and accountability can be ensured in Sri Lanka. There after Commonwealth countries will also be considering their position in relation to Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting scheduled to be held in November in Sri Lanka."

"When our first film came out and provoked angry denials from the government - Sri Lanka's own former president, said: "continued denial of proven facts and abuse of our honest critics will not resolve the problem for anyone."

"I repeat again. No person resident anywhere in Sri Lanka helped us with this film. No-one was paid for any evidence or interviews."