The former chief cricket writer for Australia’s The Age newspaper Trevor Grant has slammed leading Sri Lankan cricket player Kumar Sangakkara for his continued efforts to paint Sri Lanka as a ‘haven of peace and tranquility’.

See below for selected extracts of his article ‘Sangakkara, batsman and propagandist extraordinaire’.

Leading Sri Lankan batsman Kumar Sangakkara is currently in Australia to play cricket but he also appears to be auditioning for a job in Mahinda Rajapaksa’s propaganda unit.

As he did on the England tour last year, Sangakkara takes every opportunity in Australia to suggest that his homeland has become a haven of peace and tranquility.

He did so again this week when sending a message to the protesters who plan to gather at the MCG on Boxing Day, calling for an Australian cricket boycott on future tours and matches against Sri Lanka.

“We are mature enough not to take these things personally. This (cricket tour) is one area they are trying to use to further their agenda. For us sports is beyond politics. We are ambassadors for our country,” Sangakkara said.

A Tamil Refugee Council spokesman, Mal Bala, said Sangakkara’s view of the country came from his tunnel vision as a member of the well-off Sinhalese community who was educated at an elite private school, Trinity College in Kandy.

“For us,” said Sangakkara, “it’s about showing the world what Sri Lanka is like now. People from outside should really come back and visit. If you don’t see what’s happening on the ground it’s hard to change your opinion.”

A few requests for Sangakkara, then, before we agree to head off on a trip.

Could you arrange a trip for us to all the detention centres in the country, where torture and other abuses remain a regular feature of daily life for imprisoned Tamils?

We guess that might be a bit difficult, given that the UN Human Rights Council was given a flat “no” from the Government six weeks ago when it asked Sri Lanka to allow the International Red Cross to visit detention centres. But surely a man of Sangakkara’s connections could pull a few strings?

Could he also take us to the main Colombo police station to see how the investigation into the murder of the Sunday Leader newspaper editor, Lasantha Wickrametunge, is coming along?

While we are at the police station maybe we can check on the investigations into the other 30 or so journalists who have been killed or “disappeared” in the past few years. Surely the men on the beat must have a few leads by now? They haven’t? Ah well, I suppose policing is a tough business these days.

After we wrap things up in Colombo, could we head north? We’d like to go to Mullivaikal, where thousands of innocent Tamils were slaughtered in 2009 and now lie in mass graves. That is, of course, if the bodies haven’t disappeared, due to the Army using acid to cover up their war crimes.

Maybe, also, we could see the site of the town’s hospital, which became a pile of rubble after the Army mortar bombs and artillery had targeted it and killed at least 70 people in one hit.

Then, seeing as we are in the area, could we also visit the prison in which several Jaffna University students were lodged recently after being declared terrorists for lighting candles to commemorate the Tamil war dead ?

Finally, there’s one last thing to organise, and we are off.

We’ve got a few Tamil refugees here who wouldn’t mind having look at the old country as well. Could we bring them along ? We reckon it would be nice for them to see their old friends and families, if they haven’t been locked up.

The trouble is they keep saying if they went back it would be a rather limited tour, something about a “white van” trip between the airport and the torture chamber at Negombo prison.

It wouldn’t be like that, Kumar, would it?