In an interview with the state-run ITN channel, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse slams media organizations, accusing some journalists of being terrorists.
The defence Secretary also singles out the Maharajah (Sirasa) Network, calling it the ‘voice of tigers’ in the south and the alleges that the attack on the MTV premises is self-inflicted to gain sympathy and to collect Insurance.
Further, the secretary calls Chevaan Daniel, the channel head of MTV, a terrorist, citing his comments given to CNN following the attacks on the MTV studios. The Defence Secretary goes on to announce that Mr. Daniel would be put behind bars after the investigations are over. Since the interview, Mr.Daniel has fled the country.
Four more journalists have fled the country last week fearing for their lives. They are Sanath Balasuriya and Poddala Jayantha of Lake House, Sunanda Deshapriya and Uvindu Kurukulasuriya of the Free Media Movement.
Last week Upul Joseph Fernando of the Lankadeepa, Rathnapala Gamage of Lankadeepa, and Chevan Daniel of MTV left the country.
In addition, Iqbal Athas, Keith Noyahr, Namal Perera and Anuruddha Lokuhappuarachchi had already left the country.
Threats against the media from unidentified armed elements have increased dramatically after the killing of Sunday Leader editor Lasantha Wickrematunge. Now the latest attack on the editor of the Rivira newspaper and chairman of the Editor’s Guild of Sri Lanka, Upali Tennakoon and his wife on January 23 at Imbulgoda, in Gampaha has driven a sense of fear into journalists who now fear for their lives.
Police have so far been unable to arrest anyone in connection with these attacks.
Chief Government Whip, Dinesh Gunawardena told parliament that from January 01 2006 upto now, nine journalists had been killed and 27 others had been assaulted. Minister Dinesh Gunawardena also said that five journalists had been kidnapped. Four of them have been released. (emphasis added)
It can be that one phone call, one person on a bike that glances at you, the van that does a sudden manevour to avoid the pot hole, the man on the road who looks at you.
And then, however insignificant you are, however unimportant you are, however invisible you think you might be, that sudden gush of fear rushes over you.
Your pulse shoots up, you start to sweat, that lump gets stuck in your throat, your knees start to give.
You spend another night awake. Counting how many times the fan turned.
The author who did not wish to be named is an activist and a freelance journalist, whose feeling of invisibility is slowly giving way to extreme paranoia.
Editor of Rivira newspaper Upali Tennakoon has been assaulted and stabbed this morning, stated staff members of Rivira. His injuries are said to be non-critical.
But not to worry, the grand conspiracy by the invisible forces trying to discredit the government will not succeed.
The free media serve as a mirror in which the public can see itself sans mascara and styling gel. From us you learn the state of your nation, and especially its management by the people you elected to give your children a better future. Sometimes the image you see in that mirror is not a pleasant one. But while you may grumble in the privacy of your armchair, the journalists who hold the mirror up to you do so publicly and at great risk to themselves. That is our calling, and we do not shirk it.
Every newspaper has its angle, and we do not hide the fact that we have ours. Our commitment is to see Sri Lanka as a transparent, secular, liberal democracy. Think about those words, for they each has profound meaning. Transparent because government must be openly accountable to the people and never abuse their trust. Secular because in a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural society such as ours, secularism offers the only common ground by which we might all be united. Liberal because we recognise that all human beings are created different, and we need to accept others for what they are and not what we would like them to be. And democratic… well, if you need me to explain why that is important, you’d best stop buying this paper.
The Sunday Leader has never sought safety by unquestioningly articulating the majority view. Let’s face it, that is the way to sell newspapers. On the contrary, as our opinion pieces over the years amply demonstrate, we often voice ideas that many people find distasteful. For example, we have consistently espoused the view that while separatist terrorism must be eradicated, it is more important to address the root causes of terrorism, and urged government to view Sri Lanka’s ethnic strife in the context of history and not through the telescope of terrorism. We have also agitated against state terrorism in the so-called war against terror, and made no secret of our horror that Sri Lanka is the only country in the world routinely to bomb its own citizens. For these views we have been labelled traitors, and if this be treachery, we wear that label proudly.
[..]our distaste for the war [shouls not] be interpreted to mean that we support the Tigers. The LTTE are among the most ruthless and bloodthirsty organisations ever to have infested the planet. There is no gainsaying that it must be eradicated. But to do so by violating the rights of Tamil citizens, bombing and shooting them mercilessly, is not only wrong but shames the Sinhalese, whose claim to be custodians of the dhamma is forever called into question by this savagery, much of which is unknown to the public because of censorship.
What is more, a military occupation of the country’s north and east will require the Tamil people of those regions to live eternally as second-class citizens, deprived of all self respect. Do not imagine that you can placate them by showering “development” and “reconstruction” on them in the post-war era. The wounds of war will scar them forever, and you will also have an even more bitter and hateful Diaspora to contend with. A problem amenable to a political solution will thus become a festering wound that will yield strife for all eternity. If I seem angry and frustrated, it is only because most of my countrymen – and all of the government – cannot see this writing so plainly on the wall.
This is a post that Aachcharya wrote for the Forgottendiaries.org project in June this year. Being reproduced given the current relevance.
Suspecting generally Tamils who belong to the younger age bracket as possible terrorists has a history of more than 30 years since the time Tamil youth took up arms to give effect to the Tamil Nationalist project of creating a separate state in Sri Lanka.
There are various ramifications of what this ‘feeling’ of suspicion can do to people. This post is a small note from my personal experiences. This is an issue, a theorem difficult to explain, but let me try. The central question that I pose in this post is whether one can separate his take on the ethnic politics of this country from affecting his friendship. My equation is this” politics has fuelled distrust and suspicion. Trust and confidence in each other are central ideals to any notion of friendship. Hence there has to be a connection.
Within an entrenched climate of distrust between the different ethnic communities in Sri Lanka it is my hunch that no amount of personal relationship and friendship can totally alleviate this feeling of suspicion. For a Sinhala speaking person I doubt whether it can be ever possible, how much ever long standing and close the friendship is, to be sure that his or her Tamil friend might not be a ‘LTTE type of Tamil’ ( I know its difficult to define this. I am not going to attempt to define it myself). Now this is not entirely problematic but what follows is: I will go a step further and say that it might not even possible for a Sinhala friend (when the suspicion is evoked externally) to easily dismiss the fact (in its entirety) that his Tamil friend might not be a member of the LTTE. Let me deal with two personal examples. One of my friends was once caught up in a mess where a member of an organisation that he used to head started spreading stories that he was either close or part of the LTTE. Now this sent ripples all round and some of his friends started to feel that they shouldn’t get ‘involved’ in ‘this’. They were ‘not sure’. Now I must quickly add that there were many friends of my friend’s – a whole host of them – whom he would flinch at the thought of even labelling them ‘Sinhala’ friends who stood by him. But my friend did feel that he was shocked by the response by quite a few (actually many) who were ‘not sure’.
The other situation was when this same friend of mine was arrested for all the wrong reasons or probably as some told him because he was stupid. Some of his friends worked very closely to get him out but they warned their other friends not to come to the police station to meet him. The reason: police would get suspicious, unnecessary questions would follow etc etc. Now this was very unfortunate. Being not to be with your friend during time of distress is as worse it can get.
These are difficult questions. Sometime back we organised a forum theatre looking at how the ethnic conflict has affected young peoples personal relationships with people in other communities. The plot revolved around two friends one Sinhalese and the other Tamil who were arrested for ‘loitering’ around (yes it is sort of a crime in this country). The parents of the Sinhala boy get him out without problem and the boy protests that he wont leave the police station unless his Tamil friend is also released. The parents drag the boy away from the police station. The police are shown in this theatre piece to advice the parents not to allow their son to have friendship with Tamils.
Last month I was in New York and I met up with my uncle who moved to the US after being forced to leave his country having been affected personally because of riots that took place in Colombo in 1983. Now both my aunt and uncle said that though a lot of their Sinhala friends had been helpful back in Colombo during those difficult times and continued to be good friends, it was impossible to shred away the thought which they believed was true that most of the ‘Sinhalese’ friends except for a handful of few friends were to use the popular term of their generation ‘communal minded’ when it came to politics and discussions that centred around how to resolve the conflict in Sri Lanka – that they never understood the problems of the Tamils. Now this is what academics who research on peace building and conflict resolution call a ‘protracted social conflict’- a type of conflict very very difficult to remedy.
The other side of the problem is this. For some Sinhalese there is no ethnic conflict because they all enjoy within their friendships many a Tamil. We all drink together have fun etc etc. For all those who think we don’t have an ethnic conflict because of your friendships my answer is: the test of friendships whether they are effected by politics or not is when the worst of your ‘suspicions’, unconsciously situated in you, are threatened. The foregoing paragraph where I narrate a conversation with my uncle and aunt is a dedication to them.
For me I wonder what would take to alleviate this distrust that has been built over centuries of reading history, passing down oral history and personal experiences. It will take a sea changing turn in our history (now what do these academics call it? ..hmmm..yes .. paradigm shift..!!) for us to push back our distrust of each other. There seems to be no indication of this happening in the near future.
The government has asked all Sri Lanka citizens to register themselves online with the Ministry of Defence.
The request is part of a government effort to further screen all persons residing in the country, said Lakshman Hulugalle, director general of the Media Centre for National Security. A website –www.citizens.lk – has been set up for the purpose.
Sri Lanka residents are required provide personal details, including name, ethnicity, home address, type of house (apartment/flat, annexe, shop) occupied, and the nearest police station. Details of temporary residents should also be declared.
“There is no time frame for registering, but if the response from the public is slow, the authorities may have to enforce registration through the law, perhaps even using emergency regulations,” Mr. Hulugalle said.
Those with no access to the internet can register at any government institution that has a special counter for registration purposes. Mobile units will be deployed in different areas on different days to facilitate the registration process.
One benefit of the online registration is that individuals can be traced speedily, Mr. Hulugalle said.
What does this mean? An open policy of ethnic-profiling and citizen-tracking or a sensible security measure?
How excited are we about “the benifit of being traced speedily” ?
The website LankaDissent has decided to close down operations. The website is now replaced by a black page which reads as follows:
In this land of the most compassionate Lord Buddha…..
Sinhala Buddhists who believe this land belongs to the most compassionate Lord Buddha and constitutionally calls it the “Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka”, sing with pride “In wisdom and strength renewed / Ill-will, hatred, strife all ended / In love enfolded, a mighty nation / Marching onward, all as one / Lead us, Mother, to fullest freedom.” as their National Anthem.
And….. in this compassionate, democratic Buddhist land enfolded with love, in wisdom and fullest freedom, media is forbiden to raise a dissenting voice. Media is forbidden to criticise the “law” of the ruling regime. The media is forbitten to speak for the people.
Many who thought they as the media have a right to freedom of expression, they have a right to information, that the people also have the same right and that it is a fundamental right in a modern civilised society, have been told very bluntly and at times most brutally, that it isn’t so in this land of the compassionate, democratic republic, run by a “patriotic” regime.
The Tamil media in the North were the first to have been told this bluntly and ruthlessly while the Colombo media did not want those dissenting voices in the North, heard elsewhere. They had to learn that lesson, first hand.
And….that was a lesson learnt by some, who are not with us to tell their story. That is a lesson learnt by some, who don’t have the right to say it, because they have a right to live some time more. For a lot, it was their station “Sirasa” that went ablaze with that lesson. It was their station that was smashed and set on fire to teach a lesson.
For Lasantha Wickramatunge, an editor with a passion for uncompromising media professionalism, it was a challenge to face. A challenge he never minced words, in meeting. He had his own aggressive style in meeting the challenge. Admired and respected but left alone without political backing.
And….. he, therefore, could not surmount this challenge, all by himself.
A lesson learnt, that needs no repeats to learn. This compassionate Sinhala Buddhist land does not tolerate “dissent”. Those who would not want to learn that living, would have to learn that in death. We who live, would come back when “dissent” comes back as a democratic right, accepted and enjoyed in a modern land of compassion.
After several days of heavy fighting, Sri Lankan troops have recaptured a northern city that until recently served as the seat of the Tamil Tiger rebel movement, military officials said Friday.
The loss of Kilinochchi is the latest in a series of reversals for the rebels, who have fought for an independent ethnic Tamil state for 25 years. News of the victory prompted celebrations in Colombo and other cities.
The Tigers ran a parallel administration from Kilinochchi with their own police force, courts, prisons and taxes, and they had declared government plans to retake the city a “daydream.” But after Sri Lanka launched a new offensive against the rebels in the fall, the rebels moved their nerve center and logistics bases to Mullaitivu, on the northeastern coast.
There was no immediate response from the Tamil Tigers to Friday’s news.
Sri Lankan troops have been on the outskirts of Kilinochchi, about 580 km (360 miles) north of Colombo, for more than a month. They took a key highway junction and a town outside the city Thursday.
The recapture of Kilinochchi follows that of the “notorious” Iranamadu junction just south of Kilinochchi on Thursday, and the capture of the town Paranthan, four kilometers (2.5 miles) away, on Wednesday, according to the military.
The gains are the most significant for government forces since mid-November, when they secured control of the country’s [east] coast.
The Tamil Tigers have fought for independence for Sri Lanka’s ethnic Tamil minority since 1983. The conflict that has left more than 65,000 dead. The group has been designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department.
