UNP wants PSC to probe attacks on Journalists

by Saman Indrajith
http://www.island.lk/2009/06/11/news4.html
The UNP yesterday (10) requested the appointment of a Parliamentary Select Committee, with full powers, to look into the abductions and killings of journalists.

Chief Opposition Whip MP Joseph Michael Perera, making a special statement in Parliament said that since 2005, eleven journalists had been killed and over 50 had been assaulted.

“So far no one had been prosecuted or brought before the Courts. Every time an incident occurs the government says that it would appoint special police teams to investigate. But so far, police have not produced any concrete results”, he said.

“The UNP is happy that the war that ravaged this country had been brought to an end. There is no LTTE today. People of both South and North today live without any fear of bombs or killings.

But some incidents that occurred recently show that although terrorism had been eliminated from the North, its dark shadows are lurking in the South. The Secretary of Sri Lanka Working Journalists’ Association, Poddala Jayantha had been abducted and assaulted brutally. He was found dumped on the road side. We condemn this shameless act. Journalists are ensured by the constitution to write and publicise. This freedom of expression is a right of journalists. If somebody or the government had been maliciously criticised, or some damage had been done, there are legal

provisions to act against such journalists. Similarly, if any journalist found guilty of aiding and assisting the LTTE, they should be brought before the law. But, raising the ugly head of the law of jungle in place of democratic law cannot be approved.”

“After this government came to power in 2005, the threats against journalists have been increasing. Several media organisations had been taken over and various methods of controlling and suppressing media were witnessed in the recent past.”

“Abduction and killing had occurred under various regimes. The same happens today. We have raised this issue in this House numerous times. We are not satisfied with the results of investigations conducted into these incidents against journalists. The government has failed to bring anyone before the law for assassination of journalists. On some occasions the progress or outcome of police investigations were not made public.”

“Therefore, I would like to remind you that it is the duty of all of us in this August assembly to take action to prevent any further assassinations or killings of journalists. Considering the importance of this issue we would suggest that a Parliamentary Select Committee should be appointed to look into the progress of police investigations into these incidents. The committee should be vested with full powers so that it could report to this Parliament of what action the police had taken and the progress of those investigations.”

No need for PSC – Media Minister

Uditha KUMARASINGHE and Irangika RANGE

http://www.dailynews.lk/2009/06/11/news26.asp
Media and Information and Enterprise Development and Investment Promotion Minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa told Parliament yesterday there is no need to appoint a Parliamentary Select Committee on the incidents of abductions and killings of journalists as the Government has given all required facilities and assistance to the police to conduct investigations on these incidents.

The Minister was responding to the special statement made by the Chief Opposition Whip Joseph Michael Perera requesting the appointment of a Parliamentary Select Committee to look into the incidents of abductions and killings of journalists.

The Minister said the Government vehemently condemns the recent incident of assaulting journalist and media unionist Poddala Jayantha.

The Opposition has made a mistake of taking isolated incidents out of their context to say that so many abductions and killings of journalists have been taken place since 2005, he said.

Certain incidents have taken place in such a socio-political context. Therefore, it is not fair to select a number of incidents and generalise them to say that journalists are harassed. As a responsible Government, we have a responsibility to look into these incidents relating to journalists.

The Minister said the Government has no intention whatsoever to bring laws to curb media freedom. Media freedom should be ensured for the development of a society. Journalists should have the freedom to criticise the Government or speak in favour of the Government.

“We are sad to hear that Journalist Poddala Jayantha was attacked. He works in the Government managed Lake House. He did not have any problem with the Government. He had not written any article criticising the Government. Therefore, it is wrong to point fingers at the Government regarding this incident. The Government will commence a full scale investigation into this attack”.

The Minister said “when you say that 11 journalists were killed, we have doubts about this figure. In this list of journalists, there are names, those who worked for the LTTE’s Voice of Tigers. I don’t know whether we can identify them as journalists”

protest against abduction and assault of Poddala Jayantha

Bob Rae denied entry to Sri Lanka – report

Bob Rae - former Ontario premier

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 June 2009, 09:20 GMT]
Sri Lanka Wednesday denied entry to Bob Rae, a prominent Canadian politician outspoken in his criticism of Colombo’s military campaign and then Chair of the Forum of Federations, the constitutional NGO advising the Norwegian peace process during 2002 and 2003. Sri Lanka’s Immigration Commissioner P. B. Abeykoon said “intelligence reports” meant Mr. Rae should not to be admitted and was therefore detained when he arrived at Colombo airport and put on a leaving flight.
“We got some intelligence reports on this gentleman and the instructions were not to allow him into the country, so he is detained at the airport and he will be deported by the next available flight,” Mr. Abeykoon told Reuters.

Sri Lanka’s intelligence services deemed Mr. Rae’s visit “not suitable” and former Ontario premier was forced to leave on another flight, AP said.

Mr. Rae said he was stopped on Tuesday night when he reached the immigration counter in the company of two Canadian High Commission officials.

“The government of Sri Lanka knew my views, and granted me a visa,” he said in an emailed statement. “I have flown a very long way only to be told the door is firmly shut.”

In April, Mr. Rae had called on Canada to be more outspoken in its criticism of Sri Lanka’s recent offensive against the Tamil Tigers that left 20,000 Tamil civilians dead.

“The world can’t just sit back and let this death and destruction happen,” he said in April as Sri Lankan artillery continued to kill and wound hundreds of Tamil civilians every day.

“This is a humanitarian disaster and must be met with a concerted response.”

Mr. Rae said in April Canada should be working with a group of like-minded countries to press for a complete ceasefire and a return to full-scale negotiations on the constitutional future of the country.

According to his office, his recommendations included that the LTTE had to abandon terrorism and that the government of Sri Lanka had to accept the need for a political response to the crisis rather than a simple military one.

Mr. Rae has advised and worked on federalism and constitutional matters in Sri Lanka, Sudan and Iraq.

CPA threatened over ‘treason’ – report

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 June 2009, 19:23 GMT]
The Colombo-based liberal think tank, Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA), has received a threat accusing it of treason, Reuters reported Tuesday. A letter titled “Notice to the Traitors” left at CPA’s office talked about the military victory over the Tamil Tigers last month and warned the CPA to shut its offices for a week in salute to fallen Sri Lankan soldiers.

“That is through the dedication of the present government, fearless military commanders and heroic warriors born in our motherland. And also, through the sacrifice of their bones, flesh and streams of blood,” said a copy of the letter provided by CPA to Reuters.

“This (victory) was achieved by defeating the activities of the wretched traitors like you who commit evil acts against Mother Lanka,” the letter said.

It warned the CPA to shut down for a week to honour the fallen.

It also demanded that the National flag should be displayed in the CPA premises along with a banner acknowledging the military victory, the Daily Mirror reported.

CPA Director Paikasothy Saravanamattu told Reuters he had reported the letter to police and the office of President Mahinda Rajapakse.

“We will continue to do our normal work, because we are not doing anything illegal,” he said.

Dr. Saravanamuttu told the Daily Mirror that the CPA office will be closed on June 3, in view of the road closures due to the military parades and that the organization was concerned for the safety and security of its employees.

Since the declaration of victory on May 18, anger from government backers has been directed at Sri Lankan journalists and activists seen as having supported the Tigers, Reuters reported.

The threat to the CPA comes a day after a prominent critic of the government, Podala Jayantha, the Secretary of Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association (SLWJA) in Nugegoda in Colombo, was abducted and heavily assaulted, before being thrown out of an unmarked van.

Although employed by the state-owned media group Lake House, Jayantha was a leading organizer of demonstrations against the Rajapakse regime’s stifling of media freedom launched by five media organizations including SLWJA, Free Media Movement, Ceylon Tamil Journalists’ Association