Blood Was Dripping From His Head – Uthayan News Editor’s Wife

By Easwaran Rutnam
Blood was dripping from the head of Uthayan news editor Gnasundaram Kuganathan as he came home shouting in pain after two men had brutally attacked him, stated the Jaffna based Uthayan newspaper, quoting his wife.

Gnasundaram Kuganathan, was assaulted by an unidentified group of men while he was returning home on Friday night after work. The journalist has sustained serious head injuries and is in critical condition at the Jaffna hospital.

“He was returning home from work that night. His house is just 200 meters away from the office. We were later told that two men on a motorbike had attacked him near his house with iron rods and he had been admitted to hospital in serious condition,” a journalist at the newspaper told The Sunday Leader.

The Uthayan newspaper said that according to eyewitnesses some men had been monitoring his house during the day on Friday.

When Kuganathan was returning home, two men on a motorbike who were reportedly following him had got off the bike, assaulted him and then had time to get back on the bike and flee. The attack took place just a short distance from an army sentry point, a journalist of the Uthayan newspaper claimed.

The police have begun investigations into the attack and recorded evidence from eyewitnesses.

Kuganathan was believed to have been the target of the worst attack on the paper in May 2006 in which two people were killed.

The New York based Committee to Protect Journalists yesterday accused Sri Lankan authorities of being indifferent to the targeted attacks, killings and disappearances endured by journalists.

“We are extremely concerned for Gnanasundaram Kuhanathan and hope for his speedy recovery,” CPJ Deputy Director Robert Mahoney said in a statement yesterday.

CPJ said that in the past decade, nine murders of journalists in the country remain unsolved.

The latest attack took place just days after the local council elections in which the Tamil National Alliance had won in the north and east.

SL

Sri Lankan journalist attacked ‘with iron bars’

By Mel Gunasekera
An ethnic Tamil journalist in Sri Lanka’s formerly embattled north was brutally attacked with iron bars, police said on Saturday, the latest in a string of assaults on the nation’s media.Gnanasundaram Kuhanathan, news editor of the Tamil-language daily Uthayan, was attacked by a gang of men wielding iron bars on Friday near his home in the area formerly held by separatist Tamil rebels, police said.
“The man is in intensive care in hospital” with serious head injuries, police spokesman Prishantha Jayakody told AFP, adding no arrests had yet been made.

At least six workers at the Jaffna-based Uthayan newspaper, including four journalists, have been killed since 2006 over its alleged pro-nationalist Tamil stance.

“This attack is aimed at scaring our employees so they will leave journalism,” Uthayan’s publisher E. Sarvanapavan told AFP.

The opposition Tamil National Alliance legislator said he believed the assault was in response to a recent sweeping win by his party in local council elections.

The council polls were the first held in the area since Sri Lanka inflicted a crushing military defeat on Tamil Tiger rebels, with whom the TNA was closely linked, in 2009.

“Attacking Kuhanathan is not the democratic way to behave in defeat. The paper’s coverage gave equal coverage to the opposition and government,” said Sarvanapavan.

Some 17 journalists and media employees have been killed in Sri Lanka in the past decade, with none of the murders being solved, according to rights groups.

“For too long Sri Lankan authorities have been indifferent about the targeted attacks, killings and disappearances,” said the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) in a statement.

“That must end,” said CPJ deputy director Robert Mahoney.

Attacks against journalists and news outlets have continued despite the end of the decades-long war between the military and rebels, said Mahoney.

The latest assault came a day after police found the body of Pattani Razeek, a human rights activist who disappeared in 2010. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on Friday urged Sri Lanka to “expedite” investigations and prosecute those involved in the crime.

UN records show 5,653 outstanding “enforced and involuntary disappearances” in Sri Lanka. Among those missing is freelance journalist and cartoonist Prageeth Ekneligoda, who vanished on the eve of the 2010 presidential polls.
AFP

Massive operation to be launched against anti-government websites

2011-07-21
A special operations unit has commenced under the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) with the aim of controlling and banning anti-government websites. The unit has commenced following a directive by the President and the Defence Secretary with technical assistance from the Chinese government.

The government has announced that the unit has been established to combat massive financial frauds, credit card frauds, extortion, mud slinging, blackmail, publishing false information and other computer and IT related crimes.

It has been said that the unit is equipped with the technical knowledge to commence instant investigations when a complaint is received.

Although it is said the unit has been established to address a wide range of issues, the main aim of the unit is to investigate into the anti-government websites, a senior police officer from the Police Headquarters said.
 LNW

Carlton sports private TV – The story

A number of issues have cropped up in regard to the Carlton sports private TV channel. Will the Govt. give another sports TV channel too the same support and encouragement it is extending to Carlton sports ? Is there any truth in the allegation that this TV channel was launched by the Rajapakse regime in the name of the fiancée of President’s son Yoshitha Rajapakse? These questions and many others were raised at a media discussion today.

This Carlton sports private TV channel is operating from the premises of State ITN channel . The ITN has provided all the facilities including technology , equipments and land for this Carlton TV channel.

The chief of this private channel is Ms. Hasara Abeynaike and the chief Executive is Nishantha Ranatunge. The Govt. has given State sports telecasting rights to the Carlton channel in violation of the laws. This Co. has been given permission to function getting access to the ITN tower .

This Company’s Headquarters is located in a Colombo building belonging to the Presidential secretariat maintained by the Secretariat expenditure accounts. An individual who is a supplier to the Navy had spent Rs. 35 million and arranged this office .

All the necessary technological equipments for the telecasting of sports events live had been supplied by the President’s media unit. Nilantha Abeywardena an Engineer at the Telecom receiving a salary from this Institution is working full time at the Carlton private TV sports channel.

The Govt . has indirectly given the telecasting rights of the tournaments of the SL cricket team to this private TV channel.

In the circumstances , a pertinent question that is raised is ,the ownership of this company belongs to whom ? It is most intriguing why the Govt. has singled out this Company and lavished all its attention on it , by providing maximum benefits , facilities and privileges.? Why did the Presidential secretariat give its premises to this Co. to have its headquarters there. It is the bounden duty of the media and information Minister to reveal full details about this riddle to the people as this country is not the dowry property of any member of the Rajapakse regime to play ducks and drakes with.

UNP M.P. and a former Minister of information and media, Mangala Samaraweera exposed these stinking details of the Govt. ‘s alleged underhand deals at a media briefing today (20).
 LNW

Two foreign journalists threatened, harassed and robbed in Jaffna

Sri Lanka’s white vans deliver fear and oppression

By International Justice Desk

Sri Lanka’s reputation as an Indian Ocean paradise may hold true for determined holidaymakers, but for the sober-minded this image has been shattered in recent months.

First a damning UN report accused both sides in the country’s 30-year civil war of atrocities – a claim the current government refutes categorically. Then in June British TV station Channel 4 broadcast a devastating account of the closing weeks of the conflict in 2009. At this time, the programme said, the Sri Lankan military systematically murdered thousands of civilians. Colombo says the evidence is ‘fabricated’. Distinguishing truth from artifice is problematic in a country where the free press claims it is under constant threat. RNW sent a team to Sri Lanka to investigate.

Reporters with borders
In a new report the International Crisis Group says Sri Lankan “President Rajapaksa and his powerful brothers continue to repress the media and political opponents”. Other rights groups describe killings and disappearances of reporters alongside police impunity.

And they claim a widespread lack of press freedom – that the media does not tell it as it is, and that people are afraid to speak to reporters. Pressure is brought to bear on them with the use of armed men in white mini-vans, who kidnap or murder journalists. RNW’s team experienced the phenomenon first hand after a surprise roadside attack.

Just because you’re paranoid, doesn’t mean you’re not being followed
Few Western reporters have visited the former Tamil Tiger administered north and east of the country in the past year – journalist visas are not issued without months of bureaucratic delays.

Travelling from the relatively affluent capital Colombo, RNW’s two person team saw how the further eastward one travels the poorer and more militarized the country becomes.

Entering on tourist visas to a former Tamil Tiger administered region, RNW spoke to locals on subjects as diverse as business, sport and the UN’s development role. During one such conversation in a restaurant they were spied on and reported to the police, who later that night arrived at the hotel for a midnight interrogation. Ten police officers, including the Chief of Police, scared the team into leaving the region. The following morning, on their way back to the well trodden tourist path, they were robbed and attacked at gunpoint by a gang in a white van.

Deliberate intimidation or just another robbery?
The intimidation of the ‘white van’ tactic that Sri Lankan reporters had described now came sharply into focus.

“The police reaction is absurd, but it shows the fear of anything that, in their perception, might be connected to the Channel 4 programme or the UN investigation into war crimes”, said Sanjana Hattotuwa from the independent media watchdog Groundviews based in Colombo. “The government reaction is understandable because their stance has always been that there were no war crimes committed by their side – so they clamp down violently on anyone suggesting otherwise”, he added.

Leading the way
Raisa Wickrematunge from Sri Lanka’s most controversial newspaper, The Sunday Leader, believes the attack on western journalists marks a new low.

“What is particularly shocking is the robbery that happened… Disappearances and things like this unfortunately still happen here. So in that sense it’s not really a first, but it’s quite shocking that they did this to foreign journalists, particularly the robbery.”

Raisa is the niece of its outspoken and fearless former editor Lasantha Wickrematunge who was gunned down in 2009. The Leader’s Colombo newsroom is adorned with pictures of a smiling Wickrematunge, pen in hand. Raisa joined the paper shortly after his murder, wanting to keep the memories and values of her uncle alive. “But after it happened, we decided we can’t take that same hard line. Because the fact is that in the past people would attack us, now they would kill us.”

Sri Lankan journalists self-censor to protect themselves. The current editor of the Sunday Leader Frederica Jansz explains why. “I don’t do this myself. I am willing to die for my job. But I understand that not everybody will do this.” Raisa says the fears are legitimate: “Many (reporters) … are taken in those white vans and they vanish. There are also cases documented where people were taken and abandoned later with their legs broken.”

Mini-van, big trouble
The white van phenomenon is well-known to the Tamil diaspora. Donald Gnanakone, the president of pressure group Tamils for Justice, based in Los Angeles, told RNW: “You got white-vanned. This is a state-terrorist act’”.

Other reactions to the RNW experience confirm the likelihood of this being an example of state-sponsored press intimidation. A senior European diplomat working in Colombo, speaking on condition of anonymity, said “You can be sure this is the authorities sending you a message”.

Fear is the key
That a conversation can be overheard and misconstrued by informants, and then reported to the police is a story not commonly associated with South Asia. Raisa Wickrematunge is pessimistic for the prospects of free speech in Sri Lanka’. “I don’t think that [objective journalism] is possible in this country. There are so many things you can’t write about. Even if you call people and say that you’re from the Sunday Leader, there is immediately this sense of fear, people don’t want to talk to you. We have to be very careful what we write about”

To listen to an interview with the reporters, click here

Lasantha Wickrematunge murder suspect given bail

Monday, 11 July 2011 11:53 Sri Lanka Mirror Editor    .The Army personnel who has been in remand custody in connection with the murder of ‘The Sunday Leader’ editor Lasantha Wickrematunge, has been given bail.

Colombo high court judge P.P. Surasena today (July 11) took up a bail application filed on behalf of the suspect.

His lawyer informed the court that he has been in remand custody for more than 18 months now, and requested his release since he was still in active service in the Army.

The state counsel did not object to the bail application.

The judge therefore ordered his release on a Rs. 75,000 cash bail and a Rs. 100,000 surety.
 SLM

Another example of piss-poor Sri Lankan journalism

Rex Clementine’s report of Kumar Sangakkara’s Cowdrey lecture in The Sunday Island begins with the following:

“For all its charm, tradition and history, Lord’s can be a funny place. If your skin is dark, stewards tend to tell you, ‘Oi! Where do you think you are going?’ But the spellbinding speech of Kumar Sangakkara the other day at Lord’s is sure to turn things around completely. That Monday evening itself, after Sangakkara delivered the Lord Cowdrey Lecture on the Spirit of Cricket, there was a remarkable change in stewards’ attitude. ‘Excuse me sir, can I help you?’ A complete turnaround within an hour!”

http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=29812

Sunil Gavaskar, in the opening remarks of his Cowdrey lecture of 2003, said the following:

“As you can see, I am here – let in by the stewards who over the years have become quite charming. No more does one hear “Oi! Where do you think you are going?” Instead, now we hear “Excuse me, sir, can I help you?” Now this is a tremendous change and the MCC needs to be complimented on the remarkable improvement in the attitude of those manning the various entrances at the ground.”

http://www.lords.org/laws-and-spirit/spirit/mcc-spirit-of-cricket-cowdrey-lecture/2003-cowdrey-lecture-full-text,1200,AR.html

So it appears the change in stewards’ attitudes occurred rather earlier than the night of Monday, 4th July 2011. I will not comment on the tiresome anti-colonial trope relied upon by both these gentlemen, which has lost its force for quite some time now. Clementine’s unlikely story and blatant plagiarism is only ameliorated by his utter ineptitude and easy discovery – both lectures are on the same web page.

sourse – e mail from AW

Sri Lanka – The ‘haunted’ past of Radio Ceylon

 by Chamari SENANAYAKE

Walking into the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) buildings at Torrington Square, one would immediately feel the historical value of the place, but most people would not know just how valuable it is. Our SLBC is Asia’s first broadcasting corporation. Radio Ceylon started in Sri Lanka then Ceylon, paving the way for many other radio stations that later came to be celebrated around the world, inspiring countries such as Hong Kong, Korea, India and Singapore to enter the world of wireless media. DG of SLBC Samantha Weliweriya said that there was even speculation that the SLBC is the world’s second radio station. Even if such speculation is not true, he said it is an indication of the importance of Radio Ceylon in the world arena. Radio Ceylon definitely becomes the 30th station in the world, in a line dominated by mostly American and British radio stations, bringing immense pride to Sri Lanka. And that’s not all, there is a hidden past behind the place now occupied by the radio station. According to Chairman Hudson Samarasinghe, who joined the SLBC many decades ago, and has been there ever since, the area was used as a runway during World War II. The racecourse next to Radio Ceylon was used by the military and some parts of the Radio Ceylon grounds were frequently used for aviation activities which made it difficult to carry out broadcasting functions. Another interesting historical fact is that Radio Ceylon’s broadcasting activities were taken over by Allied Forces during World War II and when the war was over, it was handed back to the government. History began with the arrival of Edward Harper during the time of Sir William Henry Manning. He was the chief engineer of the Telegraph Department and soon began working on wireless broadcasts. The very first experimental broadcast hit the airwaves as early as 1923. Not many people know this fact and believe that the first experimental broadcast was actually made in 1924, but the world had heard us a year earlier from the Telegraph Department, just three years after the inauguration of broadcasting in Europe. Harper and his assistants had broadcast gramophone music as an experiment using radio equipment from a captured German submarine. Broadcasting heights The actual launch of Radio Ceylon was in December 1925 by Sir Hugh Clifford. The station came into being after the war and reached broadcasting heights in South Asia, leading the way in the world of entertainment and news. The very first senior management officers of the station came from the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). They worked tirelessly to make Radio Ceylon world-recognised, and it indeed was then. These corridors which still stand may have seen many trolleys carrying patients They even did a live coverage of the moon landing and used to cover all major cricket matches before Rupavahini launched its live sports telecasts. Talking about his Western inspirations and knowledge, Salman Rushdie had once said, “I have to express my deep gratitude to what was then called Radio Ceylon. It had a slightly more open attitude and did play Western music, so that’s where I became familiar with all kinds of things that I could slightly regret, like the complete works of Ricky Nelson.” Going back to the hidden and interesting past behind the place now known as SLBC, one could not help but mention the word ‘haunted’. The old buildings there are over 150 years old and once was home to a lunatic asylum. Standing proud and beautiful even today are the straight and long corridors created especially for the use of a hospital. These corridors have seen many old-fashioned trolleys, mobile beds and other hospital equipment being pushed along by attendants and nurses. They create a labyrinth inside the institution and even the people most familiar with the place could easily get lost. Some say that staff that work in the evenings and nights have heard peculiar sounds in the dark and isolated corners. Although these are mostly hearsay and speculation, the history behind the place is quite fascinating and could create credible grounds for such stories. Asylum proper The Colombo Lunatic Asylum was the first mental hospital in Sri Lanka and was built on the grounds that are now used by the SLBC. Most of its records run as far as 1850, but the very first buildings could have been built many years or decades before that. Surrounded by old studios, some of the oldest corridors of the hospital are still in use It was divided into the asylum proper and the house of observation. Usually, about 700 patients were treated each year at the beginning of the 1900s. Even during the 19th century, in any given year, the number of patients treated always stood above 500. There was one recorded escape in 1905, but the escapee was later found and brought back. Around the same time there was one attempted suicide. During the first decade of the 20th century, a separate dining hall for females and a dispensary were built. Work on a new mental lunatic asylum began in 1920 at Angoda. From the beginning, the Colombo Lunatic Asylum was overcrowded and the accommodation provided was inadequate. It was the only mental facility in the country and the superintendent could not turn people away and had to take all patients that came in. The mortality rate was high and remained above 50 each year. Almost all deaths were due to TB and some were due to malaria. Over 300,000 people are believed to have died of malaria around the 1930s in Sri Lanka. Torrington Square, Colombo 7, Colombo 5 and the surrounding areas were bushland then, and were known as Kumbi Kele (ant forest) and the asylum grounds were quite large. Therefore, a corner of the land was also used as the hospital’s cemetery for bodies that were not claimed by families. The hospital had a large mortuary; this room is still there but remains closed. Berty Galahitiyawa, a veteran announcer joined the SLBC in 1962, and retired as Director-Training. He recalls the cafeteria in the ’60s which was near the mortuary, and some of his friends talking about hearing strange sounds emanating from it while they were having their tea breaks during the evening’s broadcast. “We did not believe it, but we knew there was a closed-down mortuary adjacent to the cafeteria. Later on, many studios were built around it” he said. Eerily silent Ironically, there is a cafeteria there even today. Silent and dark rooms contain memorabilia and equipment from Radio Ceylon’s history Frederick Fiebig was originally an artiste and lithographer in Calcutta in the 1840s. When he visited Sri Lanka in 1852 he had taken a black and white picture of the SLBC which was later hand-coloured. Even today, its long corridors are eerily silent with memories of the past, not merely because of the way it was built for patient transport. There are framed photographs of legends in broadcasting and other important figures that were associated with the place. Sunil Shantha, Rukmani Devi, Ananda Samarakoon and Premakeerthi de Alwis are some of those who are no more . In 1954, when Queen Elizabeth II visited Sri Lanka, a Radio Ceylon van equipped with a disc-cutting machine was sent along with her to record the important events. An interesting fact about Radio Ceylon is that after conquering Mount Everest, Edmond Hillary and Tenzing Norgay turned on their transistor radio and the first thing they heard was an overseas broadcast on the English All Asia service of Radio Ceylon. The place now known as SLBC, most fondly remembered as ‘Radio Ceylon’ is a legend of its own with a colourful, eerie and romantic past. OB http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2011/07/10/spe01.asp

Azwer earns Speaker’s wrath (for threatening a journalist)

July 7, 2011,
The UNP on Thursday brought an alleged attempt by UPFA National List A. H. M. Azwer to pressure a parliamentary correspondent to give him extra coverage or face the consequences.

Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa assured an investigation. The correspondent alleged that MP Azwer had threatened to withdraw his parliamentary pass if he didn’t give him the coverage.

An irate Speaker Rajapaksa said that his powers couldn’t be assumed by his parliamentary colleagues. (SI)

The Island

Sunday Leader barred from defaming SF’s counsel

July 7, 2011
Colombo District Judge T. D. Gunasekera on Tuesday (5) directed Leader Publications (Pvt) Limited and Sunday Leader editor Frederica Jansz not to publish any article or news item defamatory of attorney-at-law Nalin Ruchira Ladduwahetty.

Paul Ratnayake Associates moved the Court on behalf of Ladduwahetty, who is the Defence Counsel for defeated presidential election candidate, Gen. Sarath Fonseka, indicted in the Colombo High Court for alleging that Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa ordered the army to execute those carrying white flags, to surrender, on the Vanni east front.

The plaintiff sought the Court’s intervention citing the lead story captioned ‘S. Thomas College Prefects Assault Fellow Thomian’ in the February 20, 2011 issue of The Sunday Leader and follow-up news item captioned ‘Nine Thomians Assaulted by Senior Prefects’, the following Sunday were defamatory of him. The plaintiff asserted that as he cross-examined the second defendant regarding the indictment of Gen. Sarath Fonseka, in respect of article carried by The Sunday Leader in its December 13, 2009 issue, the defendant had malice towards the plaintiff.

The plaintiff cited three more reasons seeking Rs. 1,000,000,000 together with legal interest thereon from date thereof till date of decree and thereafter on the aggregate amount of the decree till payment in full, declaration that defendants had no right to defame the plaintiff, declaration that the plaintiff has a right to his good name and reputation, permanent injunction preventing publication of articles defamatory of him et al. (SF)
The Island