MEDIA-SRI LANKA: Press Left to Fend for Itself

By Amantha Perera Reprint | | Print |

Amantha Perera

COLOMBO, May 4 2006 (IPS) - It speaks for the state of press freedom in this strife-torn country that even as journalists were holding a candlelight vigil for dozens of colleagues killed in two decades of ethnic conflict, two more were shot dead at the offices of the newspaper they worked for, this week.

Though the government condemned the attack on Tuesday, in which unidentified gunmen sprayed the offices of the ‘Uthayan&#39 (Dawn) in northern Jaffna town with automatic fire, it is well known that the Tamil-language newspaper had close links with the separatist militant group Liberation tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Suspicion quickly and easily fell on a renegade rebel group led by Vinayagamurthy Muralitharan, also known as ‘Col. Karuna&#39 that has the backing of the military and operates out of government-controlled area in the east of the island.

The LTTE has cited the failure of the government to disarm the renegades as the reason for not attending a second round of Norway-brokered peace talks in Geneva that were to have taken place last month.

Since December, journalists working out of the ethnic Tamil stronghold of Jaffna have come under attack and newspapers like the Uthayan which have pro-LTTE stance have been particular targets.

&#39&#39That (pro-LTTE stance) is no excuse for violence. That is a free choice a newspaper can take. It could have been nationalistic but that is not a reason to kill people,&#39&#39 Ranga Kalansooriya, director general of the Sri Lanka Press Institute (SLPI), the country&#39s foremost media training body, said.

If the aim of the latest attack was to intimidate, it is working with many presspersons now afraid to speak out. &#39&#39As we talk there are people watching and we are helpless,&#39&#39 said a senior journalist asking not to be named.

The offices of the Uthayan in Jaffna and Colombo have been attacked before and a correspondent for the paper was shot dead in the eastern port town of Trincomalee in January.

While the LTTE has battled Karuna&#39s group, it has also chosen to take the war to Colombo. Last week, the government was compelled to break a ceasefire, in operation since February 2002, and launch air strikes on LTTE establishments, after a suicide bomber seriously injured army commander Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka and killed eight people at army headquarters in Colombo.

Reckoned as one of the world&#39s toughest guerilla groups, the LTTE has been fighting for two decades to establish a separate state for Sri Lanka&#39s ethnic Tamil minority in the north and east of the island.

Journalists in the capital saw the attack on the Uthayan as part of continuing pattern of threats and assaults on the media. &#39&#39Six persons connected with the media have been killed in the north and east in the last six months,&#39&#39 Sunanda Deshapriya, from the media rights group the Free Media Movement, told IPS.

Deshapriya, who heads the advocacy department of the SLPI said he did not wish to point fingers at the government or the military but wished to point out that ‘&#39the government has done little to stop murderous attacks on journalists over the last two decades&#39&#39.

Ever since Col. Karuna and his loyalists defected to the government side, two years ago, the country&#39s Tamil language media has been subjected to enormous pressure. At least two journalists have been killed while many other have fled for safety.

The Free Media Movement, a voluntary group, has taken the position that the government is not interested in protecting journalists. Since January it has been trying unsuccessfully to meet the defence secretary to discuss security issues but failed to get a date. ‘&#39The way the government is behaving, the indications are that it is not too concerned about us,&#39&#39 Deshapriya said.

Tuesday&#39s attack proved awkward for Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse, who was the chief guest at the finale of the World Press Freedom day events held in Colombo by the UNESCO.

‘&#39We see this attack as an attempt to destroy values and principles that are both sacred and dear to all freedom loving societies and peoples. I have instructed the law enforcement authorities to spare no effort to bring the criminals involved in this senseless act to justice,&#39&#39 Rajapakse said.

But Rajapakse insisted that press freedom has been improving in Sri Lanka. ‘&#39Our minds go back to the early 1990s when the lives of journalists were under threat and media freedom was seriously challenged in our own country,&#39&#39 he told the UNESCO forum.

Many believe that the cause of press freedom needed to be addressed by the media community which lacked unity. ‘&#39We have seen papers like Uthayan being attacked by sections of the media. The media needs to unite and fight for its rights,&#39&#39 said Kalansooriya.