Brutish Sri Lankan Government MP attacks media again and again

 
 
5th August 2008, Colombo, Sri Lanka: The Free Media Movement (FMM) is outraged to record the disgraceful and violent behaviour of the Minister of Labour Mervyn Silva in assaulting two journalists from the Sirasa television network in full view of the Police, a larger number of other VIPs and the general public. This latest affront to media freedom by a Government Minister took place at the opening of a new flyover bridge in Kelaniya yesterday.

We note with deep regret that not a single police officer present when this incident took place intervened to stop the attack by the Minister.

On an invitation by the Ministry of Highways, the Sirasa TV had sent a crew of two to cover the opening of second phase of the flyover bridge at Kelaniya. As it is well known that Mervyn Silva physically and verbally attacks the MBC Network at every given opportunity, Sirasa TV had asked for the assurance from the Ministry of Highways that the journalists sent to cover the event would not be harmed. The Media Secretary for the Ministry of Highways, Shirantha Premawardene, had given this assurance.

However, Mervyn Silva and his coterie of murderous thugs had assaulted Sirasa TV journalists Thushara Saliya Ranawaka and video cameramen Waruna Sampath and seized their cameras. Sirasa TV footage of the attack shows very clearly that it was Minister who led the attack. The Minister’s snarling threat, that he will have to break the Buddhist teaching of not taking any person’s life is clearly audible in the TV footage. This beggars belief and the FMM unequivocally condemns this dastardly act. Sirasa TV News Director Susil Kindelpitiya has made three complaints to the Police against the errant Minister but no action has taken to question him or bring him to book.

A Government that even at the recently concluded South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) meeting stated that media freedom was vibrant in Sri Lanka is unable and unwilling to hold this notorious Minister accountable for his actions. And while he enjoys complete impunity and the protection from those at the highest levels of political office, journalists have to live with the consequences of being attacked, their equipment damaged, their lives put at risk and Police who turn a blind eye to their plight.

The well-known and universally condemned violent assault by this Minister against State owned TV broadcaster Rupavahini in December 2007 has not resulted in any investigation whatsoever. On 28th July at about 11.00 p.m., the Minister with a band of thugs had broken into a shop in Industrial Zone at Nuwaragala in Pollonnaruwa District owned by Mr. K.M.L. Jayasinghe, a supporter of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) political party, assaulted the people in the shop, shot at them and damaged the shop and motor bicycles parked at the shop according to the Media Unit of the JVP.

No one has questioned the Minister to date.

The FMM challenges the government and cabinet sub committee to investigate attacks against the media to take immediate action against this brutish Minister. We have already noted the inefficacy of the sub-committee to strengthen media freedom in Sri Lanka. The failure to bring this Minister to book, who epitomizes the Government’s callous disregard for the freedom of expression and media freedom, is to directly support violence against media in Sri Lanka.

Mervyn confronts SIRASA TV

 

Labour Minister Mervyn Silva and his supporters have yet again confronted a Sirasa TV crew at an official function. On an invitation by the Ministry of Highways, the electronic media institution had sent a crew of two this morning to the opening of second phase of the flyover at Thorana Junction in Kelaniya.
As Minister Silva is known to be hostile towards Sirasa TV, the Highway’s Ministry’s Media Secretary Shirantha Premawardena had given an assurance that its employees would not come to any harm.
However, the minister and his bodyguards had assaulted correspondent Thushara Saliya Ranawaka and video cameramen Waruna Sampath and seized their cameras.
Before the commencement of the function, Minister Silva had inquired about the presence of Sirasa TV and upon identification, had ordered the cameraman to remove the tapes.
Thereafter, the bodyguards had snatched another camera in their possession, while the other had been damaged in the scuffle, the correspondent told ‘Lanka Dissent.’
He also said that there had been a large VIP and police presence at the scene, including top officers, but none had intervened.
The television crew has lodged a complaint with the Peliyagoda Police.
This is the third instance involving the Kelaniya flyover where Minister Silva had confronted and chased away Sirasa TV crews.

Political parties singed joint statement defending media freedom in Sri Lanka

 

Eleven political parties singed a joint statement on media freedom requesting authorities to safeguard media freedom and guarantee the safety and security of journalists in Sri Lanka

Full text of the joint statement fellows;

 

1st August 2008

Stop the war against journalists in Sri Lanka 

Media freedom is an essential feature of a vibrant democracy. An independent and professional media able to function without interference or influence from government and other partisan influences and exists for the social, political, cultural and economic betterment of polity and society is an integral part of democratic governance. It is a vital tool to effect progressive change.

However, independent media and journalists in Sri Lanka today are terrorized through a spate of killings, abductions, assaults, arbitrary arrests and detentions. They are subject to violence, both physical and verbal, to a degree that is unprecedented.

We the undersigned as political parties endorse and affirm the vital issues raised below by the five media organizations and urgently request the Government and other relevant stakeholders to take immediate and meaningful steps to enact solutions to address these problems.

We note that the Government has failed to complete or conclude any of the investigations on attacks, threats and acts of terrorism against the media and journalists during the past two years.
We are alarmed that although violent attacks on media personnel who opposed the brutish entry of MP Dr. Mervyn Silva to the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation on 27th December 2007 after a Presidential assurance, threats against the “Sirasa” media network were with complete impunity publicly carried out on the Vesak Poya day allegedly by the same individual and have failed to result in any open investigation.
We note with dismay that he official website of the Defense Ministry has repeated and with complete impunity labeled media institutes, editors and journalists as traitors, requesting soldiers to treat them as they would terrorists. The same website has also demanded that media adopt self-censorship in the name of “national security” and the “fight against terrorism”, openly calling for the (violent if necessary) curtailment of media freedom as a necessary sacrifice in defense of larger freedoms.
We are deeply disconcerted to note that the Government is impervious to the violent rhetoric and hate speech of Hudson Samarasinghe, Chairman of the State own Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation, who on air viciously threatened and named independent journalists and media organizations as being inimical to “national security”.
We find utterly unacceptable and reprehensible the thinly veiled death threats made on 26th May 2008 by the Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse against the President and Secretary of the Working Journalists’ Association of Sri Lanka, Messrs. Sanath Balasuriya and Poddala Jayantha respectively, if they did not give up their media activism. 
We are saddened by the fact that journalists in Jaffna are unable to go out in the field to pursue their livelihoods. Where previously over 200 journalists worked in the embattled peninsula, the continued attacks on “Uthayan” news paper has compelled its Editor and News Editor to live within the precincts of the publishing house for over an year, in fear of their lives. The resulting fear psychosis has completely paralyzed independent coverage of events and processes related to war, peace and governance in the region. 
We unequivocally condemn the continued detention of journalist J.S. Tissainayagam for over 135 days by the TID, without any charges and the labeling of Tamil female journalist Maunuswamy Parameshwarie as a terrorist by senior government figures despite her being cleared of any such charge by the Supreme Court.
We vehemently decry all attacks by government-sponsored goons on peaceful public protests in Puttlam and in Colombo as an act against the freedom of association and expression.
 

Based on these issues, and called for urgent action to address these growing challenges, we express our solidarity with the five media organisations and pledge to work together and individually to safeguard and strengthen media freedom in Sri Lanka.

Singed by

Hon. C. Chandrasekaran , president, Upcountry Peoples Front ( UPF)
Mr. Lal Wijenayaka,  Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP)
Hon. Mangala Samaraweera , Sri Lanka freedom Party- peoples faction ( SLFP- P)
Hon. Mano Ganeshan , Western Peoples Party (WFP)
Hon. Ranil Wikremesinghe,  Leader, United National Party ( UNP)
Hon. Rauf Hakeem, leader, Sri Lanka Muslim Congress ( SLMC)
Hon. R. Sampanthan, president, Tamil national Alliance (TNA)
Mr. Siritunga Jayasuriys, United Socialist Party ( USP)
Mr. Somawansa Amarasinghe, chairman, Peoples Liberation Front (JVP)
Mr. Vasudewa Nanayakkara , Democratic Left Front (DLF)
Dr. Wikramabahu karunarathna, Left Front