Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Sri Lankan state crackdown in Left wing activists and Independent media

Comrade K | 12.02.2007 10:57 | Globalisation | Indymedia | Repression | World

News about the persecution and intimidation of Left wingers and Independent media who do not agree with the war against the LTTE.

Sri Lankan state crackdown on Left Wing activists and Independent Media

The Sri Lankan state under President Mahindra Rajapakse is trying to destroy the Sri Lankan working class movement - the only movement that has the capability of bringing peace to Sri Lanka. As the war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) has intensified, Rajapakse has reintroduced the notorious ‘Prevention and Prohibition of Terrorist Activities’ bill – a bill that allows for the indefinite detention of suspects without trial. President Rajapakse and the army chief Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka spoke to the media; the media were warned not to criticize the war as it will effect the morale of the of the army – there is a de facto censorship in the Sri Lankan media about the war. The new bill aims at silencing all those who think differently to Rajapakse, and scaring and browbeating the Left. These are the ‘suspects’ of the ‘Prevention and Prohibition of Terrorist Activities’ bill: journalists, Independent media activists, trade unionists, Left wing activists and anyone else who does not believe that Rajapakse’s way can bring peace to Sri Lanka.

This new law has allowed the Sri Lankan state to harass and intimidate the Independent media; there have been killings, kidnappings, and death threats. These are aimed at identifying anyone who questions Rajapakse’s policies as accomplices of the LTTE ‘terrorists’. To anybody who follows the international news, this kind of ‘terrorism’ bill – intimidation, detention without trial etc – will sound familiar. There is a family resemblance between this bill and similar legislation that has been passed in the ‘freedom loving’ countries of the West.
There is little doubt that these attacks and abductions on journalists and Left wing activists is being carried out by the security and army intelligence services, and chauvinist paramilitary thugs working with the state. Here are some incidents:

* Subramaniyam Sugeedharajan, a correspondent for the Tamil daily Sudar Oli in Trincomalee, was killed in January last year. He was murdered a day after he wrote an article about the attacks by paramilitary groups linked to the military in the Eastern District.

* On the evening of May 2, a gang of thugs armed with T-56 automatic rifles stormed the Uthayan office in Jaffna and shot dead the marketing manager, Bastian George Sagayathas, and circulation supervisor, S. Ranjith. Two other employees were injured in the attack. Several weeks later, the Uthayan newspaper distributor was shot dead.

* Sampath Lakmal, a correspondent for Sathdina, was abducted on his way from home in the Colombo suburbs of Boralasgamuwa on June 30. His body was found the next day in Dehiwala. He was shot in the head. Police questioned an intelligence officer and a Sri Lankan army soldier about the murder. They were released.

* Last August, a senior news programmer with Sooriyan FM, Nadarajah Kuruparan, was kidnapped. His abductors released him 24 hours later; they warned him to halt a program that exposed the abuse of the country’s Tamil minority.

* On August 21 Sinnathamby Sivamaharajah, editor and the managing director of the Tamil-language daily Namathu Eelanadu (Our Eelam Nation) was shot dead by gunmen at his home at Tellippalai, 15 kilometres from Jaffna.

* On November 23, Munusamy Parameswari, a journalist with Mawbima, was arrested. To date she has been detained by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) without charge. According to the Free Media Movement (FMM), the CID officials have denied access to her by journalists. She was presented before a court on January 23 and her detention was extended for another 90 days. She told the court that she had been threatened by Special Task Force (STF) officers and told to stop journalism. Parameswari has now filed a fundamental rights case against her arrest and detention.

* Last month Kumaravel Gajan, a proofreader for the Tamil newspaper Thinakkural, was arrested in Colombo. He is still being detained at the Boossa detention camp in the southern district of Galle. The newspaper’s management has tried without success to get him released.

* On January 9, a group of Sri Lankan army personnel stormed the offices of Thinakkural, Uthayan and Valampuri newspapers in Jaffna and warned staff not to publish reports by the Jaffna University Student Union. Students in Jaffna have repeatedly protested against the abduction of young people.

* On January 15, K.C. Saranga, a programmer for Derana TV, was severely beaten by a mob in the Colombo suburb of Dehiwela. His video footage relating to a recent operation by STF commandos in Eastern Province was seized in the course of the attack.

* Three journalists have fled the country after receiving death threats. They are Anuruddha Lokuhapuarachchi, a Reuter’s photographer and journalist; Rohitha Bhasana Abeywardana, a freelance reporter, and S. Rajkumar, president of the Sri Lanka Tamil Media Alliance and the Colombo news manager of the UK-based Theepam TV.

* The Karuna group, an armed militia led by V. Muralitharan or Karuna who split from the LTTE in 2004, has banned the distribution of the Colombo-based Tamil newspapers Veerakerari and Thinakkural in the eastern district of Batticaloa. Karuna’s outfit works with the Sri Lankan military.

* On the 5th of February 2007, the Sri Lankan army intelligence service kidnapped Mr. M.L.Senaviratna, Mr. Nimal Serasinghe, and Mr.Sisira. Mr M.L.Senaviratna and Mr Nimal Serasinghe were abducted at work; Mr Sisira was abducted at home. Mr. Senaviratna and Mr. Sisira are Trade Union activists; Mr.Serasinghe is the owner of a typesetting shop and is a Left wing activist. There was no warning; they were not read their rights, there was no trial; they were simply taken away. A ‘confession’ was forced; they were forced to confess their involvement with the recent bombings in the south of Sri Lanka; a confession without a trial…

There is a great deal of official corruption in Sri Lanka; the big media, the big politicians, and the big business are on the same side and always support each other. There is a system of political oligarchy, for example, two of Rajapakse’s brothers are also in the government, one is a special advisor and another is the defence minister. There is growing poverty and anger; anger at the war, at the corruption of the politicians, at the family oligarchies and at the lack of any progress after so long. The current regime led by Rajapakse and his fellow travellers the JHU, the JVP, and many UNP heavyweights have no answers whatsoever – they are a part of the problem.

Over 200 journalists and trade unionists demonstrated at the Fort Railway Station in central Colombo last Tuesday to condemn the growing harassment and intimidation of the media and Left wing activists. Many people did not take part because they fear for their safety, and that of their families.

We ask for international solidarity, for all those concerned to organise protests outside the Sri Lankan embassy and to distribute this short article to anybody who is concerned. The reaction of the Rajapakse regime and its fellow travellers are typical of many ‘third world’ regimes. This intimidation is supposed to show the strength of their regime; but it actually shows its weakness. This kind of legislation and these kind of actions have made it is increasingly clear to many people in Sri Lanka and all over the world that mainstream politics is bankrupt.
12 Feb. 07 Colombo
World People’s Resistance Movement (WPRM) – Sri Lanka.  wprm_sl@hushmail.com
www.wprm.org

Comrade K
- e-mail: wprm_sl@hushmail.com
- Homepage: http://www.wprm.org

Comments

Display the following comment

  1. Why Benedict XVI Wants To Steal East Timor — Seamus Breathnach
Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech