by Zacki Jabbar-November 4, 2013, 10:18 pm
The UNP, Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CAFFE) and the Centre for Human Rights and Research (CHR) yesterday lashed out at the government for ‘stepping up intimidatory tactics against the media’, while there was a marked increase in state actors violating the human and political rights of the people.
General Secretary of the UNP, Tissa Attanayake MP, addressing journalists in Colombo, having petitioned the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, over the arrest of a large number of UNPers following the clash between the anti–Ranil and pro-Ranil groups in Matara on October 5, said that the police, on the directions of the Rajapaksa regime, had arrested even those who had not raised a finger at anyone, while ignoring video evidence of Presidential Security men backing the anti-Ranil group, led by Provincial Councillors Maithri Gunaratne and Shiral Lakthillake.
Many members of the pro-Ranil group had been fired at and some injured, Attanayake said, adding that UNP Provincial Councillor Krishantha Pushpakumara injured and confined to a wheelchair had also been summoned to the police Station.
The MP also condemned last week’s deportation of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) Asia-Pacific Director Jacqui Park and her Deputy Jane Worthington, merely because they had entered the country on tourist visas and participated, on invitation, in a media workshop that had been organised by the Free Media Movement (FMM) in Colombo.
The government had acted as if the two IFJ members had committed a serious crime and were a threat to national security, Attanayake said while pointing out that they were two professionals who, by their presence, could have only made a positive contribution to the development of journalism.
Attanayake observed that even though the Rajapaksa regime was making grand preparations for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting next week, it had repeatedly violated the Commonwealth Charter to which it was a signatory.
Mangala Samaraweera MP, who was released on bail after being produced in Court over the October 5 clash, said that the government had selectively applied the law and arrested only those in the forefront of the fight against corruption, crime and blatant violation of the rule of law, while disgruntled elements in the UNP were being used to divide the party.
The Executive Director of CaFFE and CHR Keerthi Tennakoon, also condemned the deportation of the two IFJ members. He said that they had been in Sri Lanka on a private visit. The FMM, on hearing of their presence, had invited them to participate in the workshop, but the authorities were trying to make out that it was a pre-planned operation against the country, he said.
Sri Lanka had, Tennakoon noted, earned a reputation as one of the worst places for journalists. The 2013 ‘Impunity Index’, prepared by the Committee to Protect Journalists, ranked Sri Lanka’s culture of impunity with regard to the murder of journalists, as the fourth highest in the world and the country also ranked 162nd out of 179 countries in the Reporters Without Borders Media Freedom Index, he said.
Tennekoon said that several media organisations were part of the CHR’s civil society network and it was disconcerting to observe the increasing restrictions on freedom of expression.
Building capacities of journalists would enable them to better carry out their professional duties, Tennakoon said. The witch hunt against members of the profession would only limit opportunities for training, he pointed out.
