This is a humble appeal I am making to your Excellency the President Maithripala Sirisena, and The Hon. Prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe of the republic of Sri Lanka

(Lanka-e-News -30.Jan.2015, 11.55PM) 

2015-01-30

This is a humble appeal I am making to your Excellency the President Maithripala Sirisena, and The Hon. Prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe of the republic of Sri Lanka

Dear Sir,

It is four years ago today ( 2011-01-30) ,the Lanka e news website portal and its most precious library were set on fire thus reducing the entire building and all that were in it to ashes. It is four long years since the website portal was totally destroyed . We therefore urge your esteemed selves to arrange for a proper investigation into this crime , nab the true culprits , and grant us an adequate compensation.

Four years ago today , on January 30 th , early morning , our news website office situated at Daham mawatha , Malabe , Colombo district where we carried on our news website was set on fire , and razed to the ground.

During the era when there weren’t exact Sinhala letters pertaining to the internet it was we who produced them and distributed free to the people while launching the first on line news website , ‘Lanka e news’ on 4 th February 2005, the day Sri Lanka received its independence ; and by the time it was destroyed completely on 30 th January 2011 , it had flourished so much so that it was posting news in all three languages , Sinhala, Tamil and English. During that time the number of permanent employees was 12, while there were three employees on contractual basis.

It is a well and widely known fact that our news website office fell victim to this disaster because , we always followed a steadfast fearless and forthright policy ,frankly exposing the truths against the obnoxious reign of Mahinda Rajapakse. Our website also openly supported common opposition Presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka in his campaign during the Presidential election 2010.

Following the Presidential elections on 26 th January 2010, due to the unrelenting threats and intimidations we had to face , the founder and owner of the website and Editor , that is myself had to flee the country out of fear for my life. A free lance journalist of Lanka e news , Prageeth Ekneliyagoda was abducted and went missing.

At the time the office was burnt down , there were over 3000 valuable books , in the library. It was a most valuable library comprising books which were gathered from editors who are now long dead. It also contained invaluable books , magazines, DVD cinema and music CDs , stored computer data and equipments, very expensive cameras, recording equipments, digital video editing equipments , Photocopy , Fax machines and office equipments . Every one of these items was reduced to ashes.

The building including the roof were fully damaged. At the time this tragedy struck , our monthly earning from the website was Rs. 500,000.00. We were deprived of all this , when on top of this devastation , a ban was officially imposed on our website.

It is without any trace of doubt I say , it was the Mahinda Rajapakse government that was fully responsible and accountable for it. The police instead of apprehending the culprits , it arrested two members of the flotsam and jetsam of society , and claimed they were the culprits. Ultimately they were released.

Even though four years have elapsed , no case had been filed regarding this well planned arson that was committed .

In the circumstances , we appeal to your good selves to kindly look into our woes and dire plight which is the direct result of the ruthless diabolic arson committed on the Lanka e news website when it was being run duly and legally in this country, with a view to granting us adequate compensation after computing the losses due to the damage caused ,including the income we were deprived of during the period the ban on the website was in force. We also hope under the salutary good governance policy of your government , the true culprits too will be apprehended and duly punished.

Yours truly ,

Sandaruwan Senadheera

Editor and owner of Lanka e News
From London
sandaruwans@gmail.com