Sri Lankan Media Today: All Reference To Gota In My Column Have Been Axed
Prof. Kumar David
Dear Colombo Telegraph Editor,
I write to a few Tamil and English publications in Lanka, one of whom imposes self-censorship whenever reference is made to the Defence Secretary. I think CT readers should be made aware that self-censorship is practised even by the English so-called national press. Here is the most recent example; the under-mentioned passages were completely deleted by the paper. This why an opening like CT is so needed even if one has to go through the inconvenience of a proxy-server to reach it.
“Victor Ivan lambasted Gotabaya Rajapakse as a heavy handed military type who is overstepping his limits and provoking disaster. The US State Department’s 9 July statement said: “The United States is concerned by reports that the Sri Lankan Ministry of Defence has ordered registered NGOs and civil society groups to cease their media engagements and activities”. Ambassador Sisson, appointed to the UN Security Council US Secretariat by President Obama is no friend of the Rajapakse clan”.
“Nimalka (Fernando) opined “This is not a Rajapaksa regime anymore; it is the Gotabaya regime” and candidly declared “The Rajapakse regime has either become completely retarded or imbued with a deep sense of paraplegic paranoia. It seems as though the Defense Secretary has become so high and mighty that he has once again forgotten that his motherland has citizens like us with a strong backbone”.
“The barrage was fast and furious. No one seems afraid of Mr Gonibilla, his White Vans and state sponsored killing squads any more. Within hours the high and mighty Defence Ministry climbed down like a pussycat and mumbled that nothing out of the ordinary was intended; only reminding everyone of the regulations that were already on the state books. “We have merely taken a precautionary measure in reminding them of the limits.” These guys don’t even know how to lie intelligently!”
Kumar David
17 July 2014.
