Sri Lanka government comes under attack as media personals hit the street

COLOMBO – Large crowds of media, human rights and civil activists gathered in front of Colombo Fort Railway Station on Tuesday, January 06^th, held a noisy demonstration, strongly condemning the destruction caused to MTV/MBC Radio – Television transmission complex by a group of armed men. The protest was organized by the Media Organizations Collective.

Sirasa media network has been a platform for dissenting views, said president of the Working Journalists Association Sanath Balasuriya. Acts of this kind of repression indicate the serious challenges faced by good governance and democracy, he further said.

Many took part in the demonstration accused the present ruling regime of curbing the people’s right to information, and carrying out a massive repression against MTV/MBC that has been telling the truth to the country. Senior journalist Sunanda Deshapriya said the government was engaged in a cowardly attempt to curb the media.

Speaking at the Parliament earlier in the morning opposition leader Ranil Wickremasinghe also implying the government involvement said the attack was a clear threat to the media freedom of the country. “We are trying to stop Tiger terrorism but it was replaced with state terrorism,” he said.

Joining the condemnation, the U.S. Embassy in Colombo has issued a statement deploring Tuesday’s attack. The statement says a free press not subjected to violence or intimidation is “an essential component of democracy.” “The U.S. deplores this latest in a series of criminal attacks on the independent media in Sri Lanka,” said the U.S. embassy statement.

“It’s either that the citizens of Sri Lanka are able to drive around attacking institutions armed with weapons and grenades, or there is a hand behind it,” MTV Channel head Cheevan Daniel told TNS when asked who was responsible.

The attack group carrying assault rifles, shotguns, grenades and pistols had arrived in two “white” coloured vans and a land rover jeep at the MTV –MBC transmission station cum studio complex premises situated at Depanama, Pannipitiya at about 2.00 am on Tuesday January 6^th, according to a eyewitness account.

Media rights activists said the station had been accused by sections of the state media of “unpatriotic” coverage and criticised for reporting a suicide bombing in Colombo on Friday. The ruling party Lawmakers have appeared on state-run media outlets in recent days and accused the network of favoring the Tamil Tigers, they further said.

“Any discernible person who sees Sirasa TV, or reads the Sunday Leader, the Morning Leader, Iru Dina, the Daily Mirror, and the Sunday Times, Lanka Dissent, Lanka E news, etc can understand the way that the soldiers are being humiliated, scorned and blamed,” read a government website recently.

“Although the government has promised inquiries and the president himself has spoken about the matter, it is most unlikely that any successful inquiry resulting in the apprehension of the culprits will be made. It is a common feature for the government to make statements and promises of enquiries immediately after attacks which are shocking and then gradually to let the matter die quietly. None of the major attacks on journalists, on premises belonging to press organisations which have happened frequently, have been successfully investigated in recent years,” said Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) in a release.

“What makes the situation worse is that there is no effective mode of redress against such attacks. The country’s policing system is so completely controlled and politicised that investigations into such attacks are virtually impossible. In fact, the public has lost the expectation that criminal investigations will be conducted into matters in which the government has a direct or indirect hand,” the AHRC release further said.

“Attacks on the freedom of expression are very much an integral part of the policy and tactics of the present regime. The list of attacks on individual journalists and even assassinations is a long one. Death threats, threatening telephone calls and many other forms of harassment are part of the daily diet of the journalists who are opposed to the government,” the release said.

Press freedom groups say Sri Lanka is among the world’s most dangerous countries for journalists, with detentions, assassinations and intimidation common against critics of the government.

The MBC networks (Pvt) Ltd and MTV channels (Pvt) Ltd are part of the conglomerate, Capital Maharajah organization, which is Tamil owned. MTV Channel (Pvt) Limited is the premier private television network in Sri Lanka. Equipped with state-of-the-art audio-visual receiving and transmitting equipment. The MTV Channel telecasts in three main languages with separate channels: MTV Channel 1 in English, Sirasa TV in Sinhala and Shakthi TV in Tamil. Programme content of the three channels includes a wide spectrum as well as being innovative, covering everything from news to educational programmes, family entertainment, music, sports, teledramas and game shows.