By Frances Harrison | International News Safety Institute
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I first met him - this tall, earnest, Tamil man - in rebel territory in northern Sri Lanka after the 2004 tsunami. He’d grown up surrounded by war, studying by lantern for his A Levels without enough text books, before becoming a newspaper reporter and then graduating to a high profile job working for the pro-rebel news website, Tamilnet, based in Norway.
It was always going to be a risky assignment - Lokeesan’s predecessor was found dead in a ditch after being abducted. But as the Tamil Tiger rebels started to lose territory rapidly in 2009, Lokeesan found himself running for his life with his parents and precious satellite equipment. Hundreds of thousands of Tamil civilians were hemmed into a tiny patch of territory in northern Sri Lanka, being shelled and bombed on a daily basis.
At first Lokeesan shot graphic images and sent them abroad. Then he began to realise they were too shocking to be used. He switched to black and white, hoping that would be more palatable but he had to live with the reality in colour.
“If Reuters or BBC had been there it would have stopped, but not my organisation,” he says, aware that whatever he wrote was discredited by the Sri Lankan government which automatically dismissed him as a terrorist.
In those months of war Lokeesan would flee from village to village with his parents, dig a bunker, set up a tent and then leave them, retracing his steps to witness and document the aftermath of the latest attack. His mother and father were on tenterhooks the whole time, unable to eat until he returned. He would just recharge his camera equipment with the solar power pack - and his parents would understand he meant to go out again the next day to report. They never ever discussed the risks.
Was there ever a conflict between being a bystander filming and getting involved to pick up the injured, I asked. Lokeesan patiently explained there was no need to worry about missing that poignant scene of a mourning mother or crying injured child. There were so many he could always find another. He didn’t hesitate to stop and help. Sometimes he’d collect material and then when he’d left the scene of carnage, stop and sob.
When we first met, Lokeesan showed me his certificate from a BBC World Service Trust training course he’d attended. I asked if it had been any use for what he had to undergo later. He smiled sweetly and shook his head. The instructors had told him always to check casualty data with official sources like the police and army. In 2009 the Sri Lankan military claimed it was operating a “zero civilian casualty policy”, but Lokeesan was documenting body after body.
Today it’s the children’s corpses he can’t forget. When he reached safety abroad his European colleagues generously chipped in to buy him a new camera. He looked through the lens, thinking to take photos of his own baby son but all he could see was the images of the dead.
Lokeesan needed a new camera because on the day he surrendered to the Sri Lankan army he had to destroy all his equipment to save his life. He was a wanted man. He smashed his camera, his laptop, his Thuraya satellite phone and his Bgan portable Internet dish, burying them under the wet sand. The Bgan he said was particularly indestructible - a credit to its manufacturers who probably never dreamed a customer would want purposefully to destroy their expensive dishes. It was counter intuitive to smash all that gear he’d guarded so carefully. “It felt as if I was killing a part of myself,” he says.
There was one last phone call to his boss in Oslo, who told him to escape with his life.
Lokeesan’s story of escape is hair-raising. He managed to avoid being spotted, partly because of his beard and dishevelled state. Detained in a giant refugee camp, he swapped the order of his names around, hoping to avoid the security forces who were looking for him. It worked for a few days. Then there was an announcement on the camp loudspeaker system. “Lokeesan the reporter, we know you are here,” it said.
It took more than a year and a half to reach safety and there were many more near escapes. In the end, it was another journalist who saved him, a Sinhalese exiled reporter. For Lokeesan as a minority Tamil to trust a member of the major community was something new but he was desperate, having run out of options. Growing up in rebel territory he had never met or talked to a Sinhalese civilian.
Lokeesan’s story is one of those told in a new Norwegian film, “Silenced Voices”, by film maker Beate Arnestad. The first screening in Oslo sold out and had to be moved to a bigger venue. Lokeesan sat in the cinema with hundreds of spectators watching the footage he’d shot in the war, projected onto the large screen. This quiet restrained man broke down, crying, coughing and snuffling into his handkerchief, unable to cope with reliving those scenes. It was extremely distressing to see him collapse. He puts himself through this because he feels it’s his mission now to tell people what happened in Sri Lanka. He struggles to understand why he survived when so many other didn’t but assumes it was so he could tell the world what happened.
Frances Harrison is a former BBC Correspondent in Sri Lanka, among other countries, and her book on the end of the civil war there, "Still Counting the Dead" will be published this summer by Portobello Books in London.
© INSI
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
The tale of a Sri Lankan journalist in exile
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
US backed resolution guarantees a soft policy towards Sri Lanka
JDS News
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The LLRC cleared the Sri Lankan military of allegations that it deliberately attacked civilians and deprived them of food and medicine as a tactic of war.
US Under Secretary General of State Maria Otero, the most senior US official to visit Sri Lanka since 2005, told journalists in Colombo on the 13th of February that the United States will support a resolution in the UN Human Rights Council in March that provides an opportunity for the Government of Sri Lanka to describe what it intends to do to implement the LLRC's recommendations.
While human rights activists were calling for global powers to support a resolution at the 19th session of the UNHRC that convenes on the 27th of February in Geneva for an international investigation against Sri Lanka on war crimes allegations in the war against Tamil Tigers, comments by US Under Secretary General and Assistant Secretary Robert O Blake indicated that US was content with the implementation of the LLRC recommendations.
The full statement follows:
"I am pleased to be here in Colombo for the first time. I've had a series of productive meetings with the government of Sri Lanka, as well as civil society, political leaders, and journalists. President Rajapaksa was kind enough to meet with me and explain his government's vision to advance reconciliation among Sri Lanka's ethnic communities since the end of the conflict. I also had fruitful meetings with the Minister of External Affairs and the Secretary of Defense, among others.
"The United States has long been a friend of Sri Lanka; we were one of the first countries to recognize the LTTE as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in 1997. Since 1956, USAID has provided over $2 billion in assistance in Sri Lanka. This work benefits all Sri Lankans with initiatives on economic growth, agricultural development, environment and natural resources, health, education and training, democracy and governance, community reconciliation and humanitarian assistance. Current assistance is shifting from relief to sustainable development and is focused on two key areas: economic growth for conflict affected regions and strengthened cooperation between the state and an engaged, active civil society.
"Our bilateral relationship with Sri Lanka is multifaceted. While I am the most senior U.S. government official to visit Sri Lanka since Secretary of State Colin Powell in 2005, I know that you have hosted visitors from several U.S. government agencies in recent months. This shows our robust and diverse relationship and strong people-to-people and growing commercial ties.
"During my trip, I had the chance to meet with officials and groups who focus on trafficking in persons, child labor, and human rights. The Government of Sri Lanka has demonstrated improved performance, most notably in the successful prosecution and conviction of traffickers under anti-trafficking legislation, and rejuvenated its interagency task force on this issue. We welcome the opportunity to continue to work with the government to strengthen investigation and prosecution efforts and eradicate the scourge of trafficking in persons.
"Child labor is another area where the Sri Lankan government and NGOs are making a great deal of progress. Today less than two percent of children are engaged in the worst forms of child labor in Sri Lanka. This is a significant achievement, particularly in this region, and we are even more encouraged by the government's plan to entirely eliminate the worst forms of child labor from the country by 2016.
"We also appreciate the work of Sri Lanka's Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) While it has shortcoming on accountability, the Commission addressed a number of crucial areas of concern to Sri Lankans, and makes substantive recommendations on reconciliation, devolution of authority, de-militarization, rule of law, media freedom, disappearances, and human rights violations and abuses that, if implemented, could contribute to genuine reconciliation and strengthening democratic institutions and practices.
"I discussed the recommendations with the President and he assured me that they were looking to implement the LLRC report in a comprehensive manner. I urged the Sri Lankan Government to share the details of their plans and begin fulfilling the recommendations called for in the report, and to credibly address outstanding issues of accountability. I confirmed the United States will support a resolution in the UN Human Rights Council in March that provides an opportunity for the Government of Sri Lanka to describe what it intends to do to implement the LLRC's recommendations and advance reconciliation, as well as address accountability, human rights and democracy concerns.
"Ultimately, the government should address the needs of all communities in Sri Lanka by creating independent mechanisms that support reconciliation, democracy, and accountability for serious human rights abuses. It is critical to ensure the rule of law foster lasting reconciliation. We strongly encourage the Government of Sri Lanka to work with international bodies, including the United Nations, to address these matters. An agreement between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) on a lasting political settlement is also critical, and we urge both sides to approach negotiations in the spirit of trust, empathy, and good faith to reach a political solution that is in the best interest of all of Sri Lanka's citizens.
"It is our sincere hope that the Government and people of Sri Lanka will seize this opportunity to build a democratic, tolerant society that will lead to lasting peace and prosperity that leads to a future of hope and dignity for all. We hope that all Sri Lankans see diversity as a strength, not a weakness. Sri Lanka has immense potential. The United States looks forward to continuing to work with you to build on your momentum toward a peaceful, prosperous, and democratic Sri Lanka."
© JDS
Monday, February 13, 2012
Sri Lanka: Protests erupt countrywide against fuel price hike
By Charles Haviland | BBC Sinhala
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Roads have also been blockaded by fishermen who say the price hikes will ruin their livelihood.
There are fears that other basic goods will now get more expensive.
The dramatic rises in the cost of oil products came almost without notice late on Saturday.
Protestors in Negombo - 13 February 2012
In one fell swoop, the cost of diesel – used in buses and lorries – has increased by 36%, and that of kerosene, used by many poorer people, by a crippling 49%. Petrol has gone up by just nine percent.
Many people have responded angrily to the increases.
Protestors in Anuradhapura - 13 February 2012
In Chilaw on the west coast, fishermen burned tyres and blocked road traffic, chasing away the security forces and demanding a fuel subsidy. Private buses – which are more than half the total – have mostly been on strike, so people have had to use jam-packed public ones.
More than 40 people were arrested for attacking vehicles which ignored the stoppage.
Protestors in Anuradhapura - 13 February 2012
There are warnings of imminent rises in the prices of basic foods and of electricity, much of which is generated by fossil fuels in Sri Lanka.
The government says soaring world oil prices and a recent devaluation of the currency made the fuel price rises inevitable.
The opposition called the changes "anti-poor" and said they had been brought in to satisfy conditions imposed by the International Monetary Fund, which is disbursing a large loan to the island.
Protestors in Chilaw - 13 February 2012
Many bus operators say they can no longer function unless the government gives them fuel subsidies or allows them to increase fares.
The authorities are nervous that US sanctions against Iran - being enforced in July - will worsen the fuel problem, as Sri Lanka gets 90% of its crude oil imports from Iran.
© BBC Sinhala
Monday, February 13, 2012
Fuel Protests: Sri Lanka fuel users protest over steep increase
Lanka Business Online
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Fishermen blocked a road on the main road to the capital Colombo from Negambo, a fishery centre, a media report said.
Sri Lanka raised the price of kerosene by 35 rupees to 106 rupees a litre Saturday, and Diesel from by 31 rupees to 115 rupees, both fuels used by fishermen.
Sri Lanka does not have an automatic price formula to change prices based on cost, but sale prices arbitrarily changed by rulers based on political expediency.
When prices are held down for long periods, Sri Lanka's rupee peg comes under pressure, partly due to heavy borrowings from the banking system by energy utilities to buy dollars, putting pressure on both inflation and the rupee peg.
Sudden price corrections then lead to protests.
Commuters were stranded on roadsides Monday after a key bus operators' union kept buses at home
Sri Lanka's The Island newspaper quoted Lanka Private Bus Owners' Association President Gemunu Wijeratne as saying that they wanted a 17 percent fare hike of diesel at 76 rupees, lower than even the 84 rupee price before the hike
State-run buses, and operators of another union continued to run their vehicles.
The Federation of All Island Private Bus Associations a rival association had said they will continue to operator their busses.
"We have a total strength of 11,000 buses comprising 7500 for short distance travel and another 3,500 buses, on long distance running," the newspaper quoted the union chief Anjana Priyanjith as saying.
Media reports said the Treasury is expected to give a subsidy from tax payer's money to bus operators to prevent them from raising fares.
Tax payers are expected to subsidize diesel up to 80 kilometres a day per long distance bus and 60 kilometres for a short distance bus, The Sunday Times newspaper said.
The Island newspaper quoted minister for private transport C B Ratnayake as saying that Diesel would be issued at 84 rupees a litre for bus operators. Sri Lanka has a large number of ministers, including separate ministers for state and private transport.
© LBO
Monday, February 13, 2012
Time for a reality check on the Sri Lankan civil war
By Emanuel Stoakes | The Independent
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The government has been accused of multiple atrocities committed during its war effort in 2008 and 2009, including intentionally shelling thousands of civilians in a “no-fire zone” declared by the army, extra-judicial killings, torture, enforced disappearances and attacks on civilian infrastructure including hospitals.The estimates suggest that between thousands and tens and thousands were killed in the endgame of the fighting.
President MahindaRajapaksa’s administration had responded toa body of evidence that indicates the army of Sri Lanka, following orders from its civilian leadership, committed atrocities in this period by denying all, but of late has peregrinated toward greater openness. It hasmoved on from echoing the president’s claim that “not one civilian was shot dead” toward acceptance of the government-appointed “Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission” (LLRC)panel’s findings that large numbers were killed.
This may be a sign of some progress, but the conclusions of theinternal investigation- which unsurprisingly exonerates the government of responsibility for suchalleged abuses, citing “crossfire” and other factors- contraststarkly with the views of authoritative external assessments. The report of a United Nations panel last yearfound“credible allegations of serious violations committed by the Government, including killing of civilians through widespread shelling”, and by other means of violence.
The UN high commissioner for human rights, NaviPillay, stated after the report’s release that “addressing violations of international humanitarian or human rights law is not a matter of choice or policy; it is a duty under domestic and international law”-duty or not, Sri Lanka have blocked any international inquiries to date and will try to do so again later this month.
The UN’s findings, reinforced by reports from human rights groups such as Amnesty International and international media which have included video footage of executions are all of a piece, according to apologists. They posit a malicious anti-Sri Lankan campaignby LTTE sympathisers who have duped / bought off the western media (apparently I’m in on it too, according to my trolls) in order to damage the country and intimidate itsleadership.
Unfortunately, some of the rebuttals provided by officials to disputethe more compelling evidence have onlyfurther damaged the credibility ofthe government’s stance. After Channel Four broadcast an alleged “trophy video” of Sri Lankan forces executing unarmed men in 2009, a panel of domestic experts investigated the footage and declared that they had “scientifically” proven that it was a fake assembled most likely by pro-LTTE conspirators, and listed their objections.
In response, Philip Alston, Special Rappourteur for Summary, Arbitrary or Extra-judicial killings at the UNissued a point-by-point refutation of the Sri Lankan panel’s findings, drawn from the conclusion of world-leading experts in forensic pathology, forensic video analysis, and firearm evidence. Receiving the backing ofChristofHeyns, -Alston’s successor- also, the case for the authenticity of the video is now very compelling indeed.
On another occasion, PalithaKohona, a government representative, was caught out live on Al Jazeera, responding to satellite imagery of a civilian “safe zone”that depicted shell craters. He admitted that the government had fired on the area, but denied there were civilians targets. Al Jazeera broadcast footage from earlier that year of himself denying that there was any shelling in the area, because civilians were present, a claim augmented by a number of military officials who backed up Kohona.
It has been around a thousand days since the conclusion of the war. In that time the response of the government to allegations of abuses, up to and including the LLRC report has been unconvincing,redolent of political self-servicerather than an authentic attempt at truth andreconciliation. Even some of the most ardent patriots who instinctively rally toRajapaksamust be growing weary of reflexive cries of “lies and propaganda!”every time new allegations surface.Any panacea’s placebo comforts dim with overuse.
For this reason, among many others, Sri Lanka should allow for an independent inquiry into crimes that are alleged to have occurred during the endgame of the war- to decisively prove the inference of its representatives that there is nothing to hide.
Having said that, here’s a thought: if America can table such a motion and expect a response, why shouldn’t the armed forces of Tommy “we don’t do body counts” Franks, and all Bush’s men not expect the same over, say, certain events in Fallujah, Haditha and Abottabad?And doesn’t Sri Lanka’sfailure to self-examine convincinglyalso apply to Britain’s patheticHutton report on Iraq?
Sri Lanka must be held open to international scrutiny for its alleged war crimes- Britain and America too.
But don’t hold your breath.
© The Independent
Monday, February 13, 2012
My brothers’ keepers: In Sri Lanka the grip of the Rajapaksas only tightens
By Banyan | The Economist
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Confidence lay behind the heavy hint dropped on February 8th by Basil Rajapaksa, the economy minister, that Mr Fonseka, a classmate chum, might soon leave prison and even return to politics. Basil is one of several Rajapaksa brothers, the one reckoned to be the brains of the ruling family. Possibly he thinks that Mr Fonseka may make a fool of himself at large, while enjoying martyr status behind bars.
On independence day, February 4th, the president chided his countrymen, urging them to be more grateful. It is true that since a bitter end in 2009 to a long, wretched ethnic civil war, the lot of many Sri Lankans has steadily improved. The state of emergency is gone, even if other draconian laws remain. Many of the tens of thousands of Tamils detained in the north at the war’s end have been released. New roads, ports, railways and power stations are spreading. In Colombo, the capital, various swanky structures are rising and the ground has been cleared for a lotus-shaped tower intended to be South Asia’s tallest.
How, then, to explain a persistent grouchiness among Sri Lankans? The past months have brought strikes, riots and protests by students, railwaymen, prisoners and public workers. The opposition Tamil National Alliance swept local elections in the north, leaving the president’s party in the dust. Ranil Wickremasinghe, the main Sinhalese opposition leader, no ball of energy himself, claims to see wide “protests and agitation against unfulfilled promises”.
Hushed café talk about a “Colombo spring” overstates things, but Mr Rajapaksa may remember how such grumbles and protests helped his own rise to power. Most outsiders focus on his headaches abroad. In March the United Nations will consider a resolution on Sri Lanka over suspected killings of thousands of Tamil civilians and rebel prisoners in the last days of the war. Last month Hillary Clinton, the secretary of state, said America would vote against Sri Lanka. A retired senior official frets about an “adversarial lock” closing on his country.
Yet matters at home may be more troubling. Furious recriminations followed the murder in October of a senior politician, an old friend of the president, in a shoot-out with a fellow MP. Rumours of graft in infrastructure deals persist. A big investor calls the government “extremely corrupt and arrogant”. In the past this businessman went along with kickbacks of a “few million dollars: this is a developing country, after all”; but he balked once demands rose to tens of millions of dollars to win tenders for projects funded with Chinese loans. The bribes, he suggests, are split between Chinese state-owned partners and members of the ruling clique. Morals aside, he says this makes it impossible to turn a profit. He has been threatened, including with violence, for speaking out.
In the capital, commentators, activists and business types—who all demand anonymity on the topic of the Rajapaksas—warn of a family rule that has become more centralised, heavy-handed and authoritarian. Here, the defence secretary, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, is most often mentioned. Whereas the president has an earthy charm that appeals to rural Sinhalese, Gotabaya Rajapaksa wields power more bluntly. He presides over both army and police, 300,000 armed men in all—just what a good democracy needs, he says. This year the defence budget will top $2 billion, a fifth of all public spending—an alarming share for a country now at peace. The army’s role in business is also growing. An economist and opposition figure, Harsha de Silva, says the army is getting into hotels, farming, construction, golf courses, sports stadiums and even running roadside tea stalls.
The vegetarian strongman
The defence secretary, curiously, also oversees urban development, giving Gotabaya wide powers of patronage. His brother, Basil, calls him “fully vegetarian…the nicest, kindest person in the family”, yet he is widely feared. A Tamil leader says the army oversees “oppressive, insulting, humiliating” rule in the north, with tales of land grabs, murders and rape. In Colombo political observers worry about the militarisation of politics. And though Gotabaya rejects the natural comparison with Pakistan, he enthuses about his recent expansion of what he calls his “huge” intelligence agencies. A suggestion that spooks can undermine democracy is dismissed as merely “hypothetical”. Yet some local journalists are warned by editors never to write about him. Asked if he frightens people, he says: “If they don’t criticise me, it is because there is nothing to criticise.”
Some think that growing army clout could be the defence secretary’s personal route to power. It presumes potential discord among the brothers, of which there is no sign yet. Gotabaya disavows any interest in politics: he is an army man, he says. A human-rights lawyer, whose home was once attacked by assailants with grenades, raises a greater fear. If the ruling family feels it can rely on the army, it may worry less about appealing to voters; one day, it may even refuse to “go home”. Unsurprisingly, the Rajapaksas see it otherwise. “We brothers are a very successful family, maybe because we grew up close,” says Gotabaya. The brothers’ rule looks assured for a while yet.
© The Economist
Monday, February 13, 2012
Sri Lanka: Tamil businessman abducted ahead of FR case
The Sunday Times
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The men abducted the businessman in front of his wife and daughter shortly after the family had returned from Athurugiriya, police said adding that an islandwide alert had been sent out about the vehicle.
The Sunday Times learns that the businessman, had earlier been detained for about two years, on allegations that he had links with the LTTE but was released on September 16 last year due to lack of evidence and all charges were dropped.
Subsequently, the businessman had filed a Fundamental Rights case in the Supreme Court where senior police officers attached to the Colombo Crime Division (CCD) were cited as respondents.
The FR case was to be taken up for hearing tomorrow. Leave to proceed was granted earlier.
“The armed men were hiding in our compound, surrounded by a brick wall. They grabbed my husband by the neck and dragged him towards the vehicle. He was screaming for help as they sped away,” his wife Shiromi told the Sunday Times.
She later made a complaint to the Wellawatte police. “The police told me that the registration number of the white van was a fake,” she said.
© The Sunday Times
Sunday, February 12, 2012
The fog of an uncivil war in Sri Lanka
By Mark McDonald | IHT Rendezvous
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But the fog of war still has not lifted in Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka said Tuesday that it would not be sending a review of alleged war crimes to the United Nations for discussion. There’s no need, a senior government official said, because its international critics in New York won’t be persuaded anyway.
A United Nations report has already called for an international inquiry into likely atrocities. Investigators found credible claims that a lot of hands had a lot of blood on them. The Tigers, after all, pretty much invented suicide bombing and the use of female suicide bombers. And Sri Lankan artillery batteries unleashed hell, even if civilians were in the way.
Here’s one representative sentence from the U.N. findings: “The Government systematically shelled hospitals on the frontlines.’’ And this sentence, which found that the Tigers “started point-blank shooting of civilians who attempted to escape the conflict zone.’’
It was that kind of war. More like murder.
In December, after the Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission had taken testimonies from hundreds of battlefield witnesses, the government completed its review of the war.
Suresh Premachandran of the Tamil National Alliance, the leading political party of the minority Tamils, told The Associated Press that the government’s submersion of the report was meant to deflect a likely storm of criticism over its end-game prosecution of the war.
Sri Lanka’s Foreign Ministry secretary told the Daily News in Colombo that government critics could not be persuaded by any explanation or defense. “We know that we can’t make them happy no matter what we do,’’ said Karunatilaka Amunugama.
In a recent commentary in The New York Times, the journalist Namini Wijedasa said the government report was “a valuable document, but regarding the war’s final weeks, it is largely an apologia for the army.’’
Sri Lanka’s Independence Day falls on Saturday, marking the former colony’s break from Britain in 1948. The timing would seem propitious for a reversal of the government’s stance on its refusal to make a break with its more recent past.
Forwarding its report to the U.N. might also elicit some assistance from Washington if the United States and the European Union place further sanctions on Iran. Sri Lanka gets 93 percent of its oil from Iran.
A senior U.S. Treasury official, Luke Bronin, is scheduled to have talks in Sri Lanka on Thursday. Iranian sanctions will certainly be on the agenda.
“We need an alternative. We’ll tell them to give us an alternative,” President Mahinda Rajapaksa told reporters on Tuesday, noting that in the end, U.S. and E.U. sanctions “are not punishing Iran — they are punishing us, small countries.’’
He was asked if he would ask for a waiver of the sanctions, for a way to escape the Washington-Tehran crossfire.
“We might,’’ the president said. “Otherwise, how do we survive?’’
© IHT Rendezvous
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
'Black January' marked amidst rival protests
Photo courtesy: vikalpa.org
BBC Sinhala
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The annual Press Freedom Index issued by Paris based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has ranked Sri Lanka 163 out of 178 countries ranked. Sri Lanka was ranked 158 in 2010.
The campaign in Colombo, organised by Sri Lanka's Alliance of Media Organizations, to mark killings of journalists and threats and intimidation against media personnel in January, is also supported by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ).
The protest marks recent attacks in January including the murder of Sunday Leader editor, Lasantha wickrematunga in 2009, the disappearance of political columnist Prageeth Ekneligoda in 2010, the attack on Sirasa media network in 2009 and the brutal attack on television producer Lal Hemantha Mawalage in 2008.
Press Freedom Index
The protest that was to be held in front of Colombo fort railway station was forced to shift to Lipton Roundabout as pro-government groups staged a protest at the railway station hours before 'Black January' protest.
Sarath Kumara Perera, the convener of Free Media Association (FMA) which staged the pro-government protest accused the 'Black January' protesters of being "traitors" and "trying to create unrest in the country" using foreign funding.
Traffic in front of the railway station was disrupted by the protest, co-organised by the FMA and Organisation of Self-Employed.
Chandana Sirimalwatta of Journalists Against Oppression, categorically rejected FMA views.
Media in Sri Lanka has a right to reveal what is actually happening in the country, he said, and accused the pro-government protesters of being involved in media oppression.
Releasing the PFI, the RSF said: "The stranglehold of the Rajapakse clan forced the last few opposition journalists to flee the country. Any that stayed behind were regularly subjected to harassment and threats."
It added though attacks were less common, impunity contributed to self-censorship “by almost all media outlets”.
© BBC Sinhala
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Families and activists demand information on Sri Lanka's disappeared journalist, civilians
Photo courtesy: vikalpa.org
By Krishan Francis | Winnipeg Free Press
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The civilians disappeared after they allegedly were abducted by a pro-government militia, and columnist and cartoonist Prageeth Ekneligoda had criticized the government before he went missing two years ago Tuesday.
The protesters carrying candles and photographs of the missing marched to a church where they prayed for freedom for the victims.
"I have gone everywhere possible over the past two years to know the whereabouts of Prageeth," said Sandhya Ekneligoda, the journalist's wife. "We must join hands and take this struggle together," she told other women who participated in the campaign.
Last year Sandhya sought the help of the United Nations to help trace the journalist, and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon announced that the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights and UNESCO the world's body's educational organization are looking into the case.
However, there has been no information on Prageeth.
Sandhya chanted prayers at the church calling for "strength and freedom" for her children and husband.
"Give me a family, find my husband and children," read banners carried by the protesters.
Opposition politician and activist Mano Ganeshan accused the government of abductions.
"There is no one else to do it but the government," he said. "We tell the government to explain what happened to these people before trying to defend yourselves internationally."
Foreign governments and human rights groups have heavily criticized Sri Lanka's human rights record, especially during the final stages of the civil war that ended with the defeat of the separatist Tamil Tiger rebels in 2009.
Scores of ethnic Tamils suspected of having links with the rebels disappeared after being abducted. Journalists were killed, some imprisoned and others were taken away and severely beaten.
© AP
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