ජාතික දේශපාලනයේ දි පාතාල ලෝකයට ලැබී තිබෙන වැදගත්කම
Following underworld figure ‘Bada Mahinda’ Godage’s confession to the CID, Ivan describes how Beddagane Sanjeewa, a presidential security officer blamed for Rohana Kumara’s murder, was killed on the orders of Dhammika Amarasinghe, with Tilanga Sumathipala also accused. Drawing on personal encounters, he outlines a repression apparatus of security officers and contract killers behind attacks on Lasantha Wickrematunga, Kumar Ponnambalam, Anoja Weerasinghe and others, and blames politicians and the media for letting Sri Lanka become ruled by hired killers.
මාධ්ය නිදහස ප්රජාතන්ත්රවාදය
Taking up Lasantha Wickrematunge’s criticism of editors for hiding wrongdoing by the powerful, Ivan welcomes the repeal of criminal defamation and planned media reforms but says freedom means little without responsibility. He recounts how most papers protected magistrate Lenin Ratnayake and Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva, and faults the Editors’ Guild for silence on the Leader ban, the President’s claim that a minister plotted to kill two editors, and the layered cover-up of attacks on journalists under the last government.
පීඑස්ඩී අපරාධවලට ජනාධිපතිනිය වගකිවයුතු නැද්ද?
Police inquiries are confirming what Ravaya long reported: that the Presidential Security Division was behind the attacks on the Leader editor and his home, the Rohana Kumara murder, the harassment of singers Rookantha and Chandraleka, the burning of actress Anoja Weerasinghe’s house and body parts sent to Ravi Karunanayake. The editorial argues these crimes had political motives, that the President’s role must be investigated, and that if involved she belongs in prison, not the presidential palace.
මංගලගේ හඬා වැළපීම
Mangala Samaraweera and others briefed the Indian High Commissioner on an alleged plot to arrest opposition figures linked to a conspiracy to kill the President. Ivan points out that allegations against the Presidential Security Division, including the attack on Lasantha Wickrematunge, long predate the government’s fall, and says those who fear unfair investigations should seek court restraint rather than complain to diplomats, recalling Samaraweera’s defiance over his Telecom credit card.
ජනාධිපති ලේකම්ට පිළිතුරක්
An open letter to Kusumsiri Balapatabendi answering his statement that private media were running a campaign linking the President and her security division to murders. Ivan lists attacks on Lasantha Wickrematunge and himself, the President’s own claim to have stopped a plot to kill two editors, S.B. Dissanayake’s account of her plan to bomb Ravaya and the Sunday Leader, and evidence linking presidential security men to the killings of Rohana Kumara and Kumar Ponnambalam and the assault on Rookantha and Chandraleka, and offers to join an impartial inquiry.
රජ ගෙදරින් ඇසෙන ඝාතන සංවාදය
Chandrika Kumaratunga told a youth convention that S.B. Dissanayake had urged her to become a dictator and offered to have one or two critical editors killed. Dissanayake replied that she had discussed such matters with Baddegane Sanjeewa, the murdered presidential security officer linked to the Rohana Kumara killing. Ivan describes Sanjeewa’s wealth and protection, identifies the targeted editors as Lasantha Wickrematunge and himself, and recalls the threats and attacks they suffered.
The truth is out there
The accusations and counter-accusations in the quarrel between S.B. Dissanayake and the President are extremely serious, and both sides are holding fire — refraining from using all the bullets at once, and firing one or two at a time.
රාවයට කරන ලද අනතුරු ඇගවීමක්ද
After a smoke bomb attack on Ravaya, the Media Minister condemned it and ordered an inquiry. The piece reads the attack as a warning linked to state media’s anti-Ravaya campaign and to government circles that see the paper as leading efforts to topple it, and recalls the attacks on Lasantha Wickrematunge and the murders of Rohana Kumara and Nimalarajan, after which similar promises produced nothing.
Criminal defamation Vs. Media freedom
Media freedom is treated as an essential part of a democratic system, and by accepted standards Sri Lanka is among the countries with least of it. The media minister told his first press conference that the government had been brought to power mainly by the media.
ජනමාධ්ය නිදහසට එරෙහිව සාපරාධී අපහාස නීතිය
Although its first media minister Dharmasiri Senanayake called the People’s Alliance a government brought to power by journalists, it has reformed only parliamentary privilege law and, instead of repealing criminal defamation, filed twelve cases against editors, six of them against Ravaya. Sinha Ratnatunga and Lasantha Wickrematunge were convicted of defaming the President, who never testified. The editorial contrasts English practice and the Salman Rushdie episode, cites New York Times v. Sullivan, and notes that the 1996 recommendations of the R.K.W. Goonesekere committee were ignored.