ජනමාධ්යවේදින්ට ඇණ ගැසීම
The editorial condemns the People’s Alliance’s use of criminal defamation against critical editors, first Sinha Ratnatunga of the Sunday Times and now Lasantha Wickrematunge of the Sunday Leader, both given suspended sentences that leave them one conviction from prison. The government promised to repeal the law; the R.K.W. Goonesekera committee recommended repeal or amendment, a select committee stalled and a multi-party repeal motion was never debated.
රෝහණ කුමාර ඝාතනය ෂෝ වික්රමසිංහ
Ivan describes a meeting he, Lasantha Wickrematunge, Varuna Karunatilake and Ravaya’s Chapa Bandara had with CID director Bandula ‘Shaw’ Wickramasinghe over the Rohana Kumara murder. The talk ended when they showed that suspect Thara Ajith was arrested at the home of Presidential Security Division man Beddagane Sanjeewa. Ivan argues the confessions of Thara Ajith and Moratuwa Saman are designed to shield the government before the election.
යළි මරණ බිය රජ කරන යුගයක්
Ivan rejects the government’s explanation of the attacks on Rookantha Gunathilake, Chandralekha Perera and Anoja Weerasinghe as robbery or private feud, comparing the haircutting to the abduction of Lakbima’s Sri Lal Priyantha and recalling unsolved attacks on photographers, Sarath Kongahage and Lasantha Wickrematunge and the murders of Rohana Kumara and Kumar Ponnambalam. He quotes Chandrika Kumaratunga’s 1994 advertisement pledging to end state terror and says she now travels the opposite road.
A new age of terror
The government called the harassment of the singers Rukantha Gunatilaka and Chandralekha Perera a robbery, and the levelling of Anoja Weerasinghe’s house at Moneragala a personal grudge. Set those explanations beside each other, Ivan argues, and a pattern appears that the country has seen before.