Attempt To Silence The Pen, Again?

By Easwaran Rutnam-Sunday, February 17, 2013

What was an vibrant Friday night at The Sunday Leader newspaper last week turned into shock and horror as news reached us that one of our colleagues had been shot.

Just minutes earlier The Sunday Leader senior journalist Faraz w was on the telephone with Deputy Chief Sub Editor Saro Thiruppathy clarifying one of his stories.

Suddenly the telephone line got cut. Saro tried and tried to get through to Faraz again on the telephone but failed.
Eventually news reached us that he had been shot. The Editorial team rushed to the Kalubowila hospital where he had been admitted.
It was here that the sequence of events of what had taken place became more clear. Faraz had been shot at by a group of unidentified men in his house at Hotel Road in Mount Lavinia.

Eyewitnesses said they saw three men running away from his room following the shooting incident.

The house in which Faraz is staying is also a mini guest house. A group of foreign tourists who had checked in a day earlier said they heard a commotion and screams on the night of the shooting.

“We heard Faraz shouting and banging on our door. When we opened the door we saw him covered in blood. We then realized what had happened and got his car keys and rushed him to hospital,” one tourist said.

Faraz had mentioned on an earlier occasion that he had faced threats but had not reported the matter to the police.
Doctors at the Kalubowila hospital said that shrapnel from the bullet had got lodged on his lower neck close to the shoulder.

Faraz had later requested to be transferred to a private hospital but the hospital said they do not admit patients with gun-shot injuries.
He was later transferred to the Colombo National hospital. Director of the National hospital Dr Anil Jayasinghe said that Faraz was transferred to the Intensive Care Unit for further observations.

“He is stable but we need to observe his condition very carefully. We are carrying out some tests on the object in his body,” Dr Jayasinghe told The Sunday Leader.

The police yesterday recorded statements from eye witnesses and conducted investigations at the site of the shooting.
The shooting incident drew dark memories of attacks on The Sunday Leader newspaper, the most shocking being the assassination of the founder Editor of The Sunday Leader in January 2009.

However one thing is certain, the attack on Faraz will not deter the newspaper, as it continues to remain unbowed and unafraid.