A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
(Full Story)
Search This Blog
Back to 500BC.
==========================
Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Tuesday, May 9, 2017
Mangala , Wijedasa , Ranga … Does compensation payment to victims suffice to wash your hands off it ? - Poddala Jayantha
(Lanka-e-News
-08.May.2017, 11.55PM) Paying compensation to the journalists who
fell victims to attacks, just in order to wash the hands off it will
not suffice . An exhaustive investigation shall be conducted into all
those crimes by a presidential commission , senior journalist Poddala
Jayantha who was also a victim of media suppression has stated in the
letters sent by him to ministers Mangala, Wijedasa , Gayantha and the
Cabinet sub committee strongly urging them to take action in that
direction.
Poddala was one of the journalists abducted by the criminal
white van to be liquidated during the brutal murderous lawless era of
the Rajapakse regime. However , when that attempt leaked out ,
Poddala was released midway . The murderers were so brutal that just
during the 45 mins. Poddala was within the white Van , he was assaulted
ruthlessly and his legs were broken most cruelly . Besides , his head
was shaved and he was forced to swallow his own hair .
Poddala who was abandoned on the road to die was found by some
passers by who took him to the hospital . Because Lanka e news made a
complaint to the police in this regard , its editor and news editor too
were arrested. After preparing four bogus B reports , a request was
made to remand the complainants , but the magistrate declined the
request at that time. Because the police officer who prosecuted did not
object to the magistrate’s order , he was transferred to Batticaloa the
very next day. Such was the egregious lawlessness that prevailed during
that period of the despotic reign of Rajapakses who were so full of
venom and vengeance against the journalists.
It is for these reasons , Poddala has requested that a thorough
investigation be conducted apart from the payment of compensation . The
full text of the letter sent by him to the secretary to the cabinet
sub committee Dr. Ranga Kalansuriya is hereunder ….
30-04-2017
Dr.Ranga Kalansuriya
Secretary to Cabinet sub committee appointed for payment of compensation to aggrieved journalists , cum Director General (News)
Dear Sir,
Will compensation payment alone to aggrieved journalists suffice to wash the hands off it?
A proposal to the Cabinet sub committee inquiring into the inequities
and injustices suffered by Sri Lankan journalists during the period
between 2005 and 2015 …
If any government has failed to mete out punishment to the criminals
duly after investigating the crimes , it is the absolute responsibility
of that government to grant compensation at least to the victims of
those crimes. If the government for any reason is seeking to wash its
hands off it after discharging that responsibility in part , then that
crime is much worse than the original crime committed.
The media suppression in SL has been raging under different governments in different ways . At
least taking into consideration a given period , through a special
presidential commission vested with full powers an extensive and
exhaustive investigation shall be conducted .
Nature of media suppression
If the period between 2005 and 2015 is considered , journalist killings;
abductions; infliction of torture ; threats; attacks on media
institutions; committing arson ;filing cases on frame ups; bringing
pressure to bear on businesses of the media Institutions; threatening to
cancel the frequency of the electronic media ; through outsiders
purchasing media Institutions by force; providing various inducements
to journalists and media Institutions and silencing them ; and other
criminalities not mentioned herein shall be reckoned as part and parcel
of this media suppression .
Final outcome
As a first step , after the media is gagged , the professional
associations ( not the GMOA , an association that has made terrorizing
its weapon) , the civil organizations were de activated through threats
and intimidation. The final outcome of those actions was the society as
a whole getting anesthetized , which enabled the ruling regime to
achieve its political agendas and aspirations without any impediment in
whatever way they wanted.
After the social activities for the benefit of the country were stunted
and society was petrified , the bigwigs of the ruling regime without
control indulged in monumental frauds , corruption ,and abuse of
power , and made those their lifestyle. In the end , the whole country
had to abjectly surrender to the authority of a single family.
Cabinet sub committee ‘s inescapable responsibility
Above is only a description in a nutshell .
It is my belief that your cabinet sub committee is vested with a
responsibility much greater than merely making recommendations to the
government to release compensation payments to the aggrieved . What
your committee cannot implement, can yet be carried out by making a
screen proposal to the government . That is , you can recommend to the
government to appoint a fully empowered presidential commission to
inquire into the crimes committed against the media personnel and
Institutions during the period between 2005 and 2015.
The purpose of the right to information bill ..
It is salutary that the right to information bill which was a
part of the agenda of our struggle has come into being , its
shortcomings notwithstanding . But while there exists a fierce media
suppression , will there be a possibility to enjoy the full benefits of
the rights conferred by this bill ?
To cite an example , say during the previous regime , this
enactment was in place ,and if an individual requested for information
under that enactment which was in bad taste to the then ruling
government, that individual was without doubt taught a lesson which
would prevent him from requesting for that information again.
Irrespective of the information requested and his right to information ,
the life of that individual who made that request could have been
terminated . In such an event, thereafter , will anyone come forward to
request information ?
Even though a law is enacted incorporating a right, if anybody
wishing to secure that right is killed violently , or frightened , will
somebody else seek to possess that right ?
For example , when Prageeth , Lasantha and Sivaram were murdered
the right to express and write one’s views were already incorporated
in the laws of the country.
If any government had enacted laws regarding most sensitive humanitarian
rights , it must be the responsibility of your government to build
protective walls and fences against the obstacles and hurdles which
militate against those enjoying those rights. Otherwise the rights
which are granted will not reap the desired result for the society.
On the other hand , if any government after granting rights of freedom
to the country’s media , subsequently based on a spurious agenda uses
that to commit barbarities , it must be the responsibility of a
government to put in place mechanisms to preclude such crimes being
committed against the media , and to create an awareness among society
to reject the media which don’t fall in line with those mechanisms.
If punishment is not meted out for the crimes committed after the
investigation , and the gravity of the crimes is not debated among
society , the recurrence of such incidents will be inevitable. After
the media is silenced and the society in general is anesthetized , the
monumental harm that can result to the country is well known , and we
have experienced that harm well and truly.
Payment of compensation to prisoners of Welikade prison and to the journalists
Though the report on the cruel murders committed within the Welikade
prison was finalized , it was concealed , and the families of the
victims were each paid Rs. I million as compensation. This was not
because the criminals could not be tracked down , rather it was because
the objective was to shield the criminals. Hence does it mean
everything is over simply because compensation was paid to those who
suffered ?
Out of whose money are the compensation being paid ? Was it only this
group that committed such prison murders ? If the criminals are allowed
to go unpunished , won’t similar murders be committed in the future ? By
not probing into the root cause of the crime , and for what reason it
was committed, while also keeping the society aloof from it , doesn’t
it tantamount to extending support to commit more such crimes?
Based on what is revealed above, we are naturally compelled to
review the compensation payments to the journalists who fell victims.
Why was Lasantha Wickremetunge murdered ? What did his murderers expect
and was the reason for his murder very trivial ? Why was Prageeth
Ekneliyagoda abducted? What did his abductors expect and was the
reason for his murder very trivial ? Were the so many journalists of
the North and East, and the employees of media Institutions there
about whom hitherto nothing had been discussed murdered based on very
trivial grounds?
After the killing of Lasantha Wickremetunge, will such an investigative
English journalist like him spring up who could fill the void ? If
he was living how many monumental frauds and corruption which raged in
the country after his death would have been highlighted by him and would
have kept the society on alert ?
If the Welikade prisoners were not murdered , through those prisoners
wouldn’t it have been possible for the country to get to know at
least half of the violent crimes which were committed by the political
authority using them ?
The suspect who went to Kotte Rajamaha viharaya in search of Sapumal
Kumaraya’s sword killed two monks . It is hereby urged to give due
consideration to the fact that the suspect who was fetched after
calling by his name and killed could have been the prime witness
against the political authority who used him to commit the murders .
In the circumstances , just paying compensation to the victims
of the crimes is not going to halt such crimes being committed in the
future – not by any means.
Wrong example
Moreover these set a bad example . Refraining from conducting an
investigation into the crime committed by any government ; not meting
out punishment to the culprits; not making known to the society the
reasons for committing the crime, but concluding everything by simply
paying compensation to the victims is to create a pernicious tradition
which sets in motion a most dangerous trend within the country.
This is because every government for the crimes it commits to perpetuate
itself in power pays compensation to the victims out of the tax
payments collected from the masses . Why should the people pay
compensation for the crime the rulers commit ?
Since that is the actual position , it is earnestly urged based
on the above grounds , if recommendations are being made to pay
compensation to the media victims , a presidential commission shall be
appointed to conduct an exhaustive investigation into the crimes in
order that there will not be a repetition .
This proposal was first made to the government by professional media
association , but hitherto that was not given consideration . Therefore
,you are hereby requested to present that proposal via the cabinet sub
committee once again to the government.
Thanks
Yours faithfully
Poddala Jayantha
(former president of Professional media association Sri Lanka)
poddalaj@gmail.com
New York, USA.
---------------------------
by (2017-05-08 23:01:10)
by (2017-05-08 23:01:10)