Leaked telephone call expose Lasantha Vs Mahinda

Dec 27, 2016

The assassination of Sunday Leader founding Editor and veteran journalist LasanthaWIckremethunga has once again made headlines with the recent release of a telephone conversation that is alleged to have taken place between Mr. Wickremethunge and the then President Mahinda Rajapaksa beofore the assassination.

The conversation has revealed that the two parties had been closely associated with each other. It contains dialogues between the former President and Mr. Wickremethunga about issues such as economic problems of the country, political issues at that time and even about a newspaper article that had been scheduled to be published on that day. It also contains some information about certain crooked associated of the then President Rajapaksa and the President requests in this conversation Lasantha to identify them to him. "Catch me at least one of them. I will do what is necessary" the President says. The conversation concludes with the sentence "Let’s meet up some time." An Editor of a mainstream newspaper in the country having a telephone conversation with the President of the country is nothing unique. But the tone of the conversation depicts that they had been close friends. Even an issue about Mr. Sarath Fonseka is discussed in this conversation.

There is belief that it is ex-president Mahinda Rajapaksa who has leaked a secret telephone conversation he had had with slain journalist Lasantha Wickrematunge. According to this Lanka News Web, we talked with member of a Anti-Corruption Front and veteran Journalist, Gamini Viyangoda ,He said " This call has been taken by President Rajapaksa. So the possibility is that the person who had taken the call has recorded the conversation rather than the one who has received it. So I wonder whether it was Mr. Rajapaksa who had recorded this conversation and has released it. Even during the initial days after the murder of Lasantha, the government tried to portray them as good friends of Lasantha. This could be an extension of that. But what is most important is to speed up the investigations so that we could know for certain who the real culprit is".

 When queried from the former President  Mr. Rajapaksa has already issued a statement on the issue. "I did not listen to that. If anyone listens to that conversation, they would know the level of friendship I had with Lasantha. So everyone will be able know who is the true culprit. I do not have to say anything special about this. It is clear who had issues with Lasantha."

Lasantha Wickremethunga was assassinated on January 08, 2009 and it was Mahinda Rajapaksa who was the President of Sri Lanka at that time. Surprisingly, the former President has been very quiet about the assassination although it has been discussed for many years. His recent statement on the conversation suggests that he may be aware of those who could have committed this murder. Hence, suspicions have emerged as to why he is reluctant to reveal the truth. It could even be a measure to protect someone who could be found guilty. It may also be to escape from the accusation of not taking the necessary actions to find out the culprits at that time. The then Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa also has a responsibility in the matter as he is accountable for the actions of the security forces at that time. However the name of a certain powerful Minister of the government is also mentioned in this conversation. Since these politicians had helped the then government to bring the war to an end, it is plausible that the Rajapaksa government had protected them from being branded murderers.
 
At the time of writing this article the former Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa was not in the country as he had left Sri Lanka to go on a tour. When contacted, Minister Sarath Fonseka was not available for comment and his media spokesman Mahinda Kumara says that the minister could not be contacted to comment on the issues due to his busy time schedule.
 
Lanka News Web talk with Mr. Brito Fernando - Chairman, Organization for the Disappeared, "According to what we know about the past conduct of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, he is the kind of person who invite someone to Temple trees mansion showing warm friendship outside but assault you inside the office room. There were reports of many such incidents reported in the recent past. That is his character as we know it. In such a scenario, it may look like as if he had cordial relationships with Lasantha. So far we do not know who Lasantha's assassins are. Due to his strange conduct we may not know whether he would be accused of getting involved in Lasantha's assassination. We should not wonder even if there are evidence to prove it. May be the Prime Minister is not taking any action regarding this matter due to the objection of SLFP MPs.
 
JVP MP Nalinda Jayatissa said , "It is hard to believe that this is the normal personality of MahindaRajapaksa we hear in this tape. He rarely shows his real face. When we listen to this we can see that this is a professional conversation between a journalist and a responsible figure in the country regarding these responsibilities. However what is needed now is to step up the pace of the investigations to find out soon who the real murderer is.
 
Meanwhile Justice Minister Wijedasa Rajapaksa said that the investigations are being carried out without any interference.

In a recent twist, a website had recently revealed a list of persons who had their phones tapped during the Rajapaksa regime under instruction from the Top Brass. Among these telephone numbers were the number of Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe and Lasantha Wickremethunga.

Thearticle had been published on September 08, 2008 and after 3 months since the publication of the article, Lasantha was shot dead in broad daylight on a public road.

Meanwhile the Police has sought public assistance in identifying the suspects who have involved in the assassination. According to a statement issued by the Police Headquarters in Colombo, the artists have painted a picture of one person who had been involved in the incident. The person looks about 55 years old, with a height of 5'8" and has long brown eyes. The police headquarters requests the public to divulge any information known about this character to 011- 242 2176, 011-2380380, 071-8305528, 071-8349505, 077-3291500 and 071-8070207.

AshWaru Colombo