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NEWSPAPERS AND BROADCASTING STATIONS IN COLOMBO ARE UNDER STRICT ORDERS NOT TO PUBLISH ANYTHING AGAINST THE TAMIL TIGERS

From Walter Jayawardhana reporting from Los Angeles

Majority of Sri Lankan newspapers and broadcasting stations are under strict orders of the Ranil Wickremesinghe administration not to publish anything overtly critical of the terrorist group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and its allies in the Tamil National Alliance.

This policy has been strictly implemented by the publishing companies not only regarding news but paid political advertisements concerning separatist activities of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Sri Lanka government implements this policy of censure despite the fact that separatist activities of any political group are a seditious act under the country's laws.

A journalist in an English daily who wants to be anonymous said currently, priority was given to items what the government terms the "peace process" in treating news or accepting advertisements and anything against those concepts were flatly rejected. In short, the newspapers and broadcasting stations were engaged in base propaganda and all norms of media freedom had been violated in Sri Lanka , he charged.

Critics say the country's so-called peace process, heavily dependent on the historically intransigent Tamil Tigers, was mainly aimed at making Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe the President of the country at the next elections with help of the terrorist group the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam under numerous promises granted to the Tamil Tigers long before the last elections. Though opposition parties have alleged such an agreement all promises to the LTTE are yet to be divulged.

The Sri Lanka government's undisclosed, censure laws, enforced secretly with the connivance of the owners of newspapers and broadcasting stations have given the scion of a former press magnate, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe a complete Fascist outlook, media analysts say. Even the country's Free Media Movement had been taken under the control of the government through stooges of the Prime Minister taking over the movement, they charged. Coming under the pressure of the government, Swarnavahini, an independently owned television station recently dropped , Rathu Ira, a political talk show which was very popular for its freedom to discuss very controversial political topics. The EAP group of companies, whose many transactions were begging the help of the UNF government, finally had given up its most popular program, critics charged.

About 25 expatriate Sri Lankan groups recently attempted to break the Ranil Wickremesinghe censure regulations by placing full page advertisements against the MOU signed between Ranil Wickremesinghe and Velupillai Prabhakaran in the Sinhalese newspapers, the publications government mostly controls due to their influence over greater masses.

Lakbima, a newspaper owned by book makers and heavily dependent on the government for the existence of its parent company point blank refused the advertisement pointing out such ads were prohibited.

Lankadeepa , a daily owned by the uncle of the Prime Minister, Mr. Ranjith Wijeyawardana first of all wanted their legal department to clear the advertisements. They demanded that names like Thamil Chelvam, the political wing leader of the LTTE be removed from the advertisement. Thamil Chelvam's name was there since the text carried a statement by him made to the British Broadcasting Corporation. The Lankadeepa , the Prime Minister's uncle's newspaper, also wanted letters of indemnity from each organization for quoting the foreign media. Approval was not received to run the ad prior to the local government election.

The Divaina, owned by Upali Group , once again relatives of the Prime Minister who are supportive of his politics, was ready to publish the advertisement with considerable amendments. A photograph of a map indicating their recently extended putative separate state of Eelam exhibited at a recent LTTE rally at Vavuniya was asked to be edited out of the advertisement. The CEO Mr. Welgama who is the second husband of Lakmini, who was married to a blood relative of the Prime Minister who died in an accident, is well known for meticulously following the UNF instructions of what to publish and what not to publish in his newspapers. Anyway, he demanded a personal letter of indemnity from Dr. Piyasena Dissanayaka who did the communications regarding this advertisement on behalf of the 25 expatriate organizations, who were the real advertisers. He had earlier instructed the editors to completely censure columnists interested in separatist activities of the LTTE from the Sunday edition of the Divaina, according to government instructions. Dr. Nalin de Silva was one such writer who was stopped from writing his column in the Sunday Divaina. His Island column, written in English every Wednesday has also been watered down.

Earlier governments were in the habit of appointing competent authorities to censor newspapers under emergency regulations. But the Ranil Wickremesinghe government has found out a new system of censorship without declaring emergency or official competent authorities. Majority of publications in the country are owned by relatives of the Prime minister (e.g.Teleshan, TV owned by his own brother) or business cohorts under obligation to him who could fall in to serious trouble by taking up issues of freedom of the press. Free Media Movement, one organization who could create trouble has been effectively silenced. Even writers living in foreign countries are constantly being warned. A man living near Los Angeles and expecting a diplomatic career in his ripe old age from the Sri Lanka government called this writer and warned that I might get into serious trouble in Sri Lanka if I continue to be critical and write about human rights violations among the Tamils by the LTTE. He was particularly worried about an ordinary news item I wrote about protests by an organization called Tamil Rights against the LTTE. I reminded him that despite my Sinhalese name I was a citizen of the United States and instead he might get in to serious trouble by trying to intimidate me.

The advertisement that was denied publication in the Lakbima and the Lankadeepa was like this in its original form:

Given below the picture at the Vuvuniya Pongu Thamil rally "Tamil is Our Being Rally"[TamilNet, March 01, 2002 16:50 GMT] . Note the Tiger areas extending to Puttalam and way down to Hanbantota.

An Appeal by the Sri Lankan International Community

We are members of organizations that have fought for several years against the LTTE in the UK, USA, Australia, Canada, Germany and Japan and in many other countries. We desire an honorable and just peace where every community could live in dignity and equality. Towards this end we have campaigned against Tiger lies and have fought hard to get the LTTE banned and their activities against Sri Lanka stopped. Therefore we are very concerned about the recent MOU. We believe that the Nation's security and territorial integrity are endangered. And we risk chaos and disintegration of our motherland.

After the MOU:

Tamil Selvam, LTTE Political Section has publicly called Sri Lanka a rogue state (BBC). A respected English magazine says it leads to "Viking (meaning Norwegian) rule" on Sri Lanka (Economist). Sinhalese merchants are denied to trade in Tamil area Mankulam (Lanka Academic).The Tigers have been rearming and have smuggled in bigger guns than has Sri Lanka (Gulf News). Further arms continue to be smuggled (Bangkok Post). They are recruiting new child soldiers (UNICEF). No Sinhalese or Muslim is allowed into their war areas of Mullativu and Killinochchi. No Tamil group disagreeing with the Tigers is allowed to operate in any of their areas. Tigers are today allowed free reign all over the country. Already the Tigers have held large rallies in Mannar and Vavuniya to push their designs untrammeled. They have spoken of, and publicly displayed their true designs.

Their design is well illustrated by the above map. It shows the borders of their goal Tamil Eelam. It extends down to beyond Kalpitiya on one side and near to Hambantota on the other. It claims parts of Anuradhapura and Pollonaruwa areas. LTTE designs are clear. As their first step they wish to rule over half the country. However there is a deliberate campaign to prevent our citizens from knowing the truth. Millions are being spent by pro-LTTE groups to buy influence in the country.

Western countries are not interested in our welfare; they have their own interests. Brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, we are your international community. Do not be deceived. Think. Act. Tell your elected MP and elected official of the dangers. Ask them to vote wisely. Use your vote wisely. Our civilization has existed for 2,500 years. We will not throw it away. We will win. We must win.

Your International Community

SPUR (Australia),
Veera Parakramabahu Padanama (Australia),
Sri Lankans against terrorism (Australia),
Sri Lanka United National Association of Canada (SLUNA),
Canadian Association For A United Sri Lanka (CAUS);
Our Heritage Group (USA), ,
Association of Sri Lankan Businessmen in the (UK),
Association of Buddhist in the UK against Unethical Conversion (UK),
Association for the Defence of Sri Lankan Democratic Rights (UK),
Buddhist Cultural Group (UK),
Buddhist Village Trust for Sri Lanka (UK),
Helabima Padhanama (UK),
International Campaign for the Liberation of the Sinhela Nation and Motherland (UK),
Sinhala Association of Sri Lankans in the UK (UK),
Sinhala New Society (UK),
Sinhala Veera Vidhana (UK),
Sinhale Foundation (UK),
Sinhala Solidarity Movement (UK),
Sri Lanka German Friedens Gruppe Berlin [Sri Lanka German Saama Kandayama](Germany);
Interessen Gruppe Helabime in Deutschland [Helabima Kandayama Germany](Germany);
Bonn Sri Lanka Tharuna Kelle [Bonn Sri Lanka Tharuna Samithiya](Germany);
Nippon Sri Lanka Bunka Kai (Japan Sri Lanka Cultural Center-(Japan);
Nippon Sri Lanka Solidarity Net Work (Japan)

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