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HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH HAS PUBLISHED A COMPLETE FABRICATION OF A SHOUTING INCIDENT SAYS SRI LANKA

By Walter Jayawardhana

Information Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa said that an incident reported in the New York based Human Rights Watch about a purported shouting incident by the country’s President at a newspaper editor is a complete fabrication.

“ I was present at this meeting and no such incident has ever taken place and this is a complete fabrication,” said the minister whose statement was carried by a national television channels.
Minister Yapa said in chapter 8 entitled ‘Freedom of Expression and Association’ of the Human Rights Watch it is said that Mr. N. Vithyadaran of the newspaper Sudar Oli was shouted at by the country’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa at a breakfast meeting in August last year.

Quoting the report the Minister said that it stated when the pro- LTTE editor raised the "unexpected withdrawal of his security" the President immediately lost his temper and started to shout. He reportedly told the Human Rights Watch the President had told him to seek security from the LTTE leader Prabhakaran.

The Minister said he was present at this meeting and nothing of that nature has ever occurred.
The Minister said the editor of another Tamil paper called Thinamurusu has been now cited as a witness to the incident by this editor in Sudar Oli. But , the Minister said Editor of Thinamurusu has called him and assured him that nothing of this nature had ever happened and he was no witness to such an incident.

The Minister said this an example how this report has been written without verifying facts and on hearsay.

Laxman Priyadarshana Yapa said, in Sri Lanka there is freedom for any editor to write or say anything. But when people start writing fabrication the country’s image gets destroyed.
Meanwhile commenting on the incident the state run Daily News said:

“Among the many unconfirmed and unsubstantiated allegations made in the latest report by Human Rights Watch on Sri Lanka, published on August 06, 2007, the item about President Mahinda Rajapaksa losing his temper and shouting at a Tamil newspaper editor has been found to be false and baseless.

Human Rights Watch has neither had the courtesy nor the ethical consideration to inquire about the accuracy of this alleged incident from the Office of the President, which was responsible for organizing the breakfast meeting of the 25 editors with President Mahinda Rajapaksa on August 16, 2006, before its publication.

Instead HRW has published the unverified version given by the Editor of the Sudar Oli, in a clear example of the tendentious nature of the report, aimed at tarnishing the image of the President and the Government of Sri Lanka.

The Director of Government Information who was present at this breakfast meeting has written to Human Rights Watch contradicting this section of the report. Other misleading aspects of the report have been commented on by the Secretary General of the Peace Secretariat.”

Director of Information Anusha Palpita who was also present at the meeting wrote to Human Rights Watch and said, “As a person who was present at the editor's meeting with the President, I totally deny such an incident at the said meeting.

“This is an absolutely incorrect statement and all the editors who were present would vouch that President did not shout at Mr Vithyatharan or anybody else at any of the meetings with editors. I am sure that Mr Vithyatharan will not be able to produce any one of the 25 editors who were present on the occasion to corroborate his allegation because no self-respecting media person would standby a total fabrication.

Publication of such baseless canards in your website reflects very badly on the credibility of the organization."

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