by Tisaranee Gunasekara
"You who live safe,
In your warm houses,
You who find, returning in the evening,
Hot food and friendly faces:
Consider if this is a man…" - Primo Levi (If this is a Man)
The next cycle of the ‘Tamil problem’ has commenced unseen and unheeded, in the rain clogged internment camps up North.
The timing of the monsoon season was no secret, and yet hardly a thought was given by the authorities to its all too predictable consequences. The monsoons have barely begun and already most of the camps are deluged by rain water, placing every basic facility, from cooking to sanitation, beyond the reach of their wretched inmates.
The seasonal rains will cause floods in many parts of Sri Lanka; but unlike other affected citizens, the more than 250,000 Tamils in the Northern ‘welfare villages’ cannot leave their inundated places of residence for shelter and dry ground. Imprisoned by barbed wire fences and gun toting soldiers, the IDPs have no choice but to bear this latest horror just as they have borne every other calamity, with sullen, festering silence.
If the rains flooded the camps holding two hundred and fifty thousand Sinhala Buddhists imprisoned, depriving them of every basic facility, the South would not have ignored their suffering and the Southern media would not have permitted the government to deny their plight. Our collective silence in the face of the unfolding tragedy in the North indicates a disturbing inability to treat Tamils as fellow human beings, let alone citizens with equal rights.
Our collective failure to condemn this massive injustice that is being perpetrated in our name demonstrates that the mindset which enabled the Black July, not so much the evil of an active minority as the indifference of a silent majority, is alive and well in the South. We know and yet we chose to ignore. To paraphrase Bruno Bettelheim, ‘when hundreds of thousands are incarcerated, none but a guileless child remains innocent. We are all tainted by it. The rest of us are not innocent, but intent on keeping ourselves ignorant’.
The regime knows that the monsoons have turned the camps into a watery hell, and yet, it does nothing. Rhetorical flourishes apart, the Rajapakse administration never concerned itself with the safety and wellbeing of civilian Tamils in the North and the East during the war. When an occasional concession was made (such as ceasing/limiting the use of bombing and shelling during the last phase of the war), it was in response to Indian or international pressure. With the conclusive defeat of the LTTE, India and the world have lost whatever capacity they previously had to nudge the Rajapakses away from more extreme measures.
Armed with a near total sense of impunity, the regime is treating Tamils with a degree of injustice that was inconceivable just one year ago. After all, the thought of the entire population of Killinochchi and Mulaitivu districts being imprisoned in barbed wire enclosures, after the war, was unthinkable - until it became a fait accompli. Today it is an integral part of reality which many ignore, some justify and only a few oppose. The unthinkable has become normal with a degree of rapidity and a measure of completeness which bodes ill for the future. (The pledge to resettle the incarcerated IDPs in 180 days will meet the same fate as the promise to implement the 13th amendment in full as soon as possible and to explore ways of devolving even more power, made by President Rajapakse to the then Indian Foreign Minister, on January 27th this year - according to a statement tabled in Sri Lankan parliament by Deputy Foreign Minister, Hussein Bhaila).
Normalising Discrimination
The Northern internment camps are a leitmotiv of the Rajapakse approach to peace, just as child soldiers and suicide bombers were a leitmotiv of the Tiger approach to ‘national liberation’. The fact that almost the entire population of Killinochchi and Mullaitivu districts is being forcibly kept in open prisons is not a mere detail to be overlooked or brushed aside. It is an essential element, a formative factor of post-war Sri Lanka. The Northern camps would have been not just impossible but also inconceivable, without the retrogressive paradigmatic shift towards a Sinhala supremacist ethos. If any Tamil can be a Tiger, it makes sense to incarcerate every resident of those Northern districts once under LTTE control, in order to capture a few thousand Tigers.
If most Tamils are prone to Tiger sympathies, trying to win them over makes no sense; it is better to treat them with suspicion and cow them into obedience. An administration which sees a Tiger in almost any Tamil is likely to eschew a political solution to the ethnic problem (or even development) in favour of more soldiers and more weapons, as the best path to peace and stability. The statement by the Chief of Defence Staff, General Sarath Fonseka that the number of security forces personnel deployed in the Jaffna peninsula has been more than doubled from 15.000 to 35,000, post-war, makes sense in this politico-psychological context, as does the declaration by the Defence Secretary that military expenditure for 2010 will remain at 2009 levels (US$1.6 billion). The peace envisioned by the regime is not a peace based on consent but on force.
The country had a glimpse of what abusive authorities do to free Sinhalese in the South (not to mention baby elephants), when they think they can get away with it. If in the South power wielders feel free to abduct and kill until the media and the public intervene, what could not happen in the isolated Northern camps, to unfree Tamils, devoid of any rights, penned like animals, with no media to record their wrongs? The abductors of Nipuna Ramanayake and the killers of the two young men in Angulana are being brought to justice, because of incessant media criticisms and an outbreak of public protest.
But Southern media and Southern society are largely silent about the plight of the Northern displaced, because, where the Tamils are concerned, we seem to be thinking and acting sans a sense of proportion or a measure of humanity. Otherwise how can we not feel a sense of shame about the Northern internment camps or experience a measure of sympathy for the suffering of their inmates? Is our complaisance of rampant injustice and discrimination not a sign that we consent to a peace building premised not on acceptance and tolerance but on fear and force?
The local or international media does not have free access to the internment camps; consequently there are hardly any visuals or eye witness accounts of the human tragedy that is unfolding daily and hourly there, accounts which could have stirred our dormant collective conscience. Without such pictorial or verbal evidence, it is easy for most ordinary, decent Sinhalese to remain unmoved by the abomination that is being perpetrated in their name.
The Tamils outside the camps are too cowed to protest about the plight of their brethren since any such protest is likely to be labelled ‘terrorist’ and treated accordingly - imagine how an ‘Angulana type’ popular protest in Wellawatte would be reacted to by this administration. Given the Sinhala supremacist ethos currently dominant in state and society, being branded a Tiger is a permanent sword of Damocles hanging over the heads of every Tamil.
Two arguments are being used to justify the Northern internment camps. The ‘humanitarian’ argument is that the inmates cannot return to their villages until the de-mining process is complete. This argument does not hold water, as these people have been living in their villages, amidst the land mines, for a long time. Most of them would know where the land mines are and how to avoid them. In any case, the solution is to give the displaced a choice – so that those who want to return can do so, while those who are willing to wait for the de-mining to be complete can stay in the camps (plus permit those who can, to go to friends and relatives outside the camps).
Had such a choice been given, the camps would have truly become the welfare villages the state claims them to be, rather than the open prisons they actually are. The second, ‘national security’ argument is that the displaced have to be kept in camps until the Tigers hiding amidst them can be weeded out. To justify the incarceration of the innocent to catch the guilty, without even the lame excuse of an ongoing war, is an abhorrent act which has no place in a democracy or amongst civilised people, especially in the 21st Century. It violates the very essence of proportionality; it is as extreme as any Tiger crime. Injustices such as these breed resentment and hatred and pave the way for even bloodier conflicts.
As citizens of the de facto Tiger state, Tamils of Killinochchi and Mulaitivu had literally lived in the belly of the beast. They knew the brutal and oppressive reality of Eelam as the Diaspora or even the Colombo Tamils never could. With a little humanity, a little decency, they could have been turned into the most staunch bulwark against the rejuvenation of the LTTE or of Tamil separatism. Instead, we are treating them as enemy aliens, miring them in wretchedness and despair, thereby making them forget the past brutalities of the LTTE. What is being undermined in the Northern internment camps is not Tamil separatism but the idea and the hope of a common Sri Lankan future.
The Southern Dimension
Workers in several key areas, especially the CEB and the Colombo Port, are threatening trade union actions to win their demands, including promised pay hikes. The government has responded with an unequivocal no, saying that wage hikes for the public sector are impossible in 2010, given the high costs of war and the global economic crisis. Will the Sinhalese understand that there cannot be an economic peace dividend for the South without a political peace dividend for the North? If the North is to be treated as occupied territory, if hundreds of thousands of the Northern Tamils are to be kept imprisoned, resources that could have been spent on alleviating the economic burden of Southern masses will have to be spent on subduing the Northern masses. Without demilitarisation and democratisation in the North, there cannot be higher wages or lower prices, better working or living conditions in the South
The regime will need to stoke Sinhala fears about Tiger revival and Tamil expansionism in order to justify not only the treatment of Tamils as ‘Untermenschen’ but also to explain away the expansion of the armed forces and gargantuan military spending, in peace time. Consequently the threat posed by Tiger remnants here and abroad will have to be magnified; and political demands by Tamils for more devolution will have to be depicted as manifestations of separatism, and treated with corresponding harshness. The hair raising discovery by the Colombo Crimes Division (CCD) of an explosive laden van, about to be sent to Colombo on a suicide mission, was dismissed as ‘suspicious and questionable’ less than 24 hours later by the DIG of the Northern Province (and former STF Commandant) Nimal Lewke (incidentally the CCD arrested the van but released its driver!).
Last week, the newly appointed police spokesman was busy, revealing details about a plot to assassinate the Defense Secretary, declaring the reactivation of units, divisions and bureaus established to counter terrorism and related intelligence’ deactivated after the crushing of the LTTE… Are the Tigers, like Lazarus, coming to life miraculously, just three months after they were pronounced conclusively dead? Or is Sri Lanka about to experience her own version of ‘discovery of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs)’ (augmented by a new ‘Naxalite Plot’), in time for the parliamentary polls. Parliamentary polls from which the ruling family is expecting a two thirds majority, so that a Rajapakse Constitution can usher in a Rajapakse era. [Courtesy: The Island]
Monday, August 31, 2009
Liam Fox meets Mahinda Rajapakse, Sampanthan
[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 August 2009, 11:35 GMT]
The government of United Kingdom (UK) is seriously involved in finding a political solution to the legitimate aspirations of Tamils in Sri Lanka and the early resettlement of the hundreds of thousands of internally displaced as well as ensuring a better future for them, Mr. Liam Fox, British Conservative Party parliamentarian, is reported to have told President Mahinda Rajapakse when he met the latter on Saturday.
Liam Fox also met the parliamentary group leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) R. Sampanthan later the same day and conveyed the outcome of the talks of he had had with President Rajapakse, the sources said.
Liam Fox had told Mr.Sampanthan that he had briefed the President during his talks that the legitimate rights of Tamil people should be safeguarded and the IDPs now being held in Vavuniyaa camps should be resettled in their own villages without any delay and that UK is prepared to assist Sri Lanka in this regard.
Liam Fox assured R. Sampanthan that his party would contribute its maximum for the betterment of Tamils in Sri Lanka and it would work hard to see Tamils live with dignity if it comes to power.
Meanwhile, R. Sampanthan is said to have briefed Liam Fox and sought his assistance to exert pressure on the Government of Sri Lanka to resettle all IDPs now languishing in the internment camps in Vavuniyaa without any further delay.
The government of United Kingdom (UK) is seriously involved in finding a political solution to the legitimate aspirations of Tamils in Sri Lanka and the early resettlement of the hundreds of thousands of internally displaced as well as ensuring a better future for them, Mr. Liam Fox, British Conservative Party parliamentarian, is reported to have told President Mahinda Rajapakse when he met the latter on Saturday.
Liam Fox also met the parliamentary group leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) R. Sampanthan later the same day and conveyed the outcome of the talks of he had had with President Rajapakse, the sources said.
Liam Fox had told Mr.Sampanthan that he had briefed the President during his talks that the legitimate rights of Tamil people should be safeguarded and the IDPs now being held in Vavuniyaa camps should be resettled in their own villages without any delay and that UK is prepared to assist Sri Lanka in this regard.
Liam Fox assured R. Sampanthan that his party would contribute its maximum for the betterment of Tamils in Sri Lanka and it would work hard to see Tamils live with dignity if it comes to power.
Meanwhile, R. Sampanthan is said to have briefed Liam Fox and sought his assistance to exert pressure on the Government of Sri Lanka to resettle all IDPs now languishing in the internment camps in Vavuniyaa without any further delay.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
සිංහල ජනමාධ්ය පිළිබඳ පශ්චාත් මරණ පරීක්ෂණයක්
මෙම ලිපිය ‘දියැස’ 1998 සැප්-ඔක්. කලාපයේ පල වූවකි.
එහි ලියැවී ඇති දෑ අදටද සිහියට ගැනීම වැදගත්ය. එබැවින් අපි එය මෙහි පලකරමු.
අද පවතින යුද්ධයට පසුබිම් වූ හා යුද්ධය තුළ ම වර්ධනය වූ අවසන් දශකය තුළ සිදුවීම් සිංහල ජනමාධ්යන් හි වාර්තා වූ ආකාරයේ ඇති ජාතිවාදී හා කුහක පිළිවෙත හෙළිදරව් කිරීමට සිද්ධි වාචික ප්රවේශයක් ලෙසින් මෙම කටු සටහන ලියා තබමි. අපි අපේ හෘද සාක්ෂියේ දෝෂාරෝපණයෙන් මිදීමට මෙසේ ලියා තබා අත පිහිදා ගන්නට කරන හීතල උත්සහයන් අතර තුරදී මිනිස් දූවිලි බවට පත් කෙරෙන දැවැන්ත ඛේදවාචකයක් අපෙන් ‘ඈත’ උතුරු නැගෙනහිර දිග හැරෙමින් පවතී. මෙහි දක්වා ඇති තෝරා ගත් සිද්ධි කීපයේ අපට වාර්තා නොවූ පසුබිම් ප්රවෘත්තිය බොහෝ සිදුවීම් වල පොදු සාරාංශයක් ලෙස ද මම අදහමි.
1.
මීට දශකයකටත් පෙර (1998 න් දශකයකටත් පෙර) ත්රීකුණාමලයේ හෝ වැලිඔය දී සාම්ප්රදායික දෙමළ ගම්මානවලින් පවුල් පිටින් පන්නා දමා, දකුණේ සිරගෙවල් තුළ සිටි සිංහල සිවිල් අපරාධකරුවන්ට පොදු සමාවක් දී එම ගම්මානවල පදිංචි කොට (ඔවුන් දැන සිටි කර්මාන්තයක් නොමැති විට) අවට දෙමළ ගම්මාන වලින් ම මංකොල්ලකන්නට ද පසුබිම සකසා ලූ නිධාන කථාව නොසලකා හැර සියල්ලේ අවසන් ඵලය වූ කෙන්ට් ෆාම් හා ඩොලර් ෆාම් නම් වූ ගම්මාන වෙත එල්ල වූ එල්.ටී.ටී.ඊ. ප්රහාරය පමණක් වියුක්ත කොට දැක්වීම.
2.
ආණ්ඩුවේ හමුවදාව විසින් වැල්වැටිතුරෙයි දී දෙමළ ගම්මානයකට පහර දී සිවිල් වැසියන් සියයක් පමණ මරා දැමූ පසුබිම් කථාව නොමැතිව ඊට පලි ගැනීම වශයෙන් එල්.ටී.ටී.ඊ ය අනුරාධපුර පූජා භූමියට එල්ල කළ ප්රහාරය පමණක් සිංහල සමාජයට සන්නිවේදනය කිරීම.
3.
උතුරේ නවාලි පල්ලියේ වූ අනාථ කදවුරට ගුවනින් එල්ල කළ ප්රහාරයෙන් එහි සිටි දමිළ ළමුන් හා මවුවරෙුන් 224 ක් ඝාතනය කිරීමේ සිද්ධිය අමතක කොට මහනුවර දළදාවට පහරදීම පමණක් වාර්තා කිරීම.
4.
අගනුවර දී එල්.ටී.ටී.ඊ. ප්රහාරයෙන් මියගිය සිංහල සිවිල් වැසියන් පිළිබඳව පමණක් කම්පා වී, ගුවන් හමුදාවේ Y8 යානය බිම හෙළන තුරු එමඟින් උතුරට බැරල් බෝම්බ 13200 ක් හෙලූ බවත් ජීවිතාරක්ෂාව පතා අනාරක්ෂිතව මුහුදු යාත්රාවලින් ඉන්දියාව බලා පලා යත්දී නාවික හමුදා ප්රහාරයන්ගෙන් හා මුහුදු කුණාටු වලින් ජීවිත අහිමි වූ දහස් ගණනක් දෙමළ වැසියන් ගේ ඛේදවාචකය සිංහල සමාජය නොදන්නා බව වාර්තා නොවීම.
අවසන් විග්රහයේ දී, ගෞරවනීය පුරවැසිනයෙකු ලෙස මේ පොළොවේ ජීවත්වීමට දෙමළ ජනයාට ඇති අයිතිය නොපිළිගැනීම හා ඒ වෙනුවෙන් ඔවුන් ප්රථමයෙන් කල සාමාකාමී හා ගාන්ධිවාදී උද්ඝෝෂණ එවකට පැවැති ආණ්ඩු හා ජාතිවාදඛීන් විසින් පොඩි පට්ටම් කරනු ලැබීමේ අනිවාර්්ය ඵලය ලෙසින් මේ සමස්තය ඊයේත්, අදත්, හෙටත් අපි අත් විඳිමු.
p-39
තාරක වරාපිටිය
‘දියැස’ සඟරාව / 1998 සැප්තැම්බර්-ඔක්තෝබර් කලාපය
Dolphin Van Scare in Vavuniya Camps
Displaced Tamil people are being daily abducted from camps in Vavuniya by people who come in vans, a displaced person told the BBC.
Speaking with BBC Sandeshaya from a camp for internally displaced people (IDP) in Vavuniya, the IDP said all the displaced try to hide in their tents as the 'Dolphin vans' arrive in the camps.
"We do not know what exactly happens as everybody hides as soon as they see the vans. But I know that two to three people are disappearing daily," he said.
Some IDPs may also be secretly leaving the camps by paying the authorities, he said.
"Some people have suddenly disappeared. I don't know whether they were abducted or left with the help of the authorities."
Meeting relatives
Those who have been already identified as LTTE operatives are sometimes helping the security officials to recognize those who have earlier supported the LTTE, according to the man.
The Tamil man who did not want to be identified due to fear for his safety said they are only allowed to meet relatives separated by a barbed wire fence.
"There are special tents outside the camps to meet the relatives. They are not allowed to touch anybody as both parties have to stay five metres away from the fence. If they need to hand over something, biscuits, fruits, etc, they have to throw it over the fence."
Three meals are provided in the camps, he said, but as the food is prepared for thousands of people at once, they are unpalatable.
When food is delivered the IDPs have to stay in queues for more than an hour, depending upon the camp, to get their quota of meals or dry food.
As the rainfall continues, he said, it is very difficult to live in the camps due to floodwaters and bad smell from the lavatories that have overflown.
The IDP says that it might even take about three years for the authorities to resettle all the displaced at the current pace.
Nearly 300,000 IDPs are held by the authorities in different camps in Vavuniya.
Speaking with BBC Sandeshaya from a camp for internally displaced people (IDP) in Vavuniya, the IDP said all the displaced try to hide in their tents as the 'Dolphin vans' arrive in the camps.
"We do not know what exactly happens as everybody hides as soon as they see the vans. But I know that two to three people are disappearing daily," he said.
Some IDPs may also be secretly leaving the camps by paying the authorities, he said.
"Some people have suddenly disappeared. I don't know whether they were abducted or left with the help of the authorities."
Meeting relatives
Those who have been already identified as LTTE operatives are sometimes helping the security officials to recognize those who have earlier supported the LTTE, according to the man.
The Tamil man who did not want to be identified due to fear for his safety said they are only allowed to meet relatives separated by a barbed wire fence.
"There are special tents outside the camps to meet the relatives. They are not allowed to touch anybody as both parties have to stay five metres away from the fence. If they need to hand over something, biscuits, fruits, etc, they have to throw it over the fence."
Three meals are provided in the camps, he said, but as the food is prepared for thousands of people at once, they are unpalatable.
When food is delivered the IDPs have to stay in queues for more than an hour, depending upon the camp, to get their quota of meals or dry food.
As the rainfall continues, he said, it is very difficult to live in the camps due to floodwaters and bad smell from the lavatories that have overflown.
The IDP says that it might even take about three years for the authorities to resettle all the displaced at the current pace.
Nearly 300,000 IDPs are held by the authorities in different camps in Vavuniya.
Media 'responsible' for police abuses
Victims of abuses and media activists have accused polarised media of partly responsible for the alleged serious abuses by the police and security forces.
The public in the south have reacted very angrily after recent incidents of two young people dying while in police custody in Angulana, Moratuwa and a brutal assault on a student in Malabe.
The wife and the son of the former director of Colombo Crime Division, and a group of police officers are accused of abducting and brutally assaulting Nipuna Ramanayake, a young IT student.
At least 18 police personnel and the family members of Senior Superintendant of Police (SSP) Vaas Gunawardena are currently detained in custody.
Sinhala language newspapers and electronic media have widely publicised the recent abuses by the police in the south.
“I don’t think it is the police to be accused,” Chandana Sirimalwatta, the editor of Lanka Sinhala weekly told BBC Sandeshaya.
“The government, including the head of state, has been giving out signals to the police to the effect that they won’t be punished for any abuse.”
However, many media activists are of the view that media, Sinhala nationalist newspapers in particular, are also responsible for the breakdown of law and order in the south.
'Terrorism' vs 'democracy'
“During the war between the government forces and the LTTE, nationalist Sinhala media spread the ideology that all Tamils are LTTE supporters,” says Rohitha Bashana Abeywardene.
Mr. Abeywardena is the spokesman for the Journalist for Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDS), a recently formed exiled media workers' organisation.
“When five Tamil students were killed in January 2006, Sinhala media either tried not to report the incident or to portray the victims as LTTE supporters.”
Dr. Manoharan, father of one of the young victims in Trincomalee, agrees.
“I don’t think media in the south did justice to my son,” he told BBC Sinhala service.
Irida Lanka, a newspaper affiliated with Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), has been very supportive of the government’s military offensive against the LTTE.
“Our newspaper adopted a policy of supporting the unitary state of Sri Lanka and we could not support any anti-democratic militancy,” says Mr. Sirimalwatta.
“And the security forces were carrying out operations to wipe out terrorism in this country,” he said.
Bindunuwewa massacre
That approach by the Sinhala media outlets, says Sunanda Deshapriya of Free Media Movement (FMM), encouraged security forces and the police to continue their abuses in the south.
“I am very happy that they report the incidents in the south," he said.
"But the same media did not bother to carry a detailed report by the human rights commission that clearly pointed the finger on the police when a group of young Tamils were massacred in Bindunuwewa."
26 young suspected former LTTE members were killed by a mob of a few hundred Sinhalese villagers armed with knives, rods and torches while the inmates were sleeping in Bindunuwewa detention centre in October 2004.
The Sri Lankan Army detachment that was posted there had been withdrawn the previous day, for unknown reasons.
After a years-long investigations and trials, all of the accused, including police officers, were acquitted and released.
Mr. Deshapriya says the attitude by the Sinhala media is a reflection of Tamil media coverage under the LTTE.
Tamil media
“During the ceasefire between the LTTE and the government, we carried out a research in the LTTE-controlled areas,” he said.
“Tamil newspapers were behaving as if no murder was carried out by the LTTE. While the Tamil media was accusing the government for every abuse, the Sinhala media were accusing the government for every murder and abduction.”
Dr. Manoharan says apart from the institutional nationalism, some journalists were intimidated by the parties not to report the truth in a conflict situation.
SS Raja, who accurately reported the killing of five Tamil students according to Dr. Manoharan, was gunned down within few weeks.
The medical doctor who has treated many Sinhala security force personnel in Trincomalee has since fled the country with other family members due to fear for their life.
“I am very sad to hear incidents of police abuses in the south. But if the media in the south accurately reported the killing in Trincomalee, these unfortunate incidents would have been avoided.”
- BBC
The public in the south have reacted very angrily after recent incidents of two young people dying while in police custody in Angulana, Moratuwa and a brutal assault on a student in Malabe.
The wife and the son of the former director of Colombo Crime Division, and a group of police officers are accused of abducting and brutally assaulting Nipuna Ramanayake, a young IT student.
At least 18 police personnel and the family members of Senior Superintendant of Police (SSP) Vaas Gunawardena are currently detained in custody.
Sinhala language newspapers and electronic media have widely publicised the recent abuses by the police in the south.
“I don’t think it is the police to be accused,” Chandana Sirimalwatta, the editor of Lanka Sinhala weekly told BBC Sandeshaya.
“The government, including the head of state, has been giving out signals to the police to the effect that they won’t be punished for any abuse.”
However, many media activists are of the view that media, Sinhala nationalist newspapers in particular, are also responsible for the breakdown of law and order in the south.
'Terrorism' vs 'democracy'
“During the war between the government forces and the LTTE, nationalist Sinhala media spread the ideology that all Tamils are LTTE supporters,” says Rohitha Bashana Abeywardene.
Mr. Abeywardena is the spokesman for the Journalist for Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDS), a recently formed exiled media workers' organisation.
“When five Tamil students were killed in January 2006, Sinhala media either tried not to report the incident or to portray the victims as LTTE supporters.”
Dr. Manoharan, father of one of the young victims in Trincomalee, agrees.
“I don’t think media in the south did justice to my son,” he told BBC Sinhala service.
Irida Lanka, a newspaper affiliated with Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), has been very supportive of the government’s military offensive against the LTTE.
“Our newspaper adopted a policy of supporting the unitary state of Sri Lanka and we could not support any anti-democratic militancy,” says Mr. Sirimalwatta.
“And the security forces were carrying out operations to wipe out terrorism in this country,” he said.
Bindunuwewa massacre
That approach by the Sinhala media outlets, says Sunanda Deshapriya of Free Media Movement (FMM), encouraged security forces and the police to continue their abuses in the south.
“I am very happy that they report the incidents in the south," he said.
"But the same media did not bother to carry a detailed report by the human rights commission that clearly pointed the finger on the police when a group of young Tamils were massacred in Bindunuwewa."
26 young suspected former LTTE members were killed by a mob of a few hundred Sinhalese villagers armed with knives, rods and torches while the inmates were sleeping in Bindunuwewa detention centre in October 2004.
The Sri Lankan Army detachment that was posted there had been withdrawn the previous day, for unknown reasons.
After a years-long investigations and trials, all of the accused, including police officers, were acquitted and released.
Mr. Deshapriya says the attitude by the Sinhala media is a reflection of Tamil media coverage under the LTTE.
Tamil media
“During the ceasefire between the LTTE and the government, we carried out a research in the LTTE-controlled areas,” he said.
“Tamil newspapers were behaving as if no murder was carried out by the LTTE. While the Tamil media was accusing the government for every abuse, the Sinhala media were accusing the government for every murder and abduction.”
Dr. Manoharan says apart from the institutional nationalism, some journalists were intimidated by the parties not to report the truth in a conflict situation.
SS Raja, who accurately reported the killing of five Tamil students according to Dr. Manoharan, was gunned down within few weeks.
The medical doctor who has treated many Sinhala security force personnel in Trincomalee has since fled the country with other family members due to fear for their life.
“I am very sad to hear incidents of police abuses in the south. But if the media in the south accurately reported the killing in Trincomalee, these unfortunate incidents would have been avoided.”
- BBC
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