Monday, 31 December 2007
Ten governance lessons from Mervyn Silva episode
Mervyn Silva, some call him Dr. Mervyn or ‘Modern Dutugemunu’, (hereinafter Mervyn) is a character reflecting in today’s political culture. Politicians, sociologists, anthropologists and many others will try to understand how he operated with impunity for so long. What is attempted here is to identify some governance issues revolving around Mervyn’s political episode leading to a calamity at Rupavahini.
1. Being unhappy with insufficient prominence given in the previous day’s State television news, Mervyn has walked into the Rupavahini premises and assaulted the news editor! This is how today’s politicians understand State media. Mervyn is only one of them. All State media institutions, print or electronic, are engaged in “campaigns” for their political masters. State electronic media has, no doubt, produced good programmes but, they have continuously used news and contemporary programmes for propaganda activities, without any sense of public broadcasting. Boards of Directors are all appointed on political grounds (not on merit) and naturally, the appointing authorities do expect support in return in the form of “full prominence” at State expense.
2. An active media could not only expose these errant politicians but also control them by creating pressure on those who matter. Unfortunately, our polarised media, particularly, State media, did not sufficiently express solidarity previously, when Mervyn physically attacked journalists and private media institutions. The final (Rupavahini) episode has shown that even a polarised media can be united against a common threat, even belatedly. Hats off to the media for giving live pictures of the incident, while showing unconditional solidarity. Now, people expect the media not to give up halfway or allow compromises, short of successful prosecution of Mervyn and his gang, and expulsion from parliament once and for all. It is also important to be prepared to face persecution of Rupavahini staff at the instigation of political arm of the government.
3. Who appointed him to Parliament and then to cabinet? Mervyn has received less than 3000 preferential votes at the last general election. His wife, a National list MP, stepped down to make room for Mervyn to become an MP, after he failed to get elected. Ultimately, a person rejected by the voters was appointed a National list MP by the previous President. This raises a serious issue of the electoral system and how the system is abused by politicians. If the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) stands for democratic values, it is absolutely necessary for them to investigate the appointment of Mervyn as an MP, and take disciplinarily action for his misdemeanor. He could continue with his notorious activities with impunity, because he was appointed a minister and later, party organiser, by the present President. It is the President who is ultimately responsible for keeping him in the cabinet. Mere removal of Mervyn from cabinet at this stage, may only be a political strategy to keep him in politics, but what is required is to take this as a case study with a view to establishing rule of law even against ministers.
4. Who gave him a “Doctorate”? Obviously, those who have conferred him a bogus doctorate must be investigated to find out their expectations in awarding him such an “honour”. Awarding him an honour is certainly another contributory factor for him to continue with his thuggery.
5. No doubt, police had to protect even the suspected political thugs against attacks by unruly crowds. Police protection is at present needed more for the people than for the politicians. The policemen escorting politicians are also entitled to prevent the protected politician from engaging in unlawful activities and if necessary, to arrest them! Silence of the law enforcement officers is a matter of concern. This is probably the result of politicisation of police.
6. While being jubilant over a victory, it is pretty dangerous for the civilian population to think that the public will have more and more opportunities to physically confront politicians.
What is most likely is that opportunist politicians will use this trend to attack political opponents and critics using the unarmed civilians as a strategy. Thus the public should be careful not fall into traps of political parties, while engaging in collective action.
7. What types of bodyguards are used by today’s politicians? There is no screening of bodyguards and it is no secret that army deserters and criminals seek refuge under politicians, without any accountability. They are allegedly used by politicians when they need extra legal support to attack institutions, individuals and opponents. Who pays these thugs and under what accounts? Thus, there is a grave need to identify the aspect of financial irregularity and security threats created as a result of such recruitments.
8. Rupavahini footage shows that Mervyn was using “CC numbered” unregistered vehicles, which is an offence under section 2 of the Motor Traffic Act read with its regulations. He is always accompanied in these vehicles by thugs and protected by policemen; but why no prosecutions? Should not police take actions on this not following the normal law of the country?
9. Gun packing politician had to surrender to unarmed staff of the Rupavahini Corporation! The staff has shown that only spontaneous struggles can be successful in the face of armed political thugs. This also proves that no political ideology or political party leadership is needed to face threats of this nature, whatever the struggle may be. However, the staff needs more protection now than before, because there can be retaliations in the form of interesting investigations, at the instigations of the political masters. In that context, the staff has to be prepared to challenge the politically motivated groups of policemen and other investigations, which will be conducted probably by a set of stooges, handpicked by someone interested in the whole thing.
10. The President and the SLFP have now made statements to the effect that they will take tough action against Mervyn.
The final lesson to learn is not to take politicians’ public announcements seriously, until action is taken. It was also reported that the President had found fault with Rupavahini for giving undue publicity to Mervyn Silva’s issue! Among the possibilities are Mervyn being excluded (or being dropped half way), in a possible prosecution, unless there is a vigilant monitoring of the entire judicial process. Whether ‘B’ reports filed by police will contain true statement of facts is another issue because, it is alleged that he managed to substitute ‘B’ reports in his son’s case. This is a question of rule of law!
The above issues emphasise the need to have a fuller and comprehensive analysis of the situation rather than taking Mervyn’s Rupavahini episode in isolation.
Source
By J.C. Weliamuna
the Nation on Sunday..
1. Being unhappy with insufficient prominence given in the previous day’s State television news, Mervyn has walked into the Rupavahini premises and assaulted the news editor! This is how today’s politicians understand State media. Mervyn is only one of them. All State media institutions, print or electronic, are engaged in “campaigns” for their political masters. State electronic media has, no doubt, produced good programmes but, they have continuously used news and contemporary programmes for propaganda activities, without any sense of public broadcasting. Boards of Directors are all appointed on political grounds (not on merit) and naturally, the appointing authorities do expect support in return in the form of “full prominence” at State expense.
2. An active media could not only expose these errant politicians but also control them by creating pressure on those who matter. Unfortunately, our polarised media, particularly, State media, did not sufficiently express solidarity previously, when Mervyn physically attacked journalists and private media institutions. The final (Rupavahini) episode has shown that even a polarised media can be united against a common threat, even belatedly. Hats off to the media for giving live pictures of the incident, while showing unconditional solidarity. Now, people expect the media not to give up halfway or allow compromises, short of successful prosecution of Mervyn and his gang, and expulsion from parliament once and for all. It is also important to be prepared to face persecution of Rupavahini staff at the instigation of political arm of the government.
3. Who appointed him to Parliament and then to cabinet? Mervyn has received less than 3000 preferential votes at the last general election. His wife, a National list MP, stepped down to make room for Mervyn to become an MP, after he failed to get elected. Ultimately, a person rejected by the voters was appointed a National list MP by the previous President. This raises a serious issue of the electoral system and how the system is abused by politicians. If the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) stands for democratic values, it is absolutely necessary for them to investigate the appointment of Mervyn as an MP, and take disciplinarily action for his misdemeanor. He could continue with his notorious activities with impunity, because he was appointed a minister and later, party organiser, by the present President. It is the President who is ultimately responsible for keeping him in the cabinet. Mere removal of Mervyn from cabinet at this stage, may only be a political strategy to keep him in politics, but what is required is to take this as a case study with a view to establishing rule of law even against ministers.
4. Who gave him a “Doctorate”? Obviously, those who have conferred him a bogus doctorate must be investigated to find out their expectations in awarding him such an “honour”. Awarding him an honour is certainly another contributory factor for him to continue with his thuggery.
5. No doubt, police had to protect even the suspected political thugs against attacks by unruly crowds. Police protection is at present needed more for the people than for the politicians. The policemen escorting politicians are also entitled to prevent the protected politician from engaging in unlawful activities and if necessary, to arrest them! Silence of the law enforcement officers is a matter of concern. This is probably the result of politicisation of police.
6. While being jubilant over a victory, it is pretty dangerous for the civilian population to think that the public will have more and more opportunities to physically confront politicians.
What is most likely is that opportunist politicians will use this trend to attack political opponents and critics using the unarmed civilians as a strategy. Thus the public should be careful not fall into traps of political parties, while engaging in collective action.
7. What types of bodyguards are used by today’s politicians? There is no screening of bodyguards and it is no secret that army deserters and criminals seek refuge under politicians, without any accountability. They are allegedly used by politicians when they need extra legal support to attack institutions, individuals and opponents. Who pays these thugs and under what accounts? Thus, there is a grave need to identify the aspect of financial irregularity and security threats created as a result of such recruitments.
8. Rupavahini footage shows that Mervyn was using “CC numbered” unregistered vehicles, which is an offence under section 2 of the Motor Traffic Act read with its regulations. He is always accompanied in these vehicles by thugs and protected by policemen; but why no prosecutions? Should not police take actions on this not following the normal law of the country?
9. Gun packing politician had to surrender to unarmed staff of the Rupavahini Corporation! The staff has shown that only spontaneous struggles can be successful in the face of armed political thugs. This also proves that no political ideology or political party leadership is needed to face threats of this nature, whatever the struggle may be. However, the staff needs more protection now than before, because there can be retaliations in the form of interesting investigations, at the instigations of the political masters. In that context, the staff has to be prepared to challenge the politically motivated groups of policemen and other investigations, which will be conducted probably by a set of stooges, handpicked by someone interested in the whole thing.
10. The President and the SLFP have now made statements to the effect that they will take tough action against Mervyn.
The final lesson to learn is not to take politicians’ public announcements seriously, until action is taken. It was also reported that the President had found fault with Rupavahini for giving undue publicity to Mervyn Silva’s issue! Among the possibilities are Mervyn being excluded (or being dropped half way), in a possible prosecution, unless there is a vigilant monitoring of the entire judicial process. Whether ‘B’ reports filed by police will contain true statement of facts is another issue because, it is alleged that he managed to substitute ‘B’ reports in his son’s case. This is a question of rule of law!
The above issues emphasise the need to have a fuller and comprehensive analysis of the situation rather than taking Mervyn’s Rupavahini episode in isolation.
Source
By J.C. Weliamuna
the Nation on Sunday..
Will it be over.. in 2008?
Sri Lanka's top military commanders have vowed to win the decades-old war against Tamil separatists in the new year, a state-run daily said.
Army chief Sarath Fonseka said he hoped government forces would be able to dislodge the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) from the line of bunkers guarding their de facto mini-state in the north of the island.
"We can bring the war against the LTTE to a turning point once we are able to destroy the LTTE capabilities to operate in bunkers and forward defence lines," Fonseka was quoted as saying in the Daily News.
The paper also quoted both navy chief Wasantha Karannagoda and air force commander Roshan Gunatilleke as saying they were "confident" of defeating the Tigers in the new year.
The LTTE has been leading a drawn-out campaign for an independent homeland for the island's ethnic Tamil minority since 1972. More than 60,000 people have been killed in the conflict.
Karannagoda said the guerrillas were starved of supplies after the navy sank their fleet of gun-running ships in 2007, but the rebels continued to receive some items from neighbouring India.
"The arms and ammunition they receive at present come only across the Palk Straits from Tamil Nadu" in southern India, the paper quoted Karannagoda as saying.
Government forces wrested control over the east of the island in July, and have since focused attention on dismantling the mini-state in the northern Wanni region.
"The Tri-Forces commanders yesterday expressed confidence that 2008 would be a decisive year in their effort of eliminating terrorism... they were already on course towards accomplishing this task," the Daily News said.
On Sunday, the state-run Sunday Observer said the military planned to "eliminate" the Tamil Tigers -- and their estimated 3,000-strong army -- in the next six months.
And on Saturday the brother of the island's President Mahinda Rajapakse and its powerful defence secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapakse, said the government should formally pull out of a now-moribund truce brokered by Norway in 2002.
The ceasefire, he said, has "become a joke."
The air force carried out strikes against rebel-held territory in the north on Monday, following heavy clashes at the weekend, military officials said.
The defence ministry said troops killed at least 33 members of the LTTE and wounded another 38 in the latest battles in the district of Mannar. The ministry placed its own losses at six soldiers wounded, but the Tigers said they had killed at least 20 government soldiers and wounded another 40.
Both sides regularly make sharply differing claims about the number of casualties and independent verification is rarely possible. Journalists are not allowed into rebel-held areas in the north.
AFPSunday, 30 December 2007
Why is it so difficult..?
The SLFP is sharply divided over action against National List MP Mervin Silva who now faces the prospect of being produced in the Colombo Magistrate’s Court over last Thursday’s raid on Rupavahini where he was roughly dealt with.
While a section of the SLFP wants Silva to be prosecuted for leading an attack on a public institution, an influential section has disagreed, The Sunday Island learns.
Silva finished last in preferential vote terms on the party’s Colombo District list at the last parliamentary election but was appointed on the National List.
``He should be dealt with,’’ a serving minister who defected from the UNP said. ``The whole country wants it.’’
For over four hours, the government lost control of the station, an official said. Had that happened in any other country that would have signaled a military coup or a political take-over.
Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa during a meeting of the National Security Council had made this point. We learn that the government also expressed concern over the failure of law enforcement authorities to bring the situation under control for over four hours.
Police brass had acted blindly in an explosive situation with the army contributing to the mess, the sources said. It was case of law enforcers trying to negotiate with several hundred persons, the sources said.
"Take Mervin out of the picture and you get a different scene. The fact is that a minister was held hostage for over four hours in one of the most important public institutions," a senior official said. ``The rescue attempt was botched due to inept handling.’’
Although, the UNP Thursday night demanded that Silva be stripped of his ministerial portfolio and be prosecuted, the UNP, during its last tenure did nothing to discipline its members with pistol packing politicians and their sons allowed to run amok, government sources said on grounds of anonymity.
The SLFP had Silva’s wife on its National List, with some analysts saying that this was to guarantee then President Chandrika Kumaratunga of a seat in parliament if she wanted one under a new dispensation. In the event, Mrs. Mary Lucinda Silva gave her place to her husband.
SLFP General Secretary Maithripala Sirisena on Friday lashed out at Silva but by innuendo. Sirisena who had publicly advocated a tough stand against trouble-makers acknowledged that the top must set an example. Discipline, he asserted, should be restored from top to bottom and not the other way round.
Political sources said that the vast majority of the government parliamentary group wanted President Mahinda Rajapaksa to take disciplinary action against Silva and allow the Colombo Police to prosecute him but the boorish MP’s backers have made a strong case for him.
"The SLFP’s Kelaniya organizer (Silva) has influential associates," a senior public official said on condition of anonymity. ``Had the police been given a free hand, they wouldn’t have messed up the case.’’
He agreed that the local police made an obvious bid to shield the MP resulting in Colombo’s Chief Magistrate, Mr. Mohammed Macky, slamming the police for poor handling of the controversial case.
Referring to the MP’s conduct, Elmore M. Perera, President of the Organisation of Professional Associations (OPA) said, "What can you expect from a pig but a grunt."
The former Surveyor General who practiced law post-retirement, and is widely respected for his independence, noted that this was not an isolated incident. He accused the government and the top SLFP leadership of turning a blind eye to the despicable conduct of political ruffians. In fact, they, too, should be equally blamed for the general breakdown of law and order in the country, he said.
The state-controlled media too is divided over its handling of the issue. State media gurus have meekly accepted a political order that the incident should be played down. Rupavahini Chairman Ariyaratne Atugala during Thursday’s fracas called for a ``peaceful settlement.’’
A section of Rupavahini workers have accused him of siding with his political bosses who are only interested in protecting the likes of Silva. The government has directed the state media, both print and electronic, to play down the incident.
The footage of the incident had been taken by police to prevent Rupavahini from beaming it while senior management `white washers’ had taken action to censor the reports on the incident as the government wanted the story to die a natural death.
"This is nothing but censorship," a spokesman for Free Media Movement said.
ITN’s main news bulletin on Friday gave the incident which raged for hours exposure of a few seconds. Rupavahini was no better.
Media organisations accused the government of trying to portray Thursday’s violent protest against Silva as an UNP inspired campaign against the government. They said that Rupavahini’s decision to go live and invite rival media organisations, particularly Sirasa, had angered political bosses.
The JHU expressed its solidarity with Rupavahini workers on Friday when it joined a protest outside the station. The party’s decision may have been influenced by Silva’s attack on Ven. Kolonnawe Sumangala in Parliament on the day the Speaker was elected. Ven. Sumangala quit active politics immediately after that.
Police said that the arrest of a double murder suspect Mestriyage Don Nuwan Udaya Gunatilake of Nagahamulla, Kolonnawa who accompanied Silva and the presence of an influential Colombo Municipal Councillor believed to be one of the richest men in the country, besides Silva revealed the unholy alliance. The councilor tried to cover his face, but cameramen had managed to video him.
Although Silva’s gang had been armed and Silva himself was alleged to have carried a weapon and displayed it in Rupavahini Chairman’s room, police appeared to have ignored that fact.
The Island
Friday, 28 December 2007
"Tremendous victory" for media in the country
A Sri Lankan judge reprimanded police for failing to thoroughly investigate a minister who sparked a riot at the state-run television channel after allegedly assaulting a journalist.
Colombo Chief Magistrate Mohamed Macky said he was not happy with a police report into Thursday's alleged assault by Labour Minister Mervin Silva of a news editor.
Silva was rescued by commandos after being seized and pushed into an office by angry journalists in a drama played out live on nationwide television.
"If I approve the report filed by the police, people will stone us," the judge said, warning police to be impartial and probe the case fully without taking the side of the minister.
He asked the police to properly investigate the incident and report back on January 11.
Footage broadcast live over the state television channel showed army officers and police escorting Silva out of the Rupavahini television station where he and his bodyguards allegedly beat up the news editor.
Silva was forced to apologise to the staff in the presence of an army of cameramen and press photographers on Thursday.
Dozens of journalists working for the state media held a demonstration outside their station on Friday expressing fears that there would be a witch-hunt and mass sackings following Thursday's rioting.
A local rights group, the Free Media Movement (FMM), said the images on state television showed the "arrogance of politicians" as well as a decline in public confidence in law and order.
The state television station reported that Silva had been upset that it had not broadcast a speech the politician made at a public rally attended by President Mahinda Rajapakse in the south of the island on Wednesday.
Rupavahini television's unprecedented live coverage of the minister's detention was the first such unrest at the station since its launch in 1982.
The station said the drama was a "tremendous victory" for media in the country.
(AFP)
military victories will pave the way for a political settlement
Sri Lanka's army drove Tamil rebels from bases in the northwest after President Mahinda Rajapaksa said military victories will pave the way for a political settlement to the issue of Tamil separatism.
After a day of fighting yesterday with units of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, soldiers overran six bunkers as they advanced in the Narikkulama area in Mannar district, the Defense Ministry said on its Web site. Navy units killed more than 40 so-called Sea Tiger rebels and destroyed 11 boats in a battle near the port of Jaffna two days ago.
``A political solution is viable only after terrorism is wiped out,'' Rajapaksa said in a speech, according to the government's Web site. ``The LTTE should now realize that they should abandon the path'' that deprived Tamils of their rights.
The LTTE has been fighting for a separate homeland in the South Asian island nation for the past 24 years, in a conflict that has killed 70,000 people. The military has targeted its bases and its leaders after capturing the eastern region in July, leaving the group in control of areas only in the north.
The LTTE should abandon its armed struggle and return to peace talks, Rajapaksa said in a Dec. 26 speech, according to the government's Web site.
``The LTTE should realize that they cannot solve problems by means of war and pointing guns at us,'' he said in the speech. ``Military victories will surely pave the way to push the LTTE to seek a political solution.'' The Defense Ministry carried his comments, citing Sri Lankan media.
Advance Repulsed
At least five LTTE members died in yesterday's fighting, the ministry said. The Tamil Tigers said their forces repulsed an army advance at Mukamaalai near Jaffna yesterday, killing three soldiers, TamilNet reported in its Web site. There were no LTTE casualties in the clash, the group said.
Air force jets destroyed a training camp for the Sea Tigers near Mullaitivu in the northeast yesterday.
The government said last week it has information that rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran was wounded in an air raid last month on the group's headquarters at Kilinochchi in the north.
The LTTE, designated a terrorist organization by the U.S., the European Union and India, has a force of about 12,000 fighters as well as its estimated 4,000-strong Sea Tigers unit.
The government held two rounds of peace talks with the LTTE in Geneva last year without making any progress, resulting in an increase in fighting in the northern and eastern regions.
Regional Autonomy
Rajapaksa's government, which has pledged to rebuild the Eastern Province and hold elections there next year, says it is prepared to devolve some powers to regions. It rejects any settlement that would divide the country of 20 million people where Tamils make up 11.9 percent of the population and Sinhalese almost 74 percent, according to the 2001 census.
Rajapaksa, in his Nov. 7 budget speech, vowed to ``eradicate'' terrorism in the country and increased defense spending by 19 percent to help combat the insurgency.
Sri Lanka may re-impose a ban on the LTTE that was lifted in 2002 if the rebels carry out more attacks, such as a parcel bombing in Colombo last month that killed 19 civilians, the president said last week.
The ban was lifted in an attempt to boost peace talks between the Tamil Tigers and the government of then prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe that led to the signing of a 2002 cease-fire accord.
``Our aim is an honorable peace,'' Rajapaksa said two days ago. ``We will not bow down before terrorism in that effort.''
Dec. 28 (Bloomberg)
Little Too late..
The Sri Lanka Freedom Party in a press statement condemned the actions of Minister Mervyn Silva and his men at the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC) yesterday where he allegedly intimidated its news director.
SLFP Secretary General Maithripala Sirisena said that he would not approve of actions of this nature at any cost.
The unfolding drama was telecast live, unedited, by the SLRC itself and several other networks. A senior minister said this was indicative of the Government’s commitment towards press freedom. “No blackout was imposed.” He said the authorities also did not use force to disperse the crowds.
The incident took place at 10 a.m. when Minister Silva stormed into the news department of the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation, reportedly with some of his personal bodyguards, to confront the Corporation’s News Director T.M.G. Chandrasekera over not telecasting his voice cut through Rupavahini, sources at Rupavahini Corporation said.
Chandrasekera said Silva and his men physically assaulted him after entering his department stating he would oust him from Rupavahini Corporation for not telecasting his (Mervin Silva’s) voice cut at a meeting in Matara.
“I went to our chairman’s office upon being threatened and assaulted by Minister Silva and his men, who came and dragged me from the chairman’s office,” he said.
Silva later went into the Chairman’s room, which was surrounded by employees. He was escorted out of SLRC by senior Army and Police officials after expressing regret. Media Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardane was at the scene, urging employees to remain calm. He condemned the incident.
Cinnamon Gardens Police have launched an investigation into the incident Minister Silva admitted himself to Merchant Ward of the Colombo National Hospital after he was manhandled by SLRC employees.
Daily News..
People should not be affraid of their goverment... It must be the other way around..
Media history was created in Sri Lanka yesterday when a minister of the government Dr. Mervin Silva with a group of others were held in captivity by the employees of the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation for a number of hours while the police and the army were called in to rescue them. For the first time the employees of a state media institution took control of their institution and telecast live the incidents taking place within it without any interference from the government.
The Rupavahini news room in an unedited news telecast said controversial Labour Minister, Dr. Mervin Silva along with a group of goons had assaulted the News Director of the Rupavahini Corporation T. M. G. Chandrasekara and dragged him to the Chairman’s office yesterday (27) morning when the staff of the corporation in their numbers surrounded Silva and kept him under ‘citizen arrest’ without allowing him to leave the premises.
For the first time the Sri Lanka Rupavahini TV channel telecast scenes of the Minister under arrest by its employees and the battered News Director being given the support of his fellow employees after one of the ugliest incidents involving a government politico. Shots of minister Silva too were telecast showing employees who had surrounded him keeping him under arrest.
Live telecast
The Rupavahini TV channel interrupted its normal programs of the day to give a live telecast of what was happening inside till almost 2.00 p.m, after the incident was first reported around 10.30 in the morning. When the police who were called in were unable to bring normality to the corporation army units too were called in. Since the employees were in a very angry mood the police and the army personnel had to struggle hard to keep them from going berserk.
Silva had come with a group of goons to the Rupavahini Corporation and questioned the News Director T. M. G. Chandrasekara why the speech he made at Matara when President Mahinda Rajapaksa opened the Mahanama Bridge had not been telecast by the Rupavahini channel.
Thereafter the goons that accompanied Silva had assaulted Chandrasekara and Silva had dragged him by the collar to the office of the Chairman. When Chandrasekara came out of the Chairman’s office one of Silva’s bodyguards had hit him again the Rupavahini presenter said on a special news bulletin telecast several times yesterday morning.
Most of the other TV channels also telecast the news about Mervin Silva being involved in the incident of violence and being arrested by the Rupavahini staff. Later in the day, the staff of the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation adjoining the Rupavahini protested against the assault on Chandrasekara.
Continued hooting from the employees demanded a public apology to Chadrasekara by Silva and the arrest of the goons responsible for the assault. The Rupavahini Corporation was controlled by the staff from the moment they became aware of the assault of their News Director. Continued news bulletins were telecast on the insistence of the staff though the bureaucrats had earlier disallowed it.
Minister of Media Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena visited the Rupavahini to solve the crisis situation while the employees demanded the goons be arrested.
The minister who condemned the assault on Chandrasekara said those responsible will be arrested by the police and legal action taken. One of the goons were arrested and handcuffed by the police who arrived at the corporation.
Media Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa said he condemned the incident with disgust while the General Secretary of the SLFP Minister Maithripala Sirisena said it was a very ugly incident and he condemned it. The SLFP Central Committee will meet on January 2, 2008 and a complete report submitted to the committee and action taken. No one should be allowed to threaten or otherwise oppress media institutions or journalists and anyone responsible for such acts should be punished.
News Director Chandrasekara told ‘The Island’ that Mervin Silva who came to his office with some thugs assaulted and dragged him to the office of the Chairman threatened to smash and the corporation to pieces. Silva had said he would smash the corporation premises if Chandrasekara was not removed from office.
He said he had lodged a complaint with the Kurunduwatte police regarding the assault on him.
Angry employees of the Rupavahini and SLBC converged into the area where Mervin Silva was hiding in the premises demanding an apology from him. Finally with the greatest difficulty the police and army personnel brought him before the protesting employees. Silva said he was sorry if he had done anything wrong but most of what he said could not be heard due to boos of the employees.
Finally the police personnel managed to take Silva to a vehicle amidst more jeers and catcalls and was taken away under heavy escort while riot squads with tear gas and water hose stood by outside the Rupavahini premises.
Minister Dr. Mervin Silva contested the last general election as a candidate of the SLFP for the Colombo district polling the lowest number of votes and was not elected to Parliament but he was later nominated to Parliament under the SLFP national list.
A newcomer to parliamentary politics he was at one time a member of the UNP but crossed over to join the SLFP during the Chandrika Kumaratunga regime. At present he is the non-cabinet minister of labour.(Divaina)
Tuesday, 25 December 2007
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka: According to Sri Lankan Milatary, Sri Lankan soldiers killed 14 Tamil separatists in an artillery attack and gunbattles in the embattled northeast on Tuesday.
Troops stationed along the northern front line in Pokkaravai village, Vavuniya district, came under heavy mortar fire by Tamil Tiger rebels Monday, a Defense Ministry official said. Troops repelled the attack with artillery fire, killing two guerrillas, the official on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
The fighting wounded two soldiers, he said.
Separately, nine rebels died in gunbattles in nearby Mannar district, while two were killed in fighting on the northern Jaffna peninsula, he said.
Also Monday, another rebel died in a skirmish in the eastern Ampara district, the official said.
Phone calls to rebel headquarters went unanswered Tuesday.
Both sides often inflate each other's casualty figures while downplaying their own.
Independent verification of the military's claims are impossible as the region is off limits to the media.
Fighting across northern Sri Lanka — where the separatist rebels control a de facto state — has intensified in recent months. The military push is aimed at crushing the separatist movement and ending nearly a quarter-century of war on this Indian Ocean island.
In July, the government announced it had cleared the Tamil Tigers from their former stronghold in the east, though small pockets of resistance remain.
A series of weekend battles along the northern front lines left 41 rebels and three soldiers dead, according to the military.
The rebels began fighting in 1983 to create an independent homeland for ethnic minority Tamils following decades of discrimination under governments controlled by the Sinhalese majority.
More than 70,000 people have been killed in the conflict. A 2002 cease-fire between the Tamil Tigers and the government broke down two years ago.
Source- Herald Tribune
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