Another media assassination: A spiraling descent into hell

Another media assassination: A spiraling descent into hell

‘There is absolutely no chance for change towards the better unless the politicians come clean and take the path of statesmanship. As things are today, this is a dream that will never take shape.’
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by Victor Karunairajan

(January 09, Toronto, Sri Lanka Guardian) Terrorism has far too many faces in Sri Lanka. There is hardly any doubt it has come to stay firmly rooted where all pretense of peace and harmony chanted in the halls of temples, churches, mosques and other places of worship have absolutely no meanings.

This tragic state of affairs prevails across the entire Sri Lankan community of Buddhists, Hindus, Christians, Moslems and even atheists and agnostics. We are indeed in hell, a path we sought ever since politicians began to flirt with racism and religious bigotry and made democracy a whorehouse pastime.

A tree is healthy only if it is rooted into good and nourishing soil. Most trees can tolerate unhealthy grounds to some extent and survive, nature having provided the ability for them to overcome such conditions. When certain elements began to emerge on the Sri Lankan political scene flying the flag of intolerance, it was hoped that eventually good sense will prevail and this island nation will become a role model among the newly independent nations leaving behind the dark decades of colonialism.

In geographic situation strategically situated, a beautiful country nature having been extremely benevolent and generous and a land prided in four major religions of the world impacting on its population of friendly, healthy and hard working people and yet ever since independence 1948, this lovely land of ours has spiraled towards the hell of hatred, violence and intolerance.

This is a land where anyone stepping out of the house can straightaway see a temple or a church or a mosque at first sight and where people go regularly to pray, make offerings and commune with their own and with amenities and opportunities for healthy interactions.

But what has happened to Sri Lanka and its people? Why should some people feel that the country belongs to them and the others live their only by their grace? How is it possible to be intolerant towards a community of diverse cultures and aspirations and seek an enriched unity of a Sri Lankan nation? How and why did terrorism take roots in the country beginning in the south and spreading all over the island fast tracked by racial and religious intolerance?

Ignoring our traditional values and the rich heritage, fundamentalist politicians took control of the country treating democratic principles for their evil rides to power instead of a commitment to serve the people. Power begat corruption, extreme pursuit of power, begat extreme corruption and in this evil process, whatever strands that hold and succour democratic traditions began to snap one by one.

Why was it necessary to disfranchise the lowly placed and much exploited plantation works in the hill country? It was the yearning for political power. Why was even Sinhala Only thought about let alone making it a law in the country? It was again an itchy craving for power that demanded setting the majority community against the minorities. Why was it considered necessary to place Buddhism on a pedestal higher than the other religions? Can politicians be the leaders on matters that are religious and did Buddhism need that kind of propping up? Why are Buddhist monks in parliament when they should be in their temples serving the people on the precepts of Buddhism and its moral and ethical principles?

If one focuses on the country’s parliament, a whole set of wrong people are there and have been there too long. They have not addressed themselves to the needs of Sri Lanka and its people and the responsibility to guide a nation towards progress. Corruption certainly has taken very strong roots and a major consequence of it is the hydra-headed monster of intolerance.

It is in such a circumstance, media persons have become the most endangered species in Sri Lanka. There are far too many terrorist forces in Sri Lanka, not just among the people of the north and east even though that force was dictated by the intolerance that was perpetrated on the Tamil community beginning with the Sinhala Only Act.

Terrorism is everywhere in Sri Lanka – every town, every village, every road from south to north and east to west and is practiced as a means to obtain, achieve and procure whatever one desires to which by values moral, ethical and legal one is not entitled. Terrorism is an act of outrage at the zenith of intolerance and in Sri Lanka much is achieved using this as the weapon evidently because law and order has ceased to exist.

The dastardly killing of the Sunday Leader editor Lasantha Wickramatunge yesterday is absolutely intolerable even though it falls into the pattern of far too frequent terror-execution of media personnel in the country. The nation is shocked, the Sri Lankan Diaspora is shaken and stunned and one can safely assume the whole world is staggered by the happenings in Sri Lanka. But very soon Lasantha Wickramatunge will be another piece of horrendous statistics with the future holding no hope whatsoever that this situation will abate.

There is absolutely no chance for change towards the better unless the politicians come clean and take the path of statesmanship. As things are today, this is a dream that will never take shape.

The New Year began with an attack on the MTV/MBC network and then yesterday the chief editor of the English weekly Lasantha Wickramatunge was shot by unknown gunmen, the usual types who seem to operate far too often with impunity for years now, while he was on his way to work at 9 30 AM. Evidently, the killers had known his movements and waited for him to carry out this ghastly and hideous attack.

Media critics of the government and also some of the members of the opposition who are up to no good have been threatened by unsavoury forces that lurk in Colombo and elsewhere especially during the last few years; more since the Government of Mahinda Rajapakse took office. It is also common knowledge that the Sunday Leader editor Mr Wickramatunge and also the editor of the Morning Leader have been continuously harassed and threatened since 2005 in particular over their critical appraisals of the government and the way it was handling the affairs of the country.

In the light of this situation and the killing yesterday of this friendly and courageous journalist, the statement issued by the Cabinet spokesperson Anurapriyadarshana Yapa vehemently condemning the shooting looks quite pathetic. That such a state of affairs is continuing to exist in the country and far too many media people are falling victims of this type of terrorism is most regrettable.

Not just the intolerance to criticism is the issue here but the very fact that such executions could be conducted with impunity is the matter that raises the kind of concerns over which the government evidently has neither the control nor the means to handle it appropriately. The fact that the killing followed within the hours of the attack on the MTV/MBC network reveals a definite pattern of intolerance towards the media that is critical of the government. - Sri Lanka Guardian
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