Journalists in Sri Lanka expressed fresh fears for their safety today after the headquarters of the country’s biggest privately owned television station was destroyed in an arson attack.
In the latest in a series of attacks against reporters, on Tuesday January 6, over a dozen masked gunmen stormed the premises of Maharajah Televisions Network (MTV) network located just outside the capital, Colombo and threw grenades, shot up equipment with assault rifles and set fire to the main control room.
In recent times the network has been criticised for not giving enough air-time to recent government victories over the rebels, with state-run media outlets accusing it of reporting a suicide attack in Colombo on 2 January, the day the army occupied LTTE’s former administrative capital Kilinochchi, in northern Sri Lanka.
A bomb was thrown at the network's offices just after news of the government victory was broadcast.
Following the attack, Sri Lanka’s Defence Secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapakse, claimed that the television station had in fact staged the attack to win public sympathy, because the Tamil Tigers, which he said the Sirasa station, owned by Maharajah Broadcasting Corporation (MBC), was supporting, were losing the war.
Following the attack, Sri Lanka’s Defence Secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapakse, claimed that the television station had in fact staged the attack to win public sympathy, because the Tamil Tigers, which he said the Sirasa station, owned by Maharajah Broadcasting Corporation (MBC), was supporting, were losing the war.
He said government investigations had conclusively established this. The Defence Secretary, who is also the brother of President Mahinda Rajapakse, made his comments to a state media station, The BBC Sinhala service reported Friday, January 16.
"At this moment Sirasa is the Voice of Tigers. In Colombo Sirasa is the station that represents the LTTE. As we are winning now they have become desperate. Now the Tigers are losing the war, they are seeking public sympathy. That is why they set fire to Sirasa," Rajapakse was quoted as saying.
Claiming a huge compensation from insurance companies was another motive of the attack, he said.
Rajapakse also warned that he would imprison the official from MTV, who gave an interview to the CNN after the attack.
"At this moment Sirasa is the Voice of Tigers. In Colombo Sirasa is the station that represents the LTTE. As we are winning now they have become desperate. Now the Tigers are losing the war, they are seeking public sympathy. That is why they set fire to Sirasa," Rajapakse was quoted as saying.
Claiming a huge compensation from insurance companies was another motive of the attack, he said.
Rajapakse also warned that he would imprison the official from MTV, who gave an interview to the CNN after the attack.
Reporters sans frontiers (RSF), a Paris-based media watchdog, in a press release issued, condemning the attack on MTV said: "Violence and threats against such privately-owned media outlets and journalists trying to impartially report on the conflict must stop," the RSF release said, adding, "[t]he network is one of the country's few, and very popular, independent news sources." Several Sri Lanka Government Ministers and Government owned media have previously charged the network for being not "patriotic" enough in reporting the war between Sri Lanka military and the Liberation Tigers.
Full text of RSF's press release follows:
Government urged to punish violence against independent media outlets after new attack
Reporters Without Borders strongly condemned today's pre-dawn attack by a dozen heavily-armed men that badly damaged the studios of the Maharaja Television/Broadcasting Network (MTV/MBC) in Pannipitiya, near Colombo, after charges that the network's reporting of the war between the government and Tamil insurgents was not "patriotic" enough.
"Violence and threats against such privately-owned media outlets and journalists trying to impartially report on the conflict must stop," the worldwide press freedom organisation said. "The government must quickly find and punish those responsible for this latest attack and see the network is compensated.
"The attack seems to be because its coverage was not 'patriotic' enough. The network is one of the country's few, and very popular, independent news sources. The incident recalls the November 2007 attack on the Leader Publication printing works, for which nobody has been punished."
Full text of RSF's press release follows:
Government urged to punish violence against independent media outlets after new attack
Reporters Without Borders strongly condemned today's pre-dawn attack by a dozen heavily-armed men that badly damaged the studios of the Maharaja Television/Broadcasting Network (MTV/MBC) in Pannipitiya, near Colombo, after charges that the network's reporting of the war between the government and Tamil insurgents was not "patriotic" enough.
"Violence and threats against such privately-owned media outlets and journalists trying to impartially report on the conflict must stop," the worldwide press freedom organisation said. "The government must quickly find and punish those responsible for this latest attack and see the network is compensated.
"The attack seems to be because its coverage was not 'patriotic' enough. The network is one of the country's few, and very popular, independent news sources. The incident recalls the November 2007 attack on the Leader Publication printing works, for which nobody has been punished."
