Sri Lanka’s Defence Secretary Gothabaya Rajapakse threatened the editor of a leading English daily on April 17, saying the paper’s coverage of actions of the Karuna Group had angered the Army-backed paramilitaries, a media watchdog said.
And the British envoy to the island became embroiled in the matter after visiting the journalist the day after the story of the threats broke.
Rajapakse, brother of President Mahinda Rajapakse, had last Tuesday morning telephoned Ms. Champika Liyanarachchi, editor of the Daily Mirror to say she should not be surprised if the Karuna Group turned its violence against her and if so, she shouldn’t expect government protection, the Free Media Movement (FMM) said.
In an article titled ‘Karuna faction running its writ in Pottuvil’ on April 16, the Daily Mirror reported the paramilitary group “is creating havoc in the Muslim-dominated Pottuvil town in Ampara, moving around freely with weapons in government-controlled areas while law enforcement authorities are allegedly turning a blind eye.”
The Defence Secretary had told Ms. Liyanarachchi her paper’s story had angered the Karuna faction and, furthermore, was written against the Government, the FMM said.
In the eventuality of Karuna Group violence against her, Rajapakse had said Ms. Liyanarachchi should not expect any security from the government to protect her, the FMM said.
Sources close to the Daily Mirror said Rajapakse had been explicit.
Speaking in English, the incensed Defence Secretary vowed to Ms. Liyanarachchi: “I’ll exterminate you!”
He had also attacked another journalist with the Daily Mirror, Uditha Jayasinha, describing her as “a prostitute whose mother has been sleeping with the Tigers.”
Citing the article by Ms. Jayasinha titled ‘Mutur IDPs: Battling a man-made tsunami in the guise of war’ the Defence Secretary “had continued his vicious tirade by castigating the reporter and expressing his severe displeasure that the article carried negative remarks on the Sri Lankan Army by displaced people,” the FMM also said.
“These statements of the Defence Secretary beggar belief,” the FMM said.
“This gross misconduct of a high-placed public official clearly demonstrates the challenges facing free media in Sri Lanka today. … Given the volatile situation in the country, the FMM also fears that this threat sends a chilling message to the media community at large in Sri Lanka.”
The FMM noted that on previous occasions as well, government leaders had criticized Daily Mirror over is coverage of the conflict.
“It is an open secret that government leaders and close allies are pressurizing independent media to toe its line on war and peace. We see this latest development as a calculated process of coercion by the Government that forces media to abandon its role watch-dog of democracy, and instead adopt the supine role of a lap dog to those in power.”
But the country’s President defended his brother, suggesting the journalist had ‘overreacted’.
Prior to leaving for Italy, President Mahinda Rajapakse telephoned Ms. Liyanarachchi and suggested she had overreacted to the Defence Secretary’s “expressions of concern for her safety.”
The President said that his brother had only wanted to “express his concern for [Ms. Liyanarachchi’s] safety” after her paper published an article on violence by the Karuna Group and suggested the government was complicit.
Ironically, Ms. Liyanarachchi was seen by many as having good links with President Rajapakse’s administration and political camp.
Amid widespread expectation that President Rajapakse’s then archrival, Ranil Wickremesinghe would win the 2005 Presidential elections, she was the first commentator to emphatically argue the opposite, a media analyst said.
And in an interview to the BBC Sinhala service, Laksham Hulugalle, Director General of the Media Centre for National Security (MCNS), said of Ms Liyanarachchi: “we work closely work with her and I’m sure the Defence Secretary would never have said those things.”
“He’s not there to threaten journalists but to protect the country from threats,” Mr. Hulugalle said of Gothabaya Rajapakse.
After the story broke in the media, British high commissioner Dominick Chilcott was “invited” to his tightly-guarded office at short notice on April 19, a high commission spokesman told AFP.
The summons came after Chilcott visited Liyanarachchi a day after she said she received a death threat from Rajapakse.
"They talked about the role of the media," the spokesman said. "The high commissioner and the defence secretary agreed that the confidentiality of the meeting would be preserved."
Chilcott's unexpected visit was seen by diplomats as a signal of Britain's deep concern over recent attacks against the freedom of expression in this former British colony.
His gesture of support came hours after the Sri Lankan government accused unnamed diplomats of interfering in the island's internal affairs and warned that those meddling would be kicked out.
Rajapakse denied issuing a death threat, in remarks posted on the defence ministry web site.
"While admitting that he had had a telephone conversation with the said newspaper editor, the defence secretary said that it was just a frank exchange of ideas on two controversial articles published on the said newspaper," the site said.
"He further stated that he did not make any threat to the said editor other than openly expressing his views and was surprised how certain media had exaggerated the issue."
Media organisations have described Sri Lanka, where the government is fighting a bitter war against the Liberation Tigers, as the most dangerous place on earth for journalists after Iraq.
Rights groups say critics of government policy are treated as traitors and enemies of the state.
