TDC Condemn the cold blooded murder of Sunday Leader editor

(January 09, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) We the Tamil Democratic Congress extend our wholehearted sympathies with profound sorrow and dejection to the family members, colleagues, friends and those who are pained by the cold blooded murder of the Editor of Sunday Leader newspaper Lasantha Wickramatunga in Colombo on 8 January 2008. Lasantha as warmly recognised by the democratic freewill of the Sri Lankan society is an able and a towering icon in the decaying democracy in the island nation. He has fallen victim to the impunity enjoyed by the ruthless and undemocratic terror that is deciding the fate of Sri Lanka.

Knowing and experiencing the wrath of violence systematically engineered against him, Lasantha withstood all the pressures fearlessly and stood as a towering figure to uphold democracy in the country. His conviction and laudatory role to uphold truth and justice in the climate of unending violence has made him a victim to the very same blight that has taken the lives of many thousands of people. Lasantha’s tragic death is an irreplaceable loss for Sri Lanka. He played a fearless role to represent those who could not speak freely due to suppressive state policies against the media. His loss is a victory for the undemocratic forces and unfortunately a tragic loss for those who believe in upholding freedom of speech and democracy.

The President in his statement following his death has stated: ‘This heinous crime points to the grave dangers faced by the democratic social order of our country, and the existence of forces that will go to the furthest extremes in using terror and criminality to damage our social fabric and bring disrepute to the country’. This will be considered as President’s attempts to respond to the immediate outcry over the death and it must be bourn that some in his jumbo cabinet members are still evidently enjoying the impunity under his leadership despite his dumbfounded concerns over Lasantha’s demise. The body structure of his government is a mechanism that engages in very high handed campaigns to disturb the very same ‘democratic social order’ he claims that is decaying Sri Lanka.

The President has further stated that ‘he had directed the Police to conduct the most thorough investigation to bring to book any and all persons responsible for this act of brutality, with maximum speed’. Unfortunately many such instructions to the police in the past had not produced any justice and it is imperative that alternative accountable investigations are undertaken with the engagement of international experts. The government of President Mahinda Rajapakese must be held responsible for the murder until a widely acceptable independent investigation proves otherwise.

Instead of making mere statements of condemnations, we appeal to the international community to consider Lasantha’s killing as a benchmark to impose substantial effective pressure on the government of Sri Lanka to bring the perpetrators to justice and to put an end to the impunity enjoyed in the disturbing political culture prevalent in the country.

Killing of Lasantha cannot lead to the burial of media freedom in Sri Lanka. Only when perpetrators of the murder are brought to justice, leading to establishing accountability and good governance, democracy will take its strong footing in Sri Lanka. - Sri Lanka Guardian