Sri Lanka Guardian responds to Army spokesperson

(November 09, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) In the news published in Media , the Military Spokesperson Brigadier Udaya Nanayakara has refuted one of our recent lead news ‘KP tortured’ in the Panagoda Army camp.

The brief news headlined ‘KP not tortured or held at Panagoda camp – Army spokesman’ One of the Media which based in Colombo stated: ‘The Army refuted Pro-LTTE media reports which claimed that former LTTE chief arms procurer Kumaran Padmanadan alias KP was being tortured for information at the Panagoda Army camp. Military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, speaking to the paper, said that KP was not being held at the Panagoda Camp (GS)’.

The Defence Investigative reporter of the Sri Lanka Guardian obtained the credible information of KP’s plight under difficult circumstances prevailing for the media in Sri Lanka. Our Defence Reporter went to the extra-ordinary length to covertly obtain the vital information through the Defence Ministry sources, which the Army Spokesperson Nanayakara in his usual style has flatly rebuked by taking cover under the draconian Terrorism Law of the country.

Military Spokesperson Udaya Nanayakara’s comment of branding our media that originated the news as a ‘Pro-LTTE media’ is unwarranted and only confirms that the defenceless military spokesperson cannot respond beyond his remit of packaging any sensitive issues exposing the government as LTTE propaganda.

We wish to state to the Military Spokesperson that Sri Lanka Guardian is an independent media that will play an inclusive role of publishing news and views on diverse issues without fear in the climate of draconian onslaught of the state machinery against the media in Sri Lanka.

We will play the role to change the violent culture in Sri Lanka and work to pave the way for good governance for all the citizens of the country to live peacefully and harmoniously without intimidation from the extremism that has reduced the nation to be run by the crony family bandit’s and persons soaked in blood and corruption that has become the inherent and irredeemable status for Sri Lanka.

We can assure the Brigadier that our Defence Investigative Reporter is neither an LTTE person nor a government paid agent.

We take this opportunity to invite the Brigadier to facilitate a process to tell the facts about the thousands of Tamils (including LTTE men) held incommunicado detention in various undisclosed locations in the country. We ask the Brigadier to give unhindered access to us and the other media to visit these detainees and even the LTTE’s KP and report the facts about their whereabouts and their experiences pre and post their detentions.

We trust that the Brigadier will not take cover under his ever intoxicated anti-LTTE sentiments and the Terrorism Act to blatantly trivialise our request.

Related link: Sri Lanka Guardian Interviews Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara

-Sri Lanka Guardian