Here is the reply we received from Rajapal Abeynayake to the article written by one of our contributors Pearl Thevanayagam.
by Rajpal Abeynayake
Dear Editor,
(December 17, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) I'm not inclined to respond to all ex-cathedra statements made by one of your contributors today (17.12.10) regarding my newspaper column excerpted this week on your site. The writer says she ‘strays’; there is, I think, no reason to respond to ‘strays.’
However, distortion of facts willful or otherwise is to be set right. Your writer states that 38 journalists were murdered by the government ‘in cold blood’ in Sri Lanka since 1990.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) states categorically that 10 journalists were murdered in Sri Lanka since 1992. The following is the list and can be perused at here.
Lasantha Wickramatunga, The Sunday Leader
January 8, 2009, in an area outside Colombo , Sri Lanka
Paranirupasingham Devakumar, News 1st
May 28, 2008, in Jaffna, Sri Lanka
Selvarajah Rajeewarnam, Uthayan
April 29, 2007, in Jaffna, Sri Lanka
Subash Chandraboas, Nilam
April 16, 2007, in an area near Vavuniya, Sri Lanka
Subramaniyam Sugitharajah, Sudar Oli
January 24, 2006, in Trincomalee, Sri Lanka
Relangi Selvarajah, Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corp.
August 12, 2005, in Colombo, Sri Lanka
Dharmeratnam Sivaram, TamilNet and Daily Mirror
April 29, 2005, in Colombo, Sri Lanka
Bala Nadarajah Iyer, Thinamurasu and Thinakaran
August 16, 2004, in Colombo, Sri Lanka
Aiyathurai Nadesan, Virakesari
May 31, 2004, in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka
Mylvaganam Nimalarajan, BBC, Virakesari, Ravaya
October 19, 2000, in Jaffna, Sri Lanka
Out of these we know that some obviously were killed by the Tamil Tigers. Some in fact worked for them and were killed for reasons other than their journalism. In any case your writer’s claim of ‘38 killed in cold-blood by the government’ is patently incorrect.
With regard to the writer’s reference to 50,000 ‘of my brethren (being) killed in the south’ ‘due to reasons of freedom of expression’ --- there was an armed revolt against the government. How an armed revolt, often incorporating patent terror tactics such as killing of families of army personnel qualifies as ‘freedom of expression’ baffles me.
If it does, 360000 total dead in the American Civil War which was an armed campaign of secession mounted against the government, obviously pales 50,000 into insignificance.
As for Western democracies ‘not killing journalists’ here is video footage in the British Guardian in an article titled “Iraq war logs: Journalists killed by US army outside special forces base.’’ The title speaks for itself.
Read the Guardian story in full at: here
(Datablog: download more wikileaks data.)
This is one instance only of such killings of journalists by Western democracies, it is videographed, so seeing is believing, and furthermore it is documented in Western media’s ‘bible’ the Guardian.
I shall say no more.
(I shall also very probably not reply to any more ex cathedra statements or distortions/exaggerations of this nature that are bound to follow, reasons being self evident.)
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