Sri Lanka: Government crackdown meets opposition
Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga's attempts to stifle public opposition to the war against the Tamils in the north and to social and economic policies in the south have met large-scale resistance from left opposition parties, most notably a demonstration of 3000 people in Colombo on May 25.
Despite police brutality, the demonstration, organised by the Nava Sama Samaja Party (NSSP), the People's Liberation Front (JVP) and the Muslim United Liberation Front, rallied outside the Colombo town hall. Protesters shouted slogans and carried placards and banners against the government's attempts to use the war as a pretext for burying democratic rights. They called for a solution to the national question based on equality and democracy.
Prominent among the slogans raised were, No to oppressive regulations!, No to censorship!, No to racism!, No to war! and No to foreign forces!.
Thirty minutes into the demonstration, police used water cannons, tear gas and a baton charge to disperse the crowd. Traffic was blocked around the town hall for nearly one hour as a result.
Dr Vickramabahu Karunarathne, the general secretary of the NSSP, called the demonstration a defeat for the government.
Our demonstration will be a slap on the face of the government that demands children from the parents for the armed forces, wages of workers for military expenditure, he said. The NSSP has always campaigned against any support to the insane war efforts of the government and we say only a solution based on equality, autonomy and the right to self-determination will be the answer to the liberation war of the Tamil people.
War effort
Desperate for funds to pursue its military offensive, the government has called on workers to donate two days' wages to the war effort and has appealed for functions and celebrations to be kept low-key so that monies saved can help finance the war. The government has also called for young people to join the armed forces and has urged retired officers to rejoin for service in non-operational areas for six months.A 24-hour cease-fire called by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam for May 27 to enable civilians to leave the war zone safely was met with silence from the government. Reports suggest that Sri Lanka's armed forces continued shelling throughout the day in a desperate attempt to push back LTTE advances into the government-occupied Jaffna Peninsula.
The LTTE called on the United Nations High Commission for Refugees to act as an intermediary to enable civilians to leave the Thenmarachi area for the relative safety of Vanni. The UN conveyed the LTTE's request to both the Ministry of Defence and military headquarters, but no reply was received.
Foreign intervention in the conflict has not been ruled out, and fears are mounting among the Indian left that Delhi may yet become embroiled in a potential civil war.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist Leninist issued a bulletin on May 23 identifying a possible shift by the Indian government away from the policy of no military intervention, only humanitarian assistance and mediation on request. The statement said, Any attempt at Indian intervention in Sri Lanka's internal affairs can only expose the inconsistency of the Indian position on ... the Kashmir problem, and warned, If India seeks to play such a role in South Asia as the American global cop's most trusted lieutenant in the region, it can only invite greater international isolation and internal tension for India.
Censorship
As its war efforts have become less effective, the government's censorship has become more ferocious, prompting criticism from the international media rights organisation Reporters Sans Frontiers. The group condemned the closure of three Sri Lankan newspapers, the censoring of foreign news reports by the BBC and CNN, and the arbitrary arrest and interrogation of two journalists.Public security ordinances, invoked on May 3, allow for the suspension of any television or radio program and the seizure of any publication which endangers national security.
On May 19, Uthayan, the only newspaper publishing regularly in the city of Jaffna, was closed down by the Sri Lankan army. According to a TamilNet report on May 28, police have arrested a senior journalist of the state-run Tamil daily, Thinakaran.
The government announced on May 22 that two of Sri Lanka's most popular weeklies, the English-language Sunday Leader and the Sinhalese-language Sunday Peramuna, would remain closed until November 17, silencing them in the lead-up to and during national elections scheduled for August. The suspension of the Sunday Leader drew international attention, the ban having been imposed after it creatively challenged the censorship regulations by publishing an article entitled Palaly not under attack on May 21.
The article began: Heavy fighting was not raging in northern Jaffna peninsula and Tigers were not pounding Palaly air base with heavy artillery and mortars for the third consecutive day. In the so-called attacks, at least 14 soldiers were not killed and 30 others were not wounded and several buildings within the base had not suffered minor damages.
In place of the Sunday Leader's May 28 online edition, a notice appears stating: The Government has under the emergency regulations sealed the press of the Sunday Leader. We will resume publishing once the ban is lifted. The necessary authority appointed to hear the Appeal has been written to and once her Excellency the President orders the press to be opened we will resume publication. Till such time ... Shh... Shh ... !!
Television broadcaster Telshan Network is now facing closure by the authorities after Sri Lankan police interrogated Namal Perera, the news editor of the private TV network which is identified with the opposition.
While local journalists have had to submit news reports to government censors for several months, under the new laws, reports filed by foreign journalists must be submitted to the competent authorities before being published. In addition, live broadcasts of all television and radio programs have been banned.
According to a statement on May 23 by Reporters Sans Frontiers, Tamil and Sinhalese radio programs produced by the BBC World Service and broadcast on the state-run Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) have been replaced with music programs since May 11.
CNN and BBC news reports of the Sri Lankan conflict, broadcast on SLBC's Channel One, have been blocked by the word censored, images have been digitally scrambled to prevent viewing and reporters' voices have been replaced with background music.
Reporters Sans Frontiers general secretary Robert Menard stated that the sanctions against the media contravened the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ratified by the Sri Lankan government, which guarantees freedom of expression.
According to a report in the Tamil Guardian on May 20, the definition of what constitutes censorious material has become increasingly blurred. According to the report, the competent authority even censored part of a statement issued by the United Nations, prompting concerns from secretary-general Kofi Annan about arbitrary censorship. The European Union has also called for a lifting of the emergency regulations.
Further pressure on the government came last week when Sri Lanka failed in its bid to retain a seat on the 53-member UN Human Rights Commission.
With the media muzzled, rumours are now circulating that the government may attempt to postpone the elections for security reasons. But any attempts to disenfranchise the population look set to be met with strong resistance.
BY SUSAN PRICE