By Ahimsa Wickrematunge –

Lasantha with Ahimsa as a baby

The recent media and public scrutiny in regards to the controversy surrounding my uncle Lal Wickrematunge and the sale of The Sunday Leader has prompted me to share my thoughts on this subject.

While my uncle’s motives maybe questionable to the public, there is no doubt that he loved my father and mourns his loss with the rest of us today. There is so much going on behind closed doors that people are not aware of. Those who say he should have shut down the Leader don’t understand that since the Leader’s inception, the entire staff supported my father’s and uncle’s cause and all they stood for. Does he just let the staff go unemployed when they have families to support?

And while all the drama and chaos was going on in regards to the sale of the paper, when I was in my darkest hour, my uncle left Colombo on the next flight out to be by my side. I too didn’t take the news of the sale of the paper very well but having my uncle with me I came to understand the rationale behind his decision.

Lal and Ahimsa

The death of my father has scarred us in so many ways and caused us immense emotional pain and heartache. Those who mourn the loss to the media and the country that his death has caused, people that use his murder in their political circus and those who have made a career out of his name tend to forget he was a father, a son and a brother and that kind of suffering can never be compared in terms of loss.

My family hasn’t to this day recovered from my father’s assassination. My grandparents lost their will to live in their old age and my grandfather who loved my father so much took his death very badly and eventually deteriorated and passed away last year. No parent should ever have to bury a child and go through that.

I took my father’s death very, very badly being his daughter and having lived with him till his last day. I to this day can’t seem to come to terms with everything and the trauma has taken its toll on my emotional well-being.

Those who criticize my uncle now and attack him for my father’s sake should realize this is Lasantha’s brother they are attacking. Also having him around was the closest thing to having my father back.

And if those who claim to have loved my father are doing and saying all of this for the greater good, maybe it’s time to channel that grief and anger towards bringing the perpetrators of his murder to book

Related stories;

The Death Of A Newspaper – The Sunday Leader by Dr. Brian Senewiratne

The Death Of A Newspaper: A Short Response To Brian Seneviratne by Lal Wickrematunge