{"id":46928,"date":"2012-07-03T00:58:11","date_gmt":"2012-07-03T00:58:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=46928"},"modified":"2012-10-26T13:19:30","modified_gmt":"2012-10-26T13:19:30","slug":"wikleaks-balassoriya-and-jayantha-were-rajapaksa-supporters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikleaks-balassoriya-and-jayantha-were-rajapaksa-supporters\/","title":{"rendered":"WikiLeaks: Balassoriya And Jayantha Were Rajapaksa Supporters"},"content":{"rendered":"

By ColomboTelegraph –<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen reminded that both individuals had supported Mahinda Rajapaksa’s 2005 campaign for the presidency, Rambukwella laughed and speculated that the Defense Secretary might have summoned the two to thank them. \u2018It shows that the gratitude for the duo has not been forgotten even after two years.\u2019” the US Embassy Colombo informed Washington.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Gotabhaya, Balasooriya and Jayantha<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cEmbassy considers the journalists’ accounts of the Defense Secretary’s thinly veiled threats credible, and consistent with previous reported behavior by Gothabaya Rajapaksa. President Chandrika Kumaratunga appointed the two Lake House<\/a><\/span> media workers to their positions at the head of the Working Journalists Association, an organization created by an Act of Parliament. They are both Sinhalese and considered close to the ruling SLFP; the same applies to Nation editor Allahakoon<\/a><\/span>.\u201d the Embassy further informed.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The\u00a0Colombo Telegraph<\/a><\/span>\u00a0found the related leaked cable from the\u00a0WikiLeaks<\/a><\/span>\u00a0database dated June 2, 2008. The cable is classified as \u201cCONFIDENTIAL\u201d and written by theUS Ambassador to Colombo Robert Blake. The cable details the media suppression situation just after the abduction and beating of defense journalist Keith Noyahr. The cable also details a meeting Secretary to the Ministry of Defence Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and two media workers Sanath Balasooriya and Poddala Jayantha<\/a><\/span> has had with.<\/p>\n

Under the subheading \u201cGovernment spokesmen don’t see a problem\u201d the ambassador Blake wrote \u00a0\u201cAt a regularly scheduled military affairs briefing on May 29, Director of the Media Hulugalle reacted to sharp questioning by reporters by saying thatLakeHouse journalists had no right to question government policies or get involved in protests. He defended Defense Secretary Rajapaksa’s summoning of the media workers and claimed that it had no connection to the Noyahr abduction. Government Defense spokesman Rambukwella agreed that \u2018the workers of a state institution cannot express ideas against state policies and they cannot engage in politics.\u2019 When reminded that both individuals had supported Mahinda Rajapaksa’s 2005 campaign for the presidency, Rambukwella laughed and speculated that the Defense Secretary might have summoned the two to thank them. \u2018It shows that the gratitude for the duo has not been forgotten even after two years.\u2019 Media Minister (and Government Spokesman) Anura Priyadarshana Yapa later contradicted Hulugalle at a briefing following the weekly cabinet meeting, noting that Lake House employees did enjoy both trade union rights and the right of free speech. The government has yet to resolve discrepancy between his position and Hulugalle’s. Yapa reportedly counseled Balasuriya and Jayantha to keep a low profile. Referring to their administrative work atLakeHouse, he said, \u2018Don’t worry about your pensions. Look after your lives!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDCM raised the issue of the Noyahr abduction and its aftermath with Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona on May 28. Kohona said the attack on Noyahr \u2018puzzled\u2019 the GSL because there is \u2018no obvious villain.\u2019 He said three police units have been deployed to investigate, but have made little progress. He commented that Noyahr was not particularly critical of anyone and that he couldn’t imagine who would want to hurt him. DCM pointed out that Noyahr had written an article critical of the Army Commander recently and added that Noyahr was reluctant to give a statement about his attackers because he feared retaliation against his family. Kohona dismissed this as a \u2018poor excuse,\u2019 adding that \u2018if someone wanted to attack his family, they would have done it already.\u2019 DCM emphasized that other journalists are frightened by the attacks on journalists and some are looking to leave the country because they fear for their lives. Kohona laughed and said they were just looking for any excuse to leave. He described the attacks on journalists as an \u2018unnecessary distraction,\u2019 saying the GSL doesn’t need any additional problems to deal with and certainly wouldn’t be behind the attacks. He added that the killing of Tamil journalist P. Devakumar inJaffnaon May 28 was likely the work of “other groups” operating in the area.<\/p>\n

Placing a comment Blake wrote \u201cEmbassy considers the journalists’ accounts of the Defense Secretary’s thinly veiled threats credible, and consistent with previous reported behavior by Gothabaya Rajapaksa. President Chandrika Kumaratunga appointed the twoLakeHousemedia workers to their positions at the head of the Working Journalists Association, an organization created by an Act of Parliament. They are both Sinhalese and considered close to the ruling SLFP; the same applies to Nation editor Allahakoon. The groups responsible for following, surveilling, threatening and, in the case of Keith Noyahr, abducting and beating journalists, are widely believed to be linked to the Defense Ministry. The current wave of intimidation against journalists appears to be part of a \u2018plumbing\u2019 operation to discover the source of leaks to media about military information, and particularly stories critical of the Army Commander. Fonseka is unpopular among the senior army officer corps and reviled by his fellow service commanders, particularly Navy Commander Karannagoda. Several of them have been talking to the media about Fonseka and Gothabaya’s conduct of the war. With the government vulnerable on several fronts, but especially inflation, it is essential to the President’s domestic political strategy that the Sinhalese public perceive the government as winning the war against the Tamil Tigers. Fonseka, who has made himself politically indispensable to the Rajapaksa administration, is expected to gain an extension of his term beyond the normal retirement age. (He would otherwise have to leave in September 2008.) In this context, Gothabaya Rajapaksa finds any criticism of Fonseka and the army’s war effort intolerable and will go to great lengths to shut it down. Our sources have alerted us that the Defense Ministry will push for onerous war censorship and criminal defamation legislation soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read from the paragraph 12 in the cable below for further details;<\/p>\n

Posts related to this cable;<\/strong><\/p>\n

WikiLeaks:\u2018There Will Be No Investigation, No One Will Be Able To Find Out What Happened To Keith\u2019 \u2013 Gota<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

WikiLeaks: Large Numbers Of Military Personnel \u201cRevered Fonseka Like A God\u201d \u2013 Gota<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

WikiLeaks: Gota Angry With Editors Lalith Allahakkon And Iqbal Athas<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

VZCZCXRO8831\r\nOO RUEHBI RUEHLMC\r\nDE RUEHLM #0528\/01 1541314\r\nZNY CCCCC ZZH\r\nO 021314Z JUN 08\r\nFM AMEMBASSY COLOMBO\r\nTO RUEHC\/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8203\r\nINFO RUEHKA\/AMEMBASSY DHAKA PRIORITY 0926\r\nRUEHIL\/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD PRIORITY 7915\r\nRUEHKT\/AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU PRIORITY 6090\r\nRUEHLO\/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 4421\r\nRUEHNE\/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI PRIORITY 2072\r\nRUEHNY\/AMEMBASSY OSLO PRIORITY 4402\r\nRUEHKO\/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 3497\r\nRUEHCG\/AMCONSUL CHENNAI PRIORITY 8526\r\nRUEHBI\/AMCONSUL MUMBAI PRIORITY 5971\r\nRUEHON\/AMCONSUL TORONTO PRIORITY 0667\r\nRUEHGV\/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 2799\r\nRHHMUNA\/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI PRIORITY\r\nRHEFDIA\/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY\r\nRHEHAAA\/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY\r\nRUEHBS\/USEU BRUSSELS PRIORITY\r\nRUEHLMC\/MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORPORATION PRIORITY<\/pre>\n
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 05 COLOMBO 000528 \r\n\r\nSIPDIS \r\n\r\nDEPARTMENT FOR SCA\/INS \r\n\r\nE.O. 12958: DECL: 06\/02\/2018\r\nTAGS: PGOV PHUM PTER MOPS PREL CE\r\nSUBJECT: SRI LANKA: DEFENSE MINISTRY MOBILIZES AGAINST\r\nMEDIA CRITICS \r\n\r\nREF: COLOMBO 507 \r\n\r\nClassified By: AMBASSADOR ROBERT O. BLAKE, JR. REASONS: 1.4(b,d). \r\n\r\n\u00b6<\/a>1.  (C) SUMMARY: The Defense Secretary summoned two media\r\nworkers from the government-owned publishing house.  He\r\nreportedly harangued them for over two hours for\r\nparticipating in a rally to protest the abduction and beating\r\nof defense journalist Keith Noyahr.  The journalists told us\r\nthat Gothabaya told them that \"groups that revere Army\r\nCommander Fonseka\" would kill them if they persisted in their\r\ncampaign for media freedom.  Five media organizations\r\nreleased a letter to the Defense Secretary deploring his\r\nactions.  Several other journalists reported surveillance,\r\nharassment and intimidation by shadowy groups likely linked\r\nto the Defense Ministry.  The CEO of the independent\r\nnewspaper Noyahr works for has fled the country.  The paper's\r\neditor told us he fears for his life and for his family and\r\nmay seek temporary refuge abroad.  The paper's majority owner\r\nis reportedly negotiating to divest his shares in the\r\ncompany.  Government spokesmen have generally been dismissive\r\nof the threats to the media.  The Defense Ministry will\r\nreportedly seek draconian censorship and criminal defamation\r\nlegislation to shut down any criticism of the government's\r\nconduct of the war.  The campaign against media critics of\r\nthe administration appears aimed at discovering their sources\r\nwithin the military's disgruntled officer corps and is likely\r\nlinked to the Army Commander's effort to gain another\r\nextension of his term beyond the normal retirement age.  End\r\nsummary. \r\n\r\nDefense Secretary Threatens Media Workers\r\n----------------------------------------- \r\n\r\n\u00b6<\/a>2.  (U) On May 23, following the abduction and brutal assault\r\non the defense correspondent of the weekly \"Nation\" (reftel),\r\nthe Working Journalists Association, Federation of Media\r\nEmployees trade union, Sri Lanka Muslim Media Forum, Sri\r\nLanka Tamil Journalists Association, and the Free Media\r\nMovement held a protest rally at Colpetty junction (near the\r\nPresident's residence and office as well as the U.S.\r\nEmbassy).  The demonstrators demanded that the government\r\nbring the perpetrators of the attack on Noyahr to justice. \r\n\r\n\u00b6<\/a>3.  (SBU) Sunanda Deshapriya, the founder of the Free Media\r\nMovement, accompanied Sanath Balasuriya and Poddala Jayantha,\r\nthe President and General Secretary of the Sri Lanka Working\r\nJournalists Association, to a meeting with DCM and Pol Chief\r\non May 28.  Balasuriya and Jayantha are also employees of the\r\ngovernment-owned Lake House media group, which publishes the\r\nDaily News and vernacular newspapers.  (They explained that\r\nthey had been subject to an informal ban on writing for about\r\ntwo years and had been relegated to performing administrative\r\nwork within Lake House.)  According to Balasuriya and\r\nJayantha, Lake House chairman Bandula Padmakumara informed\r\nthem on May 26 that Defense Secretary Gothabaya Rakapaksa was\r\nsummoning them to a meeting, which took place the same day. \r\n\r\n\u00b6<\/a>4.  (C) Balasuriya and Jayantha reported that when they\r\nentered Rajapaksa's office, Padmakumara and Media Centre for\r\nNational Security head (and Presidential media advisor)\r\nLakshman Hulugalle were already inside.  Rajapaksa harangued\r\nthem for two and half hours, they said.  Padmakumara and\r\nHulugalle thwarted three attempts they made to break off the\r\nmeeting and leave.  Deshapriya, who speaks English more\r\nfluently that Balasuriya and Jayantha, largely provided the\r\nfollowing account of their encounter with the Defense\r\nSecretary.  Rajapaksa said that as Lake House employees, they\r\nwere government servants who had no rights to take part in\r\nprotests.  Further, he said that criticism of the military\r\nleadership, particularly Army Commander Sarath Fonseka, and\r\nthe conduct of the war would not be tolerated.  He told the\r\nmedia workers that there were large numbers of military \r\n\r\nCOLOMBO 00000528  002 OF 005 \r\n\r\npersonnel who \"revered Fonseka like a God,\" and that he could\r\nnot control these people.  The reporters said that he\r\nthreatened them with death, saying that if they persisted in\r\ntheir criticism \"people who know how to do it will finish you\r\noff.\" \r\n\r\n\u00b6<\/a>5.  (C) The journalists responded that the rally they\r\nattended was for the purpose of highlighting the assault on\r\nNoyahr.  Rajapaksa replied that they were \"not here to\r\ndiscuss that.  You are here to listen to me.\"  Hulugalle said\r\nthat he had videotapes of a speech by Balasuriya in which he\r\ncriticized Fonseka.  (Balasuriya told us he had made such a\r\nspeech but never mentioned Fonseka by name.)  Rajapaksa told\r\nthem such conduct was equivalent \"to becoming a suicide\r\nbomber,\" like journalist Munusami Parameshwari of the\r\nnewspaper Mawbima (since defunct), who was detained for four\r\nmonths last year for writing critical articles.  Deshapriya\r\nnoted that Parameshwari gave up her profession after her\r\nfamily was subsequently attacked at home by Sinhalese\r\nextremists.  He said the Free Media Movement had helped the\r\nfamily find refuge in India. \r\n\r\n\u00b6<\/a>6.  (C) Rajapaksa reportedly went on to say that the\r\ninvestigation of the Noyahr incident would lead nowhere.\r\n\"There will be no investigation.  It will reach a certain\r\npoint and stop.  No one will be able to find out what\r\nhappened.\"  He castigated journalists in general for focusing\r\nattention on Sri Lanka's human rights record.  \"Human rights\r\nmean nothing.  We do not want to be bothered about it while\r\nwe're fighting a war.  Because of the international campaign,\r\nwe can't arrest anyone.  But I don't care; I will do what I\r\nwant.  The military will campaign for criminal defamation\r\nlaws to stop all this.  The fundamental rights provisions of\r\nthe Constitution have to be repealed.\" \r\n\r\n\"Reprimand of senior journalists unacceptable\"\r\n--------------------------------------------- - \r\n\r\n\u00b6<\/a>7.  (U) On May 28, the five media organizations which had\r\ncalled for the protest condemned the threats against their\r\ncolleagues, issuing a joint statement which reads, in part\r\n(begin citation): \r\n\r\n\"We are extremely disappointed and very concerned to discover\r\nthat you summoned and reprimanded Sanath Balasuriya and\r\nPoddala Jayantha... over the protest campaign organised by\r\nour five media organisations against the abduction and\r\ninhuman assault of The Nation journalist Keith Noyahr...  We\r\nheld this protest campaign peacefully and under the freedom\r\nof expression enshrined in our constitution.  We openly\r\nstated that if the government does not apprehend the culprits\r\nand attempts to impair and impede the investigation, we hold\r\nit responsible for this heinous crime.  We understand that\r\nyour position as articulated to the President and General\r\nSecretary of the SLWJA over two hours spent in your office\r\nwas as follows:\r\n- That it is unacceptable to criticise the armed forces\r\nwhilst working in state newspapers.\r\n- That anyone other than the leaders of the armed forces can\r\nbe criticised.\r\n- That the aim of our protest was to criticise the armed\r\nforces and that cannot be permitted.\r\n- If both journalists continue criticising the military,\r\nneither the Secretary of Defence nor the regime are in a\r\nposition to prevent action taken against them by groups or\r\npersons who revere the Army Commander.\" (end citation) \r\n\r\n\u00b6<\/a>8.  (C) Balasuriya and Jayantha said the Defense Secretary\r\nhad expressed anger at other journalists, including Nation\r\neditor Lalith Allahakoon and Defense columnist Iqbal Athas:\r\n\"what he's doing is very harmful.\"  Athas told Pol chief that\r\npressure on him had increased considerably since Noyhar's\r\nabduction.  He complained that the private radio station TNL \r\n\r\nCOLOMBO 00000528  003 OF 005 \r\n\r\n(note: owned by the brother of opposition leader Ranil\r\nWickremesinghe) had aired a talk show insulting Athas, which\r\nhe said consisted of \"an hour of vulgar vituperation.\"  Athas\r\nlinked this to the Defense Secretary's \"offensive\" against\r\nthe media. \r\n\r\nNewspaper Executives fear for their lives, families\r\n--------------------------------------------- ------ \r\n\r\n\u00b6<\/a>9.  (C) Allahakoon told DCM, Pol Chief and Public Affairs\r\nCounselor on May 29 that he had called President Rajapaksa\r\nimmediately on the night of Noyahr's disappearance and that\r\nthe President had said he would \"do everything\" to assure\r\nNoyahr's return.  Allahakoon credited the intensive campaign\r\nhe and other friends of Noyahr mounted overnight with saving\r\nthe journalist's life.  Allahakoon believed that the purpose\r\nof the abduction and beating of Noyahr was to try to\r\ndetermine which military commanders were leaking information\r\nto journalists.   He reported that Noyahr had told him he had\r\nreceived threats that his family would be the next victims if\r\nhe spoke about his abduction.  Therefore, Noyahr would not\r\nmake a statement to police about what happened to him.   He\r\ntold us that the Nation editorial offices and his home were\r\nunder surveillance, and that he had received threats.\r\nPadmakumara had called him and told him to be very careful.\r\nHe had moved his family from their home to a commercial\r\ndistrict hotel as a precaution, but his children were afraid\r\nto leave the hotel to go to school.  He was seeking to leave\r\nSri Lanka temporarily until the current crisis subsided, he\r\nsaid. \r\n\r\n\u00b6<\/a>10.  (C) Allahakoon said that Chrisantha Cooray, the CEO of\r\nthe company that publishes the Nation and its\r\nSinhala-language sister newspaper Rivira, had fled to London.\r\n Nation staff were afraid to report to work because of the\r\nheavy surveillance of its offices.  He also feared the\r\nconsequences of not publishing a paper on Sunday, since the\r\ngovernment might regard this as an affront.  He had therefore\r\nasked the editor of a small-circulation weekly to put out an\r\ninnocuous, slimmed-down edition to avoid incurring the\r\ngovernment's displeasure.  Sri Lankan media reported on June\r\n1 that Cooray had resigned from the publishing company and\r\nthat the London-Based Sena Yaddahige, 51% owner of the\r\nnewspapers, was negotiating to sell his remaining stake to\r\nSujit \"Nissanka\" Rajapaksa.  (Note: the relationship between\r\nNissanka and the family of President Rajapaksa is not\r\nestablished.) \r\n\r\nFurther reports of harassment and intimidation\r\n--------------------------------------------- - \r\n\r\n\u00b6<\/a>11.  (SBU) There have been several other incidents of\r\nharassment and intimidation of journalists in recent days: \r\n\r\n-- Another contributor to the Nation complained to the police\r\nthat a white van was following her.  When she confronted the\r\noccupants of the car, they began to question her about her\r\nwork as a journalist.  On Thursday she reported to police\r\nthat someone had slashed the throat of a rooster and left the\r\ncarcass outside her office.  A group of unidentified men in a\r\njeep were surveilling her house. \r\n\r\n-- The Free Media Movement issued a statement on May 31 that\r\nan unknown group had invaded the residence of the defense\r\nreporter of the Sinhala-language Divaina at 4 a.m. and\r\nthreatened him.  When he protested that he was a veteran and\r\nthat his brother was missing in action against the Tamil\r\nTigers, the group told him that regardless of who he was,\r\nreporting of matters related to defense was to stop\r\nimmediately. \r\n\r\n-- The Sri Lanka Press Institute reported that on May 27\r\narmed men dressed in Army uniforms entered its offices and \r\n\r\nCOLOMBO 00000528  004 OF 005 \r\n\r\ninquired about the identities of those working there.  They\r\nrefused to identify themselves but said they were with\r\nmilitary intelligence.  The Press Institute refused them\r\naccess, or to provide such information.  Military spokesman\r\nNanayakkara later denied that the intruders could have been\r\nfrom the armed forces, stating that there was no authority\r\nfor military intelligence to make such inquiries. \r\n\r\n-- On May 28, Tamil journalist P. Devakumar, who worked for\r\nboth Sirasa and MTV, was stabbed to death, along with a\r\ncompanion, on the way to his home near Jaffna.  It appears\r\nunlikely, however, that this murder, one of several killings\r\nof journalists in Jaffna in the last two years, was closely\r\nrelated to the other recent cases in Colombo. \r\n\r\nGovernment spokesmen don't see a problem\r\n---------------------------------------- \r\n\r\n\u00b6<\/a>12.  (SBU) At a regularly scheduled military affairs briefing\r\non May 29, Director of the Media Hulugalle reacted to sharp\r\nquestioning by reporters by saying that Lake House\r\njournalists had no right to question government policies or\r\nget involved in protests.  He defended Defense Secretary\r\nRajapaksa's summoning of the media workers and claimed that\r\nit had no connection to the Noyahr abduction.  Government\r\nDefense spokesman Rambukwella agreed that \"the workers of a\r\nstate institution cannot express ideas against state policies\r\nand they cannot engage in politics.\"    When reminded that\r\nboth individuals had supported Mahinda Rajapaksa's 2005\r\ncampaign for the presidency, Rambukwella laughed and\r\nspeculated that the Defense Secretary might have summoned the\r\ntwo to thank them.  \"It shows that the gratitude for the duo\r\nhas not been forgotten even after two years.\" \r\n\r\n\u00b6<\/a>13.   (C) Media Minister (and Government Spokesman) Anura\r\nPriyadarshana Yapa later contradicted Hulugalle at a briefing\r\nfollowing the weekly cabinet meeting, noting that Lake House\r\nemployees did enjoy both trade union rights and the right of\r\nfree speech.  The government has yet to resolve discrepancy\r\nbetween his position and Hulugalle's.  Yapa reportedly\r\ncounseled Balasuriya and Jayantha to keep a low profile.\r\nReferring to their administrative work at Lake House, he\r\nsaid, \"Don't worry about your pensions.  Look after your\r\nlives!\" \r\n\r\n\u00b6<\/a>14.  (C) DCM raised the issue of the Noyahr abduction and its\r\naftermath with Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona on May 28.\r\nKohona said the attack on Noyahr \"puzzled\" the GSL because\r\nthere is \"no obvious villain.\"  He said three police units\r\nhave been deployed to investigate, but have made little\r\nprogress.  He commented that Noyahr was not particularly\r\ncritical of anyone and that he couldn't imagine who would\r\nwant to hurt him.  DCM pointed out that Noyahr had written an\r\narticle critical of the Army Commander recently and added\r\nthat Noyahr was reluctant to give a statement about his\r\nattackers because he feared retaliation against his family.\r\nKohona dismissed this as a \"poor excuse,\" adding that \"if\r\nsomeone wanted to attack his family, they would have done it\r\nalready.\"  DCM emphasized that other journalists are\r\nfrightened by the attacks on journalists and some are looking\r\nto leave the country because they fear for their lives.\r\nKohona laughed and said they were just looking for any excuse\r\nto leave.  He described the attacks on journalists as an\r\n\"unnecessary distraction,\" saying the GSL doesn't need any\r\nadditional problems to deal with and certainly wouldn't be\r\nbehind the attacks.  He added that the killing of Tamil\r\njournalist P. Devakumar in Jaffna on May 28 was likely the\r\nwork of \"other groups\" operating in the area. \r\n\r\n\u00b6<\/a>15.  (C) COMMENT:  Embassy considers the journalists'\r\naccounts of the Defense Secretary's thinly veiled threats\r\ncredible, and consistent with previous reported behavior by\r\nGothabaya Rajapaksa.  President Chandrika Kumaratunga \r\n\r\nCOLOMBO 00000528  005 OF 005 \r\n\r\nappointed the two Lake House media workers to their positions\r\nat the head of the Working Journalists Association, an\r\norganization created by an Act of Parliament.  They are both\r\nSinhalese and considered close to the ruling SLFP; the same\r\napplies to Nation editor Allahakoon.  The groups responsible\r\nfor following, surveilling, threatening and, in the case of\r\nKeith Noyahr, abducting and beating journalists, are widely\r\nbelieved to be linked to the Defense Ministry.  The current\r\nwave of intimidation against journalists appears to be part\r\nof a \"plumbing\" operation to discover the source of leaks to\r\nmedia about military information, and particularly stories\r\ncritical of the Army Commander.  Fonseka is unpopular among\r\nthe senior army officer corps and reviled by his fellow\r\nservice commanders, particularly Navy Commander Karannagoda.\r\nSeveral of them have been talking to the media about Fonseka\r\nand Gothabaya's conduct of the war.  With the government\r\nvulnerable on several fronts, but especially inflation, it is\r\nessential to the President's domestic political strategy that\r\nthe Sinhalese public perceive the government as winning the\r\nwar against the Tamil Tigers.  Fonseka, who has made himself\r\npolitically indispensable to the Rajapaksa administration, is\r\nexpected to gain an extension of his term beyond the normal\r\nretirement age.  (He would otherwise have to leave in\r\nSeptember 2008.)  In this context, Gothabaya Rajapaksa finds\r\nany criticism of Fonseka and the army's war effort\r\nintolerable and will go to great lengths to shut it down.\r\nOur sources have alerted us that the Defense Ministry will\r\npush for onerous war censorship and criminal defamation\r\nlegislation soon.\r\nBLAKE<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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