Some people believe that 13 is an unlucky number for various reasons. Today is December 13, the doomsday for journalists and media freedom in Sri Lanka.
We, journalists working at the Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited (ANCL) popularly known as Lake House remember December 13, in year 2018 very well. It was two years ago on a day like this that we faced the ugliest mob attack in Sri Lanka’s print media history, launched by the goons of the Yahapalana Government.
But it was neither the first nor the last attack on journalists by colonialists, capitalists, and thugs who rally round journalists all the time as political parties.
It happened in the evening of December 13 in 2018. The thugs of the Yahapalana Government gathered in front of the Lake House building carrying various objects in their hands to attack the employees. It was just after the Supreme Court ruling on the dissolution of Parliament.
They began to move towards the main entrance of Lake House to walk in and attack all the journalists on duty at that time. The employees working in Lake House for decades promptly came forward to the Reception area to safeguard the historical building, the valuable properties that belonged to the Paththara Mahagedara (ancestral home of newspapers) and the lives of ANCL journalists who were on duty at that time.
Mob attack
They gathered at the entrance of the building to protect the journalists and the property of Lake House. But the thugs did not stop. They moved forward step by step and launched their mob attack on the employees as well as on the people who walked along the pavement in front of the building on their way to the Fort Railway station to catch the trains after a hard day’s work.
The ugliest part of the incident was that one of the thugs snatched the crutches of an aged disabled person walking past the building and used it as a weapon to attack Lake House employees. The Yahapalana administration that ruled ANCL then turned a blind eye to the incident.
The situation was brought under control when the Special Task Force and Riot Police arrived at the location, and security around the premises was tightened following the incident.
After the incident, the Police said an investigation was launched when a female UNP Councillor lodged a complaint at the Fort Police station stating that she was assaulted during the incident!
No wonder, now it has been proved beyond doubt through publicised telephone conversations of an actor how `investigations' were carried out on the victims and not the culprits by the Yahapalana Government during the past five years and victims were imprisoned while the culprits were set free. The telephone conversations revealed the `rotten and evil mechanism’ of the Yahapalana Government.
The second and continued attack on selected Lake House journalists which lasted until November 17, 2019 was launched on the following day, December 14, 2018.
Journalists who were believed to be `Rajapaksa supporters' were the chosen ones. There was no evidence to prove they were supporters of the 2014 Government. A rumour to that effect circulated by the Yahapalana henchmen was adequate.
Thereafter, a few young and upcoming journalists who joined Lake House under the Yahapalana regime left the establishment realising the bitter truth of the `Yahapalana’. Only the henchmen of Yahapalana remained at Lake House wearing the masks of journalists.
Mental harassment
On December 14, 2018, the selected journalists were called to the bosses' rooms and reprimanded. They were threatened, and subjected to severe mental harassment. Consequently, they were transferred to other departments and some of the journalists' `journalistic positions' were discontinued and they were assigned as ordinary clerks.
Benefits such as allowances enjoyed by them were also taken away, due increments withheld and contracts not granted. Another ploy was to inaccurately calculate the work done by those innocent and independent journalists.
Some `bosses' well experienced in torturing employees in their previous workplaces, harassed these journalists. Some of the talented so-called Rajapaksa loyal journalists stagnated in the same positions without receiving their due increments and other allowances.
They were harassed even to the extent of placing their lives in danger, indirectly. Some who had health issues and other problems were subjected to various harassments, e.g. those who had difficulty in walking or standing were assigned night shifts and were compelled to work on all mercantile holidays. Lake House has flexible working hours and days for journalists but these journalists were not allowed to enjoy such privileges. Some Office Assistants and others were given salary increments as bribes and were used to harass these journalists.
Buddhists among them were not allowed to enjoy the Poya holiday, observe sil or engage in religious activities. All others belonging to other religions were allowed to do as they wished.
But the henchmen who supported the `torture mechanism’ of the Yahapalana regime still work for the Lake House newspapers and in the other departments without being harmed in any manner and enjoy the due salary and other perks under the present Government and Management. This shows the difference between the Yahapalana regime and the present Government.
Richard De Zoysa
Killing of journalists and destroying media freedom is not something new for the Yahapalana Government or for political parties in the former regime.
Richard Manik de Zoysa was a well-known Sri Lankan journalist, author, human rights activist and actor. He was abducted and murdered on February 18, 1990. His murder caused widespread outrage in the country, and is widely believed to have been carried out by a death squad linked to elements within the then (1990) Government.
At the time of his abduction and murder, de Zoysa was the head of the Colombo office of the Inter Press Service. He lived in the Welikadawatte housing estate with his mother, Dr. Manorani Saravanamuttu. In the wee hours on February 18, 1990, an armed group broke into their home, and forcibly removed de Zoysa and drove off without explanation.
His mother promptly lodged a complaint at the Welikada Police station. The following day de Zoysa’s lifeless body washed ashore at the Lunawa beach in Moratuwa, some 12 miles south of Colombo. He had been tortured, his body mutilated and his jaw broken. He had been shot on the head and the throat.
Speculation was rise that his dead body was dropped from a helicopter flying at a certain height with the expectation that the body would sink to the bottom of the sea and never be found. He was killed a week before he was due to leave Sri Lanka as the IPS Bureau Chief at the Lisbon office.
One of his close relatives, a Sri Lankan who was appointed to the New Zealand Parliament recently recalled the killing of Richard De Zoysa in her speech in Parliament, pointing out the need to respect human rights.
Thevis Guruge
Thevis Guruge was a distinguished broadcaster attached to (then) Radio Ceylon now Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC). He was the very first Sinhala Announcer at Radio Ceylon, the oldest radio station in South Asia. On July 23, 1989, Guruge (68) was killed by a group of young Sinhalese terrorists who called themselves Deshapremi Janatha Vyaparaya (DJV), the armed wing of a current small political party popularly known as `Three Percent’ (3%).
He was killed while he was taking his morning walk near his home on the bridge at Polhengoda Road in Narahenpita in south Colombo. He was shot with a T-56 assault rifle and five bullets were found in his body. The funeral took place on July 25, 1989 at the Borella general cemetery.
Premakeerthi de Alwis
During the 1987–89 DJV terror period Premakeerthi de Alwis, a radio broadcaster and lyricist received death threats allegedly from the DJV. But as a socialist, he did not take them seriously. Around 8.30 pm on July 31, 1989, armed men, allegedly from the DJV, stormed into de Alwis’ home in Homagama.
He tried to escape through the back door but more armed men were waiting in the back garden. His wife pleaded with the armed men and they assured her that they only wanted to question de Alwis.
They dragged him outside and shot him dead. His bullet ridden body was later found 200 yards from his home. His remains were cremated at the Borella general cemetery on August 7, 1989. De Alwis had two children, a daughter and a son.
Sagarika Gomes
Sagarika Gomes was a Sri Lankan newscaster and artist. An aspiring artist, she worked for the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC), the state run television channel. During the 1987–1989 JVP insurrection, employees of the Rupavahini Corporation and the Independent Television Network (ITN) were ordered by the Deshapremi Janatha Vyaparaya to suspend newscasting.
Coming under threat, many of the newscasters refused to present the evening news. On September 13, 1989, Sagarika was kidnapped from her home by a group of armed men. She was then taken to the beach, raped and killed.
Watchdogs
Journalists are the watchdogs of the people in the world. Sri Lankans are educated and have a high literacy rate but they tend to forget things in just a couple of weeks. Fortunately, however, they remember certain ugly incidents and make proper decisions when necessary. That is the reason they gave their mandate on May 1, 2017 at the Galle Face Green and showed the world their stance.
Since there was no legal possibility to exercise their mandate then, the people waited eagerly until February 10, 2018, when they got the chance to cast their vote legally and give their mandate.
The historic crutch attack on Lake House journalists took place just nine months after that. Hence, the attack was not only on Lake House journalists, it went against the people’s mandate.