THE PRAJATHANTHRA CONDEMNS THE ATTACK ON OPPOSITION’S SUNDAY NEWSPAPER, THE LAKMINA BY HURLING BOMBS AND ARSON
By Walter Jayawardhana reporting from Los Angeles
June 12. 02.20 AM: The Prajathanthra, Movement for Social Democracy and Foundation for Freedom of Expression has unreservedly condemned last Saturday’s attack on the office of the Sunday Lakmina newspaper, at Welikada, near Colombo and setting fire to stocks of newspapers there, by a reported gang that hurled bombs at the newspaper office and also damaged equipment in the premises.
A press release by the movement signed by its convener Lucien Rajakarunanayaka said The Sunday Lakmina was well known to be a pro-Opposition newspaper.
The release further said, “Although our organization is not in favor of the sensationalist journalism of the Lakmina, and also its use to promote intra-party factionalism, we do not consider these or any other reasons whatever to be sufficient cause for an attack on any newspaper office.”
The release said that while the attack on the Sunday Lakmina office was symptomatic of the increasing violence in our society, it was also necessary to take note that threats and attacks on the media or journalists tended to indicate the emergence of a regime of institutionalized violence.
“We consider he attack on the Sunday Lakmina office to be a direct attack on the Freedom of the Media, the Freedom of Expression of journalists and also the Freedom of Expression of the citizen, whoever the forces that were responsible for it.
“In this context, we call on the Government which makes proud claims of ensuring the Freedom of the Media, to take immediate steps to hold a genuinely impartial inquiry into attack on the office of the Sunday Lakmina, and take the most serious judicial action against whoever is found to be responsible for this, irrespective of position or status.”
