Journalists for Rights organization urges the government not to arrest and remand people for offences that can be severely warned for the first time.
Journalists for Rights issued this statement while a number of social media users have been arrested by police for the alleged spread of fake news. Meanwhile, the opposition MP Imitiaz Bakir Markar accused the government of compiling a list of 200 journalists and social media users who criticize the government.
Following is the full statement of the Journalists for Rights:
Journalists for Rights thoroughly believe
that even ordinary citizens who use social media must act wisely and
responsibly. However, we request the authorities not to manipulate errors
committed by some of the social media users to terrify social media users,
journalists and citizens in society.
We extend our fullest
corporation to act against fake news and hate speech. However, we emphasize the
need for being unbiased and unselective. We re-emphasize that the
responsibility of the state is to implement law equally without specialization.
The government has a
responsibility to increase the media literacy of the citizens. Citizens must be
educated on the laws and ethics related to the use of new media like social
media. We earnestly request the authorities not to arrest and remand people for
offences that can be severely warned for the first time.
None of the actions of
the government must negatively affect the freedom of speech and the freedom of
expression guaranteed by the Constitution of Sri Lanka and media freedom.
We highlight that the responsibility of a democratic government is to encourage
the journalists and citizens who communicate information and opinion ethically
and legally.
This New York Times article is impressive. Rajpal Abenayake is one of the few really professional journalists of this country. What he says is highly important despite his present day extreme partiality towards the government which goes so deep to name the journalist accused of killed by the government as terrorists using journalism as a cover. The statement at least admits the responsibility of the assassinations.
Actually, the government too has a logic behind its acts although some of them lack democratic values.
For instance, Rajpal said that those who had fled the country were either working as agents of the countries they fled to or were looking for free tickets out.
“They are economic migrants,” he said, “just like these people who get on boats to Australia.”
He seems not to have worries about his selection to be a pro-government media handler. “All journalists to a very great extent are forced to toe a certain line,” he said. “In the end, you gravitate to a place where the management views are in consonance with yours. And I have gravitated to that place.”
But what Dilrukshi Handunnetti says is also true. “You really cannot question them,” said Dilrukshi Handunnetti, the senior deputy editor of Ceylon Today. “It’s just not allowed. You are expected to stay forever grateful that they delivered us from war.” Ms. Handunnetti described Sri Lankan journalism, including her own newspaper, as “a collective lame duck.”
(May 05, Colombo - Lanka Polity)We hail the Presidential pardon to English writing Tamil journalist J.S. Tissainayagam who was sentenced to twenty years by a Sri Lanka court for charges framed under draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). This move can lead to building up of national harmony and promotion of democracy.
Tissainayagam was sentenced to twenty years rigorous imprisonment by a motive to teach a lesson to the pro-Tamil nationalist media. President Mahinda Rajapaksa provided amnesty to him a year after the victory in the war against Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE) to show how democratic his rule is now and to mend the friendship with the Western countries that were traditional allies of Sri Lanka. This action looks directly linked with the government's attempt to regain G.S.P. Plus tariff concessions from European Union.
Amidst war, a number of journalists that criticized the military project of the government were killed and some were harassed and detained. After the war, another set of journalists that were supporting ex-Army Commander and Presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka's power project were either arrested or intimidated.
Few social activists of Sri Lanka were bold enough to take part locally in the international campaign to get Tissainayagam freed. The organizers of the meeting held in Colombo last year to protest the sentence and to urge the release of Tissainayagam were in utmost difficulty to find a venue for the meeting. Even the administration of the Jayawardhana Center where the meeting was held eventually wanted to cancel the event. Journos were scanty among the around one hundred participants of activists of this event. Tissainayagam's elderly father delivered a marvelous speech, I remember.
The fate of Tissainayagam also opened doors for a flow of money for some NGOs appearing to fight for press freedom and democracy.
Some mean characters that were holding the positions of these organizations stopped all media activities they were engaged in, if there was any, and began to find avenues to migrate to Western European countries that are socially better developed. Some of Tissainayagam's political friends were so organized that they were able to get the entire families migrated manipulating the news stories they themselves got planted in friendly media.
There are some others that fled the country actually to get rid of their wives and children. Some persons were responsible for swindling huge sums of money from the accounts of the organizations for press freedom.
Some of these thieves are now writing sensitive poetry while the majority of them do nothing except greedily devouring the newfound fantasies. The major thing they were not doing while they were in Sri Lanka also was non other than writing to media.
Most probably Tisainayagam will also migrate out of Sri Lanka with his family possibly to join the lot above mentioned. But we think Tissainayagam still can do a service to his community he fought for if he remains Tissainayagam. He will be like jailed for life if he will be caught again in another unscrupulous project of some of the artful dodgers he was in association earlier.
(January 30, Colombo - Lanka Polity) Sri Lanka government has taken strict measures to control media. Press offices have been rounded, sealed, raided and one journalist is disappeared since January 24. Prageeth Ekneligoda, a freelance journalist and cartoonist disappeared and his whereabouts are yet to be known.
A body that floated in the Kelani River today was later identified as one of a disabled man who committed suicide. The family and friends of Ekneligoda were alarmed of the news but breathed a temporary sigh of relief later.
Lanka-e-News, a pro-opposition website was rounded by a group yesterday and the staff found was illegally sealed by this morning.
CID raided the office of the 'Lanka' Sinhala weekly today and the editor of the newspaper Chandana Sirimalwatta that went to the CID was detained for grilling regarding an article published in his newspaper. Defense secretary and President's brother Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said to Divaina Sinhala newspaper that an article in the latest issue of Lanka newspaper insulted him.
In the latest development, the government cancelled visa of a Swiss Public Radio journalist that angered Minister Susil Prema Jayantha, the secretary of the ruling coalition at a press conference questioning about the election malpractices.
The German language journalist Ms. Karin Wenger, 30, who is based in the Indian capital, New Delhi, said on Friday that the Sri Lankan immigration service had cancelled her accreditation since February 01, which was originally valid until February 17. A spokesman for the radio said no reasons had been given for the expulsion.
(January 08, Colombo - Lanka Polity) “A year has gone by without any progress in the investigation into his murder,” Lal Wickrematunge said today to Reporters Without Borders, on the eve of the first anniversary of the fatal shooting of his brother, Lasantha Wickrematunge, the Colombo-based Sunday Leader’s well-known managing editor. It is Lal who has replaced him at the helm of investigative weekly, some of whose journalists were recently threatened.
“When finally I am killed, it will be the government that kills me,” Lasantha Wickrematunge wrote in an editorial that was published after his death. Known for his revelations and criticism of the government, he was called a “terrorist journalist” by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, while the president’s brother, defence minister Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, used the courts in a bid to silence him and tried to smear his reputation in foreign press intervieāļ s after his death.
“The emotion and anger have not gone away in the year since this famous Sri Lankan journalist’s death,” Reporters Without Borders said. “The anger is being sustained by the government’s flagrant obstruction of the investigation. Lasantha Wickrematunge’s name and memory will not disappear and, in that sense, those who were behind his murder made a mistake.
“Even if these criminals continue to feel sufficiently protected that they can threaten the Sunday Leader’s new editor in messages written in the same red ink, we are confident that one day they will be punished.”
The press freedom organisation added: “We urge the various candidates for the 26 January presidential election to pledge to shed light on this murder and on the other serious press freedom violations that have taken place in recent years and to punish the perpetrators and instigators severely. Some candidates are promising the truth. We hope this is not just words.”
Lal Wickrematunge told Reporters Without Borders: “After a 10-month investigation, the case was transferred to the criminal investigation department but since then they have not taken any serious statements. They called me once, but not again. The examination of the case before the courts has been postponed 24 times. Each time, the police say they don’t have enough evidence. And the only eye witness has been missing for months.”
Lasantha’s widow, Sonali Samarasinghe Wickrematunge, herself a journalist and lawyer who has sought refugee abroad, said in an email to Reporters Without Borders: “One year later, no progress has been made (...) Accusations are being hurled in a desperate attempt to exploit the issue for political gain.”
The murdered journalist’s relatives and friends will meet at his grave in Colombo tomorrow and then participate in series of activities in his memory. Lasantha was attacked by four gunmen on motorcycles as he was driving to work on 8 January 2009. He was taken unconscious to a hospital where he died from his head injuries.
Sri Lanka was ranked 162nd out of 175 countries in the 2009 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index. This was the worst ranking of any democratic country.
(December 30, Colombo - Lanka Polity) Reporters Without Borders says its concern in 2009 has been the mass exodus of journalists from repressive countries such as Iran and Sri Lanka. The authorities in these countries have understood that by pushing journalists into exile, they can drastically reduce pluralism of ideas and the amount of criticism they attract. “This is a dangerous tendency and it must be very strongly condemned,” Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Jean-François Julliard said as the review of Press freedom in 2009 was released.
The review says that the Journalists are most at risk in the Americas (501 cases), particularly when they expose drug-trafficking or local potentates. Asia comes next with 364 cases of this kind, chiefly in Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal.
"Media access is not always properly observed, as evidenced in provincial polling in the Tamil areas of Sri Lanka," says the report. "The courage shown by journalists this year before and after elections earned them periods in custody, mistreatment and prison sentences that were in some cases extremely harsh. These post-election crackdowns should stimulate the international community to seek better ways of protecting the press after rigged election results are announced.
“This wave of violence bodes ill for 2010, when crucial elections are scheduled in Côte d’Ivoire, Sri Lanka, Burma, Iraq and the Palestinian Territories” said Reporters Without Borders, which often carries out media monitoring during election campaigns."
At least 167 journalists are in prison around the world at the end of 2009. One would need to go back to the 1990s to find so many of them in jail. Although the UN special rapporteur on freedom of expression keeps reiterating that imprisonment is a disproportionate punishment for press offences, many governments keep laws that allow them to jail journalists, and continue to abuse these laws. The sentences given to journalists in Cuba, China, Sri Lanka and Iran are as harsh as those imposed for terrorism or violent crime.
For the first time, the Reporters Without Borders annual roundup includes figures for journalists who have been forced to leave their countries because of threats to their lives or liberty. A total of 157 journalists went into exile in the past year, often in very harsh conditions. Among the countries where the exodus of journalists and bloggers was particularly dramatic were Iran, with more than 50 fleeing, and Sri Lanka, with 29.
(December 24, Colombo - Lanka Polity) The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today released the report of a press freedom mission to Sri Lanka, identifying key challenges for the country's journalists and media at the end of 25 years of internal conflict and the inauguration of a new phase of political contests.
Media stakeholders who met with the mission during its visit to Sri Lanka in November identified the current political circumstances as embodying numerous threats and opportunities.
The entry of a former army commander into the race for the Presidency next year has thrown the contest open and provided an opportunity for local media to create more space for itself. At the same time, the heightened intensity of the political contest may also engender threats.
Certain new flashpoints have emerged in the always fraught relationship between the media and political power-holders. Any form of reckoning with the tactical decisions made during the final stages of the war earlier this year and the humanitarian consequences is actively discouraged. Despite
this element of coercion on the media, this issue has been coming up in the campaign debates between rival candidates for the presidency.
The opposition's common candidate for the presidency, General Sarath Fonseka, has made special mention about the abuses suffered by the media during the years of war, especially in its final stages. If elected, he has committed himself to addressing these abuses in a spirit of candour and reconciliation. The media community is encouraged by these commitments, though certain among them recall his own far from spotless record, especially when it involved media criticism of his war-time role as Sri
Lanka's army commander.
The actual record of addressing past abuses has been dismal, with little progress recorded in the investigation of the most conspicuous cases, including the murder of Lasantha Wickramatunge in January 2009.
The report documents the current stage of the investigations into this and other cases. It inquires into the conviction of J.S. Tissainayagam on terrorism charges and examines the credibility of the prosecution case, especially in view of the unconditional discharge of two of his co-accused.
In a climate of intolerance, several journalists are being induced to give up efforts to obtain redress for violations of their rights. The mission observed that journalists are being required to withdraw applications under the fundamental rights provisions of the Constitution merely to be set at
liberty after prolonged periods in wrongful detention. In the judgment of the mission, this is a grossly unequal exchange.
Recent moves by the Government to revive a coercive form of media regulation, embodied in a 1973 legislation, have been opposed by journalists and publishers, who have renewed their commitment to a code of self-regulation.
The mission report concludes with recommendations that would set the relationship between the media and the Sri Lankan state on a different course. These include the return of all exiled Sri Lankan journalists, the unfettering of state media institutions so that they are able freely and fairly to report on the ongoing election campaign, the conversion of these institutions into a public service trust, the enactment of right to information legislation, and the addressing of all past abuses in a spirit of truth and reconciliation.
The mission report will soon be released in Sinhala and Tamil.
(December 09, Colombo - Lanka Polity) The political parties and candidate’s participating in next month’s elections must make press freedom and the protection of journalists a priority, Reporters Without Borders said today, after a group of state TV journalists were roughed up while covering an opposition meeting during the weekend.
“These elections are crucial for the country’s future, but they will not be considered democratic if there is no press freedom,” Reporters Without Borders said. “The government and opposition must, as a matter of urgency, undertake to guarantee that all the media, regardless of their editorial line, will be free to go anywhere and interview whomever they want.
“The state-owned print media and TV stations must also provide balanced coverage, which is definitely not the case at the moment. By forcing the government media to campaign against the opposition, the president is putting journalists in danger, because they are being associated with him and his allies.
“The continuing ban on media visits to the north and the violence against state TV journalists at a meeting held by the opposition United National Party bode ill for the climate in which these elections will take place,” Reporters Without Borders warned.
Seven journalists working for state TV stations Rupavahini and ITN were slightly injured and their equipment was damaged when they were manhandled outside the location where the UNP had been holding a convention in Colombo on 5 December. UNP parliamentarian Ravi Karunanayake told Reporters Without Borders his party was not involved in the violence. At the same time, he confirmed that the journalists had not been invited to the meeting.
“As long as the state media continue to give a biased account of our activities, we will not invite them,” Karunanayake said. “We provided accreditation to about 100 journalists for this event and no one complained of any violence.” The opposition has even accused the government of orchestrating the incident for political purposes.
Reporters Without Borders added: “Opposition supporters may well be exasperated by the state media’s extremely biased coverage of political developments, but this kind of violence undermines their message.”
Media and information minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa called a news conference to express the government’s “anger” about the incident, which the police are investigating. His condemnation came just days after the government extended a ban on media visits to the north of the country, where tens of thousands of Tamil civilians have just been allowed to leave detention camps.
The three main Tamil dailies in Jaffna received threatening letters on 24 November accusing them of playing into the hands of the “terrorists.”
The Tamil journalist J.S. Tissainayagam must also be released before the elections, as there was no hard evidence to support his conviction and his detention therefore threatens the freedom of expression of all Tamil journalists.
(November 14, Colombo - Lanka Polity) Frank La Rue, the UN Human Rights Council's special rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression he is "perplexed" by Sri Lankan government's reluctance to allow him for a fact finding mission despite unofficially agreeing for the visit months ago. He says to BBC that he has been making the request unofficially since March this year and sent an official letter seeking permission to visit Sri Lanka in August or September but for no response from Sri Lankan mission in Geneva.
Sri Lanka government, as well as the defeated Tamil rebel organization LTTE, are accused of curtailing press freedom during the decades of conflict. The government earlier admitted that at least nine journalists had been killed since January 2006.
Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka, an organization of self-exiled Sri Lankan journalists say that more than 50 journalists have fled the country in fear of their lives.
A Sri Lankan court recently sentenced Tamil journalist J.N. Tissainayagam for 20 years under draconian anti-terrorism laws.
Sri Lankan media is under tight control of the government and the media persons say they have imposed self-censor on them in fear of threats.
(November 06, Colombo - Lanka Polity) Reporters Without Borders condemns journalist A.S. Mani’s detention in the southeastern state of Tamil Nadu on a criminal defamation charge. Mani, who edits the Tamil weekly Naveena Netrikkan, was arrested in the city of Chennai without arrest warrant, on 25 October, as a result of libel suit by a local businessman.
“Mani is the latest victim of Indian laws that criminalise defamation,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Misuse of the laws governing defamation and slander pose a permanent danger to Indian journalists. These laws are contrary to international press freedom standards and must be amended without delay.”
Reporters Without Borders has registered a growing number of cases of arrests of journalists and censorship in India in the past two months, including the arrest of another Tamil journalist (http://www.rsf.org/Tamil-Nadu-edito...), a refusal to issue a visa (http://www.rsf.org/No-visa-for-Germ...) and the detention of a journalist in the eastern state of Orissa (http://www.rsf.org/Reporter-who-acc...). And the federal government has just banned foreign reporters from going to the easternmost state of Arunachal Pradesh to cover a visit by the Dalai Lama.
After 10 journalists were physically attacked by police in the northeastern state of Manipur on 10 October, more than 100 journalists staged a protest, handing in their press cards on the grounds that they offered no protection against abusive treatment by officials.
Mani was arrested at his home in Chennai at 5:30 a.m. on 25 October as a result of a complaint by local businessman Pottu Suresh over a report published two days earlier linking Suresh to political corruption.
Mani was detained under article 502 of the criminal code concerning the publication of defamatory printed material but he is reportedly also being prosecuted under articles 153A, 503 and 505, which concern incitement of hatred and public alarm and which carry heavier sentences.
Naveena Netrikkan Special Correspondent Parthiban Mani told Reporters Without Borders: “A.S. Mani’s arrest and continuing detention are unwarranted. We firmly condemn the behaviour of the Tamil Nadu government and the Madurai police, and we call for our colleague’s release.”
Because of the possibility of harassment by fellow inmates, Mani was transferred to Puzhai prison in the state capital, Chennai.
(October 26, Colombo - Lanka Polity)Suspicions are mounting if Sri Lanka's 'unknown assailants' are ahead of killing the first woman journalist in the killing and intimidation spree of journalists.
The editors at The Sunday Leader say they are under threat. Last Thursday, October 22, Frederica Jansz, Editor-in-Chief of this newspaper and Munza Mushtaq, News Editor were both sent two hand written death threats by post. The two letters are identical — written in red ink and appear to have been posted on October 21.
Similar letters were received by late Editor-in-Chief of the The Sunday Leader who was shot by unidentified gunmen on motorcycles as he drove to work in the city suburbs on January 08, 2009.
On 28 September, a gang of unidentified people threatened her and tried to forcefully gain access to the property of female Journalist and media rights activist, Dileesha Abeysundera, who writes to the Sinhala language sister newspaper of The Sunday Leader. In June, Krishni Ifam, a Tamil reporter who works for media development NGO Internews was kidnapped from outside her home in the capital Colombo and held for a day by people claiming to be the police.
Sri Lanka is among the bottom 20 countries in the World Press Freedom Index. Sri Lanka jailed a Tamil journalist for 20 years under the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act in September.
(September 27, Colombo - Lanka Polity)Several leading media organizations of Sri Lanka call for all citizens who value freedom in all its forms to staunchly oppose the reactivation of the draconian Press Council and to agitate for the release of our colleague J.S. Tissainayagam who was branded a terrorist and sentenced for 20 years under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).
"We can achieve these objectives only through a show of commitment and solidarity. Hence, a large gathering of journalists, civil society activists, political parties, artistes, religious leaders and civic minded citizens who wish to fight for a just and free society will come together on September 29 at the Jayewardene Center, Dharmapala Mawatha, Colombo 07 (opposite Vihara Maha Devi Park) at 4 pm.
"We intend initiating a people’s petition against the reactivation of the Press Council and invite you in your capacity as a socially conscious citizen who wishes to safeguard democracy in our motherland to join hands with those likeminded others at this event," says the media organizations in a statement.
The organizations that convene this meeting are:
The Editor’s Guild of Sri Lanka Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association Federation of Media Employee's Trade Union Sri Lanka Muslim Media Forum Sri Lanka Tamil Media Alliance Free Media Movement National Forum of Journalists
(August 29, 2009 - Lanka Polity) In a press release issued to mark the 26th International Day of the Disappeared on 30 August, Reporters Without Borders has provided a grim reminder that nothing has been heard, sometimes for years, of scores of journalists, who have been kidnapped, arrested or simply kept “appointments” that turned out to be traps in many countries including Sri Lanka.
Mexico, where eight journalists have disappeared since the year 2000, has been identified as the country most affected by this plague while Sri Lanka is mentioned next to that country.
Press release says "In January 2009, The International Press Freedom Mission to Sri Lanka condemned the “culture of impunity and indifference” surrounding the disappearances of journalists in the country. Soldiers arrested Subramaniam Ramachandran, correspondent for Tamil dailies Thinakural and Valampuri, close to a military camp, Kalikai Junction, in the north of Jaffna, in the north of the country on 15 February 2007. His family has heard nothing of him since then. He had been reporting on the illegal trade in sand, implicating a businessman and members of the military. The Jaffna office of the Human Rights Commission handled the case and it was referred to the military authorities, including the commander in chief for the Jaffna region. But as lawyer Mudiyapu Remedias explained, in this type of case “everyone is afraid of challenging the army, which denied any involvement”.
"Vadivel Nimalarajah, a sub-editor on the popular Tamil daily in Jaffna, Uthayan, which is highly critical of the government, has not been heard of since 17 November 2007 when, colleagues believe, he was abducted while cycling home after working overnight at the paper."
“Whether carried out by agents of the state or local criminals bent on settling scores, the many disappearances of journalists highlights the fact that the enemies of press freedom have no hesitation in using the most cowardly and despicable methods to gag journalists. We restate our support for the families of the disappeared and we share the pain they suffer in the waiting and uncertainty about their fate”, the worldwide press freedom organisation said.
“We urge the relevant authorities to systematically take these disappearances seriously and to open the badly-needed investigations to find these missing journalists and punish those responsible. It is moreover incredible that cases of ‘enforced disappearance’ implicating agents of the state or those acting with its support can still be going on around the world. We urge countries that have signed the International Convention for the Protection of Persons from Enforced Disappearance to ratify the law as quickly as possible so that it can be put into force”, it added.
(August 08, 2009 - Lanka Polity) Sri Lanka that boasts to be a great nation, especially following the defeat of the Tamil Ealam nationalist movement Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE) is trying to be example to world in many other phenomenons as well other than 'defeating terrorism.'
But some other more backward nations are more forward in some points and Sri Lanka has to follow them, at least for some time until this 'big miracle' overtake them.
This news highlights what can happen in Sri Lanka in recent future.
DAKAR, 7 August 2009 (IRIN) - Rights groups have criticized the two-year jail sentences meted out in the Gambia to six journalists for publishing a statement criticizing President Yahya Jammeh. The journalists, working for The Point and Foroyaa newspapers, were sentenced on charges of sedition and criminal defamation for publishing a 11 June press union statement criticizing the president’s comments on the unsolved murder of Deyda Hydara, editor of The Point. "Despite President Jammeh's earlier claims to respect press freedom and freedom of speech, he has now sealed Gambia’s last remaining independent voices," the Committee to Protect Journalists’ Africa programme coordinator, Tom Rhodes, told IRIN. Reporters Without Borders said in a 6 August statement: “We will soon run out of words to express our outrage at President Yahya Jammeh’s government and its behaviour towards journalists. Is it a crime to express an opinion and ask government officials to explain their actions? Appealing for what is regarded as transparency in other countries is a crime punishable by imprisonment in Gambia.” The sentences are the most recent in a string of arrests and journalist detentions in the Gambia since President Jammeh came to power. President Jammeh said in a June statement: “They [journalists] think they can hide behind so-called press freedom and violate the law and get away with it. They got it wrong this time. We are going to prosecute them to the letter.” The defense will reportedly appeal the verdict.
(July 04, 2009) A clash seemingly erupted between a newspaper editor and an alternate media journalist of Sri Lanka has risen to the height of the editor asking for blood of the journalist.
The side of the journalist say that the editor threatened him saying he would inform a senior defense authority that the journalist was abetting terrorism.
As the journalist is taking action for his safety, the newspapers linked to the editor is now openly saying that the journalist is trying to escape from the country.
The local and international media organizations are silent regarding the incident.
On the day, the Working Sri Lanka Journalists' Association secretary Poddala Jayantha was abducted and assaulted, while having a discussion with the media organizations, the President Mahinda Rajapakse proposed the journalists to settle the conflicts among them, reported Ravaya editor-in-chief Victor Ivan.
We thoroughly emphasize that the first step to bring democracy to Sri Lankan society is to demilitarize the media
