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Govt. downplays damage, denies involvement | Attack on Uthayan newspaper
View(s):Round the clock police guard since 2006 attack found sleeping on the job, literally
By Chris Kamalendran
There was excitement in the air as Sathkunanathan Vijayachandran, 39, chief machine operator at the Uthayan newspaper in Jaffna, was busy preparing the final bundles of the newly printed paper for dispatch around 4.45 a.m. last Saturday. Everyone was eager to get the papers ready and out – they were looking forward to joining their families to celebrate the approaching New Year holidays.
A Govt. Analyst Dept official along with policemen inspect the damage in the latest attack. Pix by T. Premananth
Silently, amid the bustle, two men in jackets, their faces covered by helmets, entered the machine room. One of them walked up to Mr Vijayachandran and ordered him to take his staff and leave. “Get out of the building immediately,” the man said.
Mr. Vijayachandran who has been 10 years in service with the Uthayan, Jaffna’s largest circulation Tamil daily, ignored the man. He was concentrating on his work and didn’t scent danger.
One of the intruders then pulled out a gun from a bag he was carrying and fired two warning shots, startling the machine operator. “I realised the situation was not good and they might try to kill us,” said Mr Vijayachandran, who had experienced a horrifying attack on the Uthayan in May 2006, in which intruders using guns and grenades killed two people and injured five others at the newspaper’s office.
“I decided to take my staff (three others) and escape to the backyard.” “We jumped over a wall and escaped into a neighbour’s compound,” Mr Vijayachandran told the Sunday Times this week. “We heard two more gunshots.” “As we lay in hiding, not sure what was happening to the other workers inside the building, wondering if the intruders were trying to kill people in order to attack the presses.” There had been five other workers on the upper floor.
After about half-an-hour, Mr Vijayachandran and his men crept out and returned to the press room. “When we went to the machine room it was on fire. With the help of the other staff, we managed to douse the flames,” the veteran printer said.
The first Uthayan employee to encounter the intruders had been security guard Joseph Vaz Judson, 33, who had joined the staff two months ago.
“Two people came up to my desk at the entrance and ordered me to leave. They spoke in Tamil and used bad language,” Mr. Judson said. “I had no choice, so I bolted up to the first floor and hid there.” After about 15 minutes, cowering in the dark in the editorial office, the guard ventured out.
“I came running down and went to look for the policeman who has been stationed there. He was sleeping in his room. I woke him and told him what had happened,” Mr Judson said. The policeman was unarmed and helpless against the armed intruders who had, in any event, disappeared by then.
The paper has been under police guard since the 2006 incident.Mr. Judson then went looking for the others in the building. There had been about nine employees on the Uthayan premises at the time. He woke up three who had been sleeping in a different section of the office.
They tried contacting the Jaffna police station, but failed to speak to anyone. They then tried to contact the police emergency numbers, but without success. Eventually, they managed to get through to the Officer-in-Charge at Headquarters, Chief Inspector Saman Sigera.
By then, senior staff and other employees had arrived at the scene. Apprised of the incident, Chairman- New Uthayan Publications (Pvt) Ltd and TNA Jaffna District MP Eswarapathan Sarvanapavan, left Colombo immediately for Jaffna.
Though the attack was widely condemned, the Government went on the offensive. Media Centre for National Security (MCNS) Director General, Lakshman Hulugalle, speaking hours after the incident, claimed it was an “inside job”.
This drew a scornful response from Mr Sarvanapavan, who told media that the police were adept at closing down investigations based on “guessed intelligence”. He added, the police had only one ability, and that was to close down an investigation within hours of its commencement. He said the police officers who had visited the scene had completed their investigation within hours and concluded it was an inside job. “The incident took place around 4 a.m. and by 10 a.m. the investigation was over,” Mr. Saravanapavan said.
The Government claimed that the damage to the Uthayan’s presses were minimal, with only a few paper reels burnt while the printing press was intact. The Government’s Media Spokesman, Minister Keheliya Rambukwella, said the paper was continuing to be printed as usual.
Mr. Saravanapavan rejected this. “Our web offset machine has been torched completely. Now we are doing all right with the sheet spread machine,” he said. The new arrangements, which necessitated more labour, had forced a reduction in the number of pages from 32 to 12.
Photographs taken by our correspondent show considerable damage to the offset printing machine and other equipment, including the switchboard. Military spokesman Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya also said the paper had given an inflated idea of the damage.
“According to preliminary investigations carried out by the authorities, the damage caused by the latest attack is not excessive. Only three paper rolls are partially burnt, along with a few papers, no damage to any printing machines,” he said.
He rejected allegations that the military was responsible for the attack, saying the military forces were duty-bound to protect constitutional rights. “Freedom of expression is one of the guaranteed rights,” the Brigadier said.
“Criticism of the Government and the military was common in the country’s media,” he said, indicating that it was “an interesting phenomenon” that only the Uthayan claimed being subject to continual attacks. On Friday last week, officials of the Government Analyst’s Department visited the Uthayan presses to begin their investigations.
A democracy sans respect for press freedom, rule of law: Editors’ Guild
The Editors’ Guild of Sri Lanka (TEGOSL) condemned the latest attack on the Uthayan newspaper office and press in Jaffna, and said, “This portrays a dismal picture of the country’s overall image as a democracy that respects both the freedom of the press and the rule of law.”
The following is the full text of TEGOSL statement:-
The Editors’ Guild of Sri Lanka views with great alarm the continuous attacks on the Editorial offices and presses of the Uthayan newspapers published in the Northern Province. The incidents of arson and intimidation on the eve of the Sinhala and Tamil New Year (April 13th morning) are the third such attack on this group of newspapers this year.
The fact that there is a pattern in these attacks is clear. So too is the fact that these attacks are being carried out with impunity; the armed party moving freely in the knowledge that they will not be apprehended. The Editors’ Guild of Sri Lanka also condemns the statement issued by the Military Spokesman who belittles these attacks and particularly the latest one suggesting it was self-inflicted, and that, only a few rolls of newsprint were destroyed.
While the attacks may serve the political objectives of certain parties, they portray a dismal picture of the country’s overall image as a democracy that respects both the freedom of the press and the rule of law.”
US urges to protect freedom of expression
The US State Department’s Acting Deputy Spokesman Patrick Ventrell last Monday condemned the latest attack on the Uthayan newspaper and urged the Sri Lankan authorities to protect freedom of expression, to conduct a credible investigation, and to hold perpetrators accountable
In response to a question by a reporter, Mr. Ventrell said the incident is the latest in a series of attacks against this outlet and media organisations in general. “And, as we have said many times, we remain extremely concerned about threats to freedom of expression in Sri Lanka.
We urge the Sri Lankan authorities to protect freedom of expression, to conduct a credible investigation, and to hold perpetrators accountable. Support for media freedom was one of the many recommendations of the LLRC report, and a component of the recent UNHRC resolution in Geneva,” he said.
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