(CPJ/IFEX) – In a 20 August 1998 letter, the CPJ expressed deep dismay over President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga’s government’s expansion of censorship regulations governing media coverage of the civil war between the government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). On 17 August, the Defense Ministry imposed an immediate ban on […]
(CPJ/IFEX) – In a 20 August 1998 letter, the CPJ expressed deep dismay over
President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga’s government’s expansion of
censorship regulations governing media coverage of the civil war between the
government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
On 17 August, the Defense Ministry imposed an immediate ban on publishing
any news regarding the transfer of officers within the government security
forces’ high command. The ministry maintained that such information could be
used by the LTTE in devising their own military strategy.
Background Information
When Defense Secretary Chandrananda de Silva announced, on June 5, that the
president was introducing regulations “prohibiting the publication and
transmission of sensitive military information,” CPJ joined the press in Sri
Lanka in condemning this anti-democratic move. CPJ noted, in a letter sent
on 9 June, that the regulations are exceptionally harsh, and all the more
troubling for the military’s direct role in deciding what is censored. CPJ
is alarmed that instead of responding to these concerns, the government has
decided to further restrict an already muzzled press.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to the president:
upon coming to power in 1994, promising to strengthen constitutional
guarantees for a free press
latest moves by the
administration are in “flagrant violation” of that pledge
resolved through an open exchange of information and ideas, and so once
again urging her to lift the restrictions placed on both the foreign and
local news media
Appeals To
Her Excellency Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga
President of Sri Lanka
Colombo, Sri Lanka
Fax: +94 1 446 657
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
