‘Equal Rights’ awareness campaign disrupted by Police .

Campaign in Jaffna

Police interrupted a banner-signing campaign held in Borella, which was one of a series of awareness programs held island-wide today (23rd) by the Movement for Equal Rights (MER). The MER had begun the program entitled “no to another black July”, around 9am in the town of Borella, when police officers attached to the Borella police station arrived at the location and informed them to stop the campaign and remove the banner.

Sri Lanka: One more restriction on NGOs; No funds without Govt approval

Sri Lanka: NGos protest restrictions

No foreign funds without approval: Ministry

The Finance and Planning Ministry has informed all Non-Governmental Organisations that they should receive prior approval from the Ministry prior to obtaining foreign funds. The notice comes hot on the heels of the Government strongly criticising the foreign aid programme carried out by USAID.  It had planned to provide US$190 million dollars for a programme titled, Election Support Through Voter Education (ESVE)' but later withdrew it following protests.

Sri Lanka: Police attempts to intimidate leading dissident writer Gamini Viyangoda

Ganimi Viyanggoda ( facebook photo)

A state-sponsored operation is underway to intimidate journalists, civil society activists and politicians who publicly criticize certain actions of the government. Under this operation, neighbours of such activists receive calls, purportedly from the CID, asking them about details of such persons.  UNP leadership council member Mangala Samaraweera said there have been many such instances, adding these activists are being intimidated through their neighbours. According to reports reaching Sri Lanka Mirror, the CID has called neighbours of senior literary figure Gamini Viyangoda too.

- Sri Lanka Mirror

Sri Lanka: TID harasses Tamil journalist in Mannaar

S.R. Lambart

The ‘Terrorist’ Investigation Division operated under the direct control of the Sri Lankan Defence Ministry has again harassed Tamil journalist S.R. Lambart from Mannaar, media sources in North said. The interrogators of genocidal SL military have been harassing the journalist to disclose his email password for the second time while claiming they had tapped a news story as originated from his email address.  The journalist was first interrogated by the Sri Lankan TID six months ago on 09 December 2013.

Sri Lanka: Journalists threatened whilst documenting appropriation of Tamil land

Journalists who went to report on the preemptive surveying of private Tamil land that was in a land appropriation dispute in court, were threatened by the Sri Lankan navy on Friday. Threats were made to the journalists as they attempted to photograph and document the Sri Lankan navy surveying private Tamil land that the government was in the process of appropriating, reports Uthayan. "This is our region, you cannot take photographs within this," warned navy personnel, whilst taking photographs of the journalists

TG

Sri Lanka: The art of mishandling policy; From Aluthgama, to asylum seekers, NGOs, the Govt. wallows in (negative) publicity

President in trouble ( AFP)

Ranga Jayasuriya
There is something strange in this government. It is wallowing in negative publicity. The sequence of events during the last couple of weeks has given it a steady supply of negative publicity which would prop up its already grim reputation. First, it lets loose a motley group of Sinhala Buddhist ultra nationalist groups such as Bodu Bala Sena, Sinhala Ravaya, Ravana Balaya and so on. Then, the marauding mobs and youth instigated by hate filled sermons, went on rampage in Aluthgama, triggering a sectarian confrontation – the first major clash between the Sinhalese and Muslims since 1915.

Sri Lanka: Writing on the wall for errant INGOs, NGOs - State media

Editorial, The Sunday Observer

Some Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and their funding agents in International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGOs) have acted in the most unbecoming manner in Sri Lanka. They even played a sinister role during Sri Lanka's relentless battle against terrorism from 2006 till mid-2009.

Sri Lanka: BASL slams MOD circular to NGOs

MOD letterSri Lanka’s leading lawyers collective has slammed the circular issued to Non-Governmental Organisations by the National Secretariat for NGOs, under the Ministry of Defense and Urban Development. The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) says the said circular violates fundamental principles that govern Sri Lanka’s free and democratic society, which is guaranteed by the constitution.

Sri Lanka: Enemy at the Gates; Targeting Freedom of Expression

K.D.C.Kumarage

"It is clear that the freedom of expression and opinion is a fundamental right, the mother of all rights." - Abid Hussain, UN Special Rapporteur on the Freedom of Information, Speech in Sri Lanka, 1999.

A notice has been issued by one D.M.S, Dissanayake as the director/registrar of the NGO Secretariat in a letterhead of the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development warning the NOGs that they are acting beyond their mandates by conducting press conferences and workshops, training journalists and disseminating press releases.

Sri Lanka: Foreign Ministry Says Ban On NGOs Is A Reiteration Of Existing Laws

The External Affairs Ministry has stated that the ban on NGOs imposed by the government is nothing but a reiteration of existing rules and regulations pertaining to non-governmental organizations.

Explaining the legal background pertaining to NGOs, the External Affairs Ministry said,” all NGOs registered with the NGO Secretariat are liable to submit annual Action Plans containing details of the activities which would be undertaken in the forthcoming year for approval.”

Sri Lanka bans activist groups from contact with media

 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka has banned activist groups and NGOs from holding press conferences and issuing press releases, a Defence Ministry circular says, raising new concerns over freedom of expression in the island nation. The circular, dated July 1, also outlaws NGOs and civil society organizations holding workshops for journalists. "This is a continuation of threats on civil society," J.C. Weliamuna, head of Transparency International in Sri Lanka and a human rights lawyer, told reporters.

Warning to NGOs: MOD says no warning only reminder

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) today played down the instructions issued to Non-Governmental Organisations on the need to stick to their mandate. Defence Ministry spokesman Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya said that the instructions were issued as a mere reminder and it was nothing new. “This is not a strengthening of regulations,” Brigadier Wanigasooriya added.He said that there are 1416 NGOs registered in Sri Lanka and all of them follow a set of regulations which have been in place for several years.

Sri Lanka: UN is to study MOD warning to NGOs

Farhan Haq

Farhan Haq The United Nations (UN) says it will study a warning issued by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) to Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO) not to go beyond their mandate. Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesman for UN Secretary General Ban ki-moon, said that the UN will need to evaluate the warning and then make a statement. An MOD letter sent to NGOs notes that some of them conduct press conferences, workshops, training for journalists, and dissemination of press releases which is beyond their mandate. “We reiterate that all Non Governmental Organizations should prevent from such unauthorized activities with immediate effect,” the letter said.Some NGOs have raised concerns over the letter issued by the Ministry of Defence. (Colombo Gazette)

Sri Lanka Govt imposed ‘unofficial censorship’ to cover-up its sins – Opposition leader l

Aluthgama  burned garage

The United National Party (UNP) today accused the government of imposing “unofficial censorship” on media to espouse racism at it pleases and to recreate its image after pushing the country towards destruction.
“The Rajapaksa regime is looking to completely destroy media freedom today,” Opposition Leader Ranil Wickramasinghe said, speaking to reporters after meeting with representatives from several media rights groups in Colombo. 

Sri Lanka: Laws to suppress social media planned BASL alleges

The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) yesterday accused the government of planning to bring in special legislation to suppress social media networks. The BASL noted that the legislation, which could be brought as an emergency regulation and with provisions in the Penal Code, was an attempt to interfere with social media networks through which people come to know the truth as in the case of recent incidents in Aluthgama and Beruwala.

Sri Lanka call to arrest reporter ( for covering Aluthgama violence)

Dinuk Kolambage

The Australian  

AS journalists around the world reel over lengthy prison sentences handed down to three Al Jazeera reporters in Egypt, a media freedom controversy has erupted in Sri Lanka after the editor of the Daily News called for the arrest of a local Al Jazeera journalist for reporting on inter-religious riots.   In a series of Twitter rants, the state-owned newspaper’s editor, Rajpal Abeynayake, accused Al Jazeera’s Colombo stringer, Dinouk Colombage, of inciting ­religious tensions by reporting on Buddhist-Muslim clashes last week in southwest Aluthgama in which four people died and about 80 more were injured.

CPA condemns religious intolerance & violence

The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA)  has condemned the violence unleashed in Aluthgama, Beruwela and Dharga Town over the past few days. In a statement, the CPA says, "The recent events are the latest and most serious manifestation of the politics of hurt, hate and harm that constitute the gravest challenge to pluralism, the rule of law and democratic governance in our country and epitomise the depth of the crisis of the Sri Lankan State."

Death threats to Dr. Nirmal Ranjith Devasiri

Former President of Federation of University Teachers’ Associations (FUTA) Dr. Nirmal Ranjith Devasiri has made a complaint to Maharagama Police regarding death threats he has received continuously since the 16th.  Dr. Devasiri’s wife too has been threatened and a telephone call received yesterday (17th) morning has threatened that his daughter would be subjected to an acid attack.

Sri Lanka communal riots: Journalist held hostage and released

Journalist attached to The Sunday Leader newspaper was taken hostage by a mob in Mathugama, Aluthgama this afternoon after the driver of the vehicle was assaulted.
The journalist, Binoy Suriarachi, and two female journalists, Megara Tegal and Dileesha Abeysundara, had gone to Aluthgama this afternoon to report on the situation in the area.

State controlled Silumina newspaper bans 'Bertolt Brecht' for damaging Government propaganda

Bertolt Brecht

The state run weekend newspaper, 'Silumina'. has withheld its supplement 'Shasthreeya Athirekeya' this week, over an article on strong political undercurrents of Bertolt Brecht's stage plays.

The article, which was published as the cover story of the 'Shaasthriya Athirekaya', discusses as to how Bertolt Brecht's plays are of relevance to societies whose political bodies are characterized with hypocrisy, suppression and corruption. However, the article does not make any direct reference to the the government of Sri Lanka. Instead, it analyses the political realities of Sri Lanka in a much larger context, portraying it as a systematic breakdown of the entire 'system'.