By a Staff Reporter

Journalists are now being targeted and harassed, based on their ethnicity and no action is being taken against the perpetrators nor are investigations being conducted to nab those responsible, the Alliance of Media Organizations charged at a media briefing yesterday.

Highlighting a number of incidents including the attempted murder of Sunday Leader journalist Faraz Shauketally, and the harassment of journalists at a rally organized by the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) last Sunday (10), the Convener, Free Media Movement (FMM), Sunil Jayasekara said that the number of attacks against journalists has increased significantly over the last week, and the Alliance is deeply disturbed at the regularity with which such acts are carried out.

“The journalists who attended the BBS rally on Sunday were subject to much harassment and intimidation, especially the reporter from the Navamani newspaper. His camera was taken away and the pictures were deleted off the memory card. He was then allowed to cover the rally, but towards the end of the meeting, he was harassed once again, simply because he is a Muslim. Finally, the police took him in for his own safety, and obtained a statement as well. The BBC team covering the BBS meeting was also harassed and intimidated. Charles Havilan, the BBC’s correspondent and head of operations in Sri Lanka, is a senior journalist who has been a correspondent for many countries before coming to Sri Lanka. If such reputed journalists are harassed, nothing more needs to be said about the safety of media personnel in Sri Lanka,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Head of the Federation of Media Employees’ Trade Union (FMETU), Dharmasiri Lankapeli, said the media has a right to inform the public as to what the BBS is and what the organization is propagating. He further said it is questionable if the group is truly representing Buddhism, especially as one of the fundamental teachings of Buddhism is to not harass or torture anyone.

“The name of the group itself is akin to the military. The way they are conducting themselves is also against the teachings of The Buddha, and they are clearly targeting only the Muslims by carrying out protests of this nature. The BBS also claims the money that accrues by giving the Halal certificate is used to build Muslim schools and mosques. What is wrong with that? Hundreds of thousands of rupees are collected everyday at the Kalutara Maha Bodhiya and at the Gangarama Temple. Likewise, each religion has its own way of earning money,” Lankapeli said.

He added that the BBS had obstructed the journalists covering the rally from doing their job, even while the journalists’ media accreditation card issued by the government, explicitly states that the journalist should be allowed to carry out his/her duties without any hindrance.

“When the government turns a blind eye to these matters and no investigations are being carried out to take the perpetrators to task, we are left to assume that the government condones such acts,” he averred.COURTESY:CEYLON TODAY