CLASSIFIED | POLITICS | TERRORISM | OPINION | VIEWS

Blaming The Government For The Attack On Journalist Noyahr Is The Easy Way Out!

© Insight By Sunil Kumar-For LankaWeb

May 23rd 2008

While condemning the abduction and assault of a senior journalist Keith Noyahr, a deputy editor and defence analyst with the English-language weekly The Nation, who was abducted on Thursday night, severely beaten and dropped off near his residence early Friday it also needs to be ponted out that suggestions by rights groups that it was motivated by his criticism of the Sri Lankan Government's war against Tamil Tiger rebels seem incongruous and hasty as it points to what might seem obvious but could be the furthest from the truth. In fact it seems the easy way out for the accusers although there remain more likely sources with a greater transparencies pointing to their involvement.

And while there is also a need to condemn the overly zealous media journalists who continue to jump to their own conclusions and portray Sri Lanka as an autocratic state and a lawless Nation with an Armed Forces drive which they think unjustified and draconian perhaps to suit their own ends. (and it isn't necessarily Keith Noyahr being implicated here!)These need to be interpreted as examples of consternation to the Administration that, diced up, sometimes distorted and exaggerated news reporting especially regarding the Armed Forces. Their drive to eliminate the Tamil Tiger terrorists have often been a portrayal of bi -partisan views. It is a very legitimate drive on the part of the Armed Forces to eliminate the terrorist element and what is conveyed to the world through these reports and often a means to spread false propaganda relative to the terrorist issue and in favourt of the terrorists!

In this respect there is every likelihood that the persons who inflicted injuries on Keith Noyahr are overly zealous nationalists who may have been angered by the manner in which he carried his news reports in the Nation newspaper he represents and a matter, which needs to be investigated thoroughly by the Government in whose best interests it is to do so and obtain closure to the circumstances which surrounded the vicious attack on Mr.Noyahr.The President has already issued an order to the Chief of Police to this effect and the investigations have already begun.

As much as the Free Media Movement (FMM) suggests that there is Government involvement in the attack by stating that"There is no other reason for this latest attack against a journalist than his independent writing and analysis of the war in the North, if that is reason at all,"which the media rights group has been quoted as saying, it has to be emphatically noted that Noyahr had been critical of high-ranking military officers and the Government's approach to and conduct of the war which the FMM has admitted to and acknowledged. This easily paves the path towards the credibility that the persons who carried out the assult on Mr Noyahr could have been supportives of Government policy albeit not necessarily linked to it directly. And there is no Government initiated reign of terror in Sri Lanka which the FMM seems to be insinuating although the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam have unsuccessfully attempted it.

This rationally exonerates Governmental liability beyond pursuing the cause of justice towards punishing those responsible.There is also the theory that this could be an expertly crafted act of conspiracy to implicate the Government and carried out by pro Tamil Tiger elements including the LTTE themselves, the credibility of which cannot be dispelled completely knowing their desperation to discredit the Government and how close they are to complete annihilation!

In suggesting that "This is not just a violation of the freedom of expression and another significant blow to media freedom"and that "it proves, as if more proof was needed, that Sri Lanka is very far from a country that protects fundamental rights," the rights group has commited itself to very bold and unprovable statements clearly implying that it believes the Sri Lankan Government was behind the abduction where on the other side of the rationale if contested it can be argued that in Sri Lanka certain journalists violate their freedoms of expression in circumstances they have no real mandate nor carte blance to make high handed and incongruous comments against Government policy and direction and would be better advised to be diplomatic and reserved rather than taking on the State where the State is not autocratic despite the accusations and one which is benevolent to all her law abiding citizens yet with every right to react to a violation of the laws of the land which also happens to include legislation against libel where for the present the Rajapaksha Administration seems to prefer pragmatism over incarceration contrary to FMM accusations!

To assume that the abduction and assault on Mr Noyahr was linked to Sri Lanka's defeat in its bid to be elected to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, quoting certain foreign press releases as "a major diplomatic blow to the island's hawkish government" is sheer speculation where the incident should not be offset against the UNHR defeat but attributed to any and every source culpable of seeking to discredit the Goverment of which there are many including the more often than not, diabolically conniving mindset of the UNP and its disgruntled leadership! or perhaps even certain elements within the JVP who in recent times have been at daggers drawn with the Rajapaksha Administration!

While there is hardly a need to publicise that The Sri lankan Administration pulled out of a Norwegian-brokered truce with the Tamil Tigers in January which is globally known inasmuch as the battlefield gains and massive rebel casualties statistically accounted for in the Nation's drive to be permanently rid of its terrorist scourge, it is indeed a blow to the opponents of the Administration whose related chagrin often motivates them to resort to any means to discredit it, it needs to be reiterated!

In this respect some Journalists within an entirety, who are barred from visiting front line or rebel-held areas often tend to conjure up their own versions of Sri Lanka's anti terrorist Tour de Force and put themselves at the risk of incarceration not only from a Government perspective but the entire patriotic fervour of a greater proportion of the Sinhala Nation entitled to their umbrage which could easily have sparked off this incident which resulted in the Noyahr attack which unfortunate and contemptible as it is nevertheless might have been inevitable given the climate and mood of the Nation which is said here as a speculative alternative, the possibilities of which can neither be cast aside nor condoned.

It does not digress from the need for the heinous criminals who carried out this vicious attack on Mr Noyahr from being brought to justice where he is wished a speedy recovery.

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