9 January 2025 02:00 am Views - 244
Yesterday (January 8) marked 16 years since the assassination of The Sunday Leader Editor-in-Chief Lasantha Wickrematunge. 16 years is a long time for a wife grieving the loss of her husband, for children grieving the loss of their father, for relatives and loved ones and for colleagues in the media industry who still recall fond memories working with and/or associating with the late media legend. Wickrematunge was known for his courageous reporting and for staying true to the words ‘unbowed and unafraid’. Yesterday friends, family and loved ones who gathered at his graveside, lit a candle to honour the service rendered by the late journalist.
For the past 16 years, their only hope was to see justice being served to Lasantha’s family but despite various affirmations, promises and investigations, the perpetrators of the crime are still at large. In September 2024, when the NPP government assumed power, Lasantha’s family appealed to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to reopen an investigation into the internationally-condemned assassination. Weeks before the Parliamentary Election, in October 2024, then cabinet spokesperson Vijitha Herath announced the reopening of several controversial yet unresolved crimes including the murder of Lasantha Wickrematunge. But this promise was made before the Parliamentary Election similar to when former President Maithripala Sirisena made a promise to reopen investigations into the murder of the late editor soon after the Yahapalana government assumed power.
These statements remain to be mere promises and with each passing day, repression, oppression and impunity continue to rule. Journalists in the North and East continue to be questioned under the atrocious Prevention of Terrorism Act despite protests by civil society organisations and human rights activists to repeal the draconian law. Even though the NPP government’s manifesto indicated that they would abolish oppressive laws such as the PTA, comments made by state actors in this regard paint a different picture. Certain officials have already issued statements to the effect that this law would be applied selectively, based on ‘credible intelligence information’ and that it would not be used for political revenge. But such remarks were made even in the past.
On the previous day, January 7, the 25th Edition of the Journalism Awards for Excellence unfolded at the Mount Lavinia Hotel. While it is a much awaited event in the print media calendar of Sri Lanka, all those awards and accolades won by veteran, amateur and upcoming journalists are a testament to their hard work, courage and dedication towards journalism. The event organized by the Editor’s Guild of Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka Press Institute for the past 25 years never forgets to honour the service rendered by veteran journalists by acknowledging them as Lifetime Achievement Award winners.
Many of these journalists have lived to receive these recognitions and accolades. But not Lasantha and many others including Prageeth Ekneligoda, Dharmeratnam Sivaram (Taraki) and so on. Wickrematunge was the recipient posthumously of the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize in 2009 and was declared a World Press Freedom Hero by the International Press Institute in 2010. But by the time he received both these recognitions, Wickrematunge was no more.
In a brief article written in view of the 16 year remembrance of Lasantha Wickrematunge, his brother Lal recalled how four successive governments have ‘deliberately dragged their feet, avoided following up and/or made certain that the perpetrators including those who ordered the murder were not brought before the law.’ He described how the family had been grieving for 16 long years while recalling how difficult it was to call his parents on that fateful day and tell them that he couldn’t save his brother. While dealing with the trauma, the late editor’s family hasn’t given up on their struggle to seek justice and to see that the perpetrators of the crime are being punished.
In an article written for posthumous publication and was published in the Sunday Leader three days after his death, Wickrematunge states that ‘the free media serve as a mirror in which the public can see itself sans mascara and styling gel.’ Journalists hold this mirror up with a greater risk to their own lives. So don’t kill the messenger, because the truth - however uncomfortable it may be, will be revealed sooner or later.