Opposition Leader charge Govt for suppressing opposing views
[26 May 2000]

Opposition United National Party Leader Ranil Wickremasinghe charged the government yesterday for its measures to suppress opposing views and condemned the sealing of the Sunday Leader, Irida Peramuna and the Uthayan newspapers under the emergency regulations.

 "At a time of national crisis, the government should act to bring diverse opinion together," he told parliament in a statement.

The UNP Leader said the reasons given by the Competent Authority did not show that the newspapers had been a threat to the territorial integrity ot the democratic process.

"Nor have they promoted communal disharmony," he said.

"This smacks of political victimization, especially in the context that the newspapers had been critical of the President and the government and had raised serious governance issues in the process. The Uthayan has not been available in Colombo for our scrutiny," he added.

"The political objectives and mala fides of the ban are further under-scored by the imposition of the ban for as long as six months, which will be in effect after the conclusion of Parliamentary elections, 2000. This can be only interpreted as ah act to gag the free press and suppress legitimate political opposition against the government," he said.

The Opposition Leader also reminded the government that the UNP, during the last Emergency debate, took a decision to abstain from voting on the basis that the government would consider amending regulations, 8,9, 12 ,14, 25, 26, 33, 41, 44(1), especially regulation 14.

"The government has, so far, made no change and instead used the draconian provision of regulation 14 to seal the newspapers," he said.

The competent Authority under the Emergency Regulations shut down two national newspapers, the Sunday Leader and the Irida Peramuna of Leader Publications on Sunday, for allegedly violating censorship regulations.

According to the Special Media Information Centre the ban on Sunday Leader and Irida Peramuna, published by Leader Publications is to remain in force for six months.

The Competent Authority said that the publications had continued to violate the censorship despite several warnings and their May 21^st issues seriously violated the emergency regulations. 

However, the publishers have the right to appeal against this order to the Advisory Committee appointed by the President in accordance with the regulations. 

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