The International Federation of
Journalists (IFJ) is alarmed and dismayed over reports that Dammika Ganganath
Dissanayake, the former chairman of the government-owned broadcaster, the Sri
Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC), may have been abducted from his home near Colombo.
According to reports received from
sources in Colombo, Dissanayake was taken away by a gang which remains
unidentified, late yesterday evening.
The gang reportedly arrived in a white van,
stormed the residence, bound up his
wife and domestic help, and took
Dissanayake away.
The family of the missing man has
filed a complaint with a local police station. The police have reportedly said
that they have no information about Dissanayake’s whereabouts.
Dissanayake is reportedly close to
Ranil Wickramasinghe, the leader of
the United National Party, the main
opposition grouping in Sri
Lanka’s Parliament. Recent reports in a Colombo newspaper mentioned that he intended to begin work
soon on a book dealing with political abductions in Sri Lanka.
“The IFJ recalls that Tamil
newspaper editor N. Vidyatharan was snatched from a private family ceremony on
February 25 in what seemed at the time to be an abduction,
but which was later confirmed by the Sri Lankan police to be an arrest on charges
of abetting terrorism,” IFJ General
Secretary Aidan White said.
“Dissanayake’s disappearance reminds
us once again that media freedom in Sri Lanka is gravely imperilled by
the rapid descent into lawlessness that the Government seems disinclined to
arrest and may indeed be promoting.”
For
further information contact IFJ Asia-Pacific
on +612 9333 0919
The IFJ
represents over 600,000 journalists in 122 countries