A brave journalist (Lasantha) silenced

"The pen is mightier than the sword" was a phrase that we learnt at school and it used to be that way but in the modern era that phrase should be changed to this "The gun is mightier than the pen". The truth is bitter and there aren't many who can digest it. Some group who could not stand the bitter truth that Lasantha exposed, decided to silence him.

Lasantha Wickramatunga was a brave journalist who fought against injustice. He was the Editor of The Sunday Leader. Apperently he had received several death threats in his time and the sunday leader press was burnt down in 2007 by an armed gang. Lasantha was most influencial in bringing to light many currupt deals of the government. These include the alleged MIG deal and details of Mihin Air which has been a total failure.

This attack comes just 2 days after a leading media station in the country was attacked and destroyed by an armed gang. This gang had used a claymore weighing 8 Kgs to destroy the MCR (Main Control Room) of this media station.

The current security situation in Colombo is that there are many road blocks in the city and vehicles are searched at most locations. In the instance where the media station was attacked, it was carried out at 2.15 AM in the morning by a white van which did not have a number plate. At that time in the morning you don't get too many vehicles on the road and its surprising that this vehicle was not checked at a single checkpoint as such. Even in the case of Lasanthas shooting, it was carried out at 10.30 AM in the morning in broad day light.

The government who condemns the attack says that they will conduct a broad investigation into this matter. Can the people believe the government? Not really. Not when ministers in this country can brake into media stations and assault its officials. This alleged minister is still free and is still a minister. One could say that the people are to be blamed for electing such ministers. But thats not the case, this alleged minister did not go into parliament by votes cast by voters. Apparently he got the least number of votes in Colombo (something around 2200 votes and Colombo has over 1 million voters) and was rejected by the people. But made it into parliament from the national list. The president who is the leader of this political party should take the full responsibility of this appointment.

In a society where people have diverse ideas, its a fact that not all will agree with what a person has to say. That does not give the right to anybody to silence another person.