Purported threat against editor a fabrication - Govt

COLOMBO: Among the many unconfirmed and unsubstantiated allegations made in the latest report by Human Rights Watch on Sri Lanka, published on August 06, 2007, the item about President Mahinda Rajapaksa losing his temper and shouting at a Tamil newspaper editor has been found to be false and baseless.

Human Rights Watch has neither had the courtesy nor the ethical consideration to inquire about the accuracy of this alleged incident from the Office of the President, which was responsible for organizing the breakfast meeting of the 25 editors with President Mahinda Rajapaksa on August 16, 2007, before its publication.

Instead HRW has published the unverified version given by the Editor of the Sudar Oli, in a clear example of the tendentious nature of the report, aimed at tarnishing the image of the President and the Government of Sri Lanka.

The Director of Government Information who was present at this breakfast meeting has written to Human Rights Watch contradicting this section of the report. Other misleading aspects of the report have been commented on by the Secretary General of the Peace Secretariat. The text of the letter from the Director of Government Information to Human Rights Watch, with regard to the alleged incident:

"I wish to draw attention to your report on Sri Lanka titled 'Return to War: Human Rights under Siege'.

The report is misleading and rife with contradictions. It has based on largely unconfirmed and unsubstantiated allegations and outdated information to say the least.

However, I wish to comment only on inaccuracies in the Chapter VIII. Freedom of Expression and Association.

In this chapter, Editor Mr N Vithyatharan of the newspaper Sudar Oli has stated that when he raised the issue of "unexpected withdrawal of his security" with President Mahinda Rajapaksa at a breakfast meeting of 25 editors on August 16, the President immediately lost his temper and started to shout."

He also alleged that the President had told him to seek security from the LTTE leader Prabhakaran.

As a person who was present at the editor' meeting with the President, I totally deny such an incident at the said meeting.

This is an absolutely incorrect statement and all the editors who were present would vouch that President did not shout at Mr Vithyatharan or anybody else at any of the meetings with editors. I am sure that Mr Vithyatharan will not be able to produce any one of the 25 editors who were present on the occasion to corroborate his allegation because no self-respecting media person would standby a total fabrication.

Publication of such baseless canards in your website reflects very badly on the credibility of the organisation."