The Emergency (Prohibition of Publication and Transmission of Sensitive Military Information) Regulations, effective from 5 June, prohibit foreign and local media from publishing information on military operations, deployment of troops or use of equipment, including aircraft or naval vessels. Publication of statements on the official conduct or performance of the security forces is also disallowed.
Censorship imposed by the ruling People’s Alliance government on 21 September 1995 continued till 20 December that year, during which period the military launched Operation Sunray I to take Jaffna city. Censorship was reintroduced on 19 April 1996 as the Army began Operation Sunray II to capture the southern Thenmaratchy area in the Jaffna peninsula, and was in force until 6 October 1996.
On these two occasions, the censorship authorities were civilians. In the current censorship, however, a military officer, Army’s Deputy Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Jaliya Nammuni was named as Competent Authority. As newspaper columns were slashed, Sri Lankan parliamentarians expressed concern over censorship being in the hands of the military.
Deputy Defence minister Anuruddha Ratwatte claims that the government upholds the policy of media freedom but asserts that censorship has become necessary. He accuses the media of acting irresponsibly by leaking military plans. Mr Ratwatte also says war casualty figures published in the media create panic and he would announce the figures when necessary.
The Sri Lanka Editors Guild dismissed Mr Ratwatte’s claim that the media provides strategic information to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). While the Sri Lankan Free Media Movement (FMM) describes the censorship as a flagrant violation of government’s commitment to defend media freedom, the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists says censorship is incompatible with democratic governance and has urged the government to allow the Sri Lankan people access to free and unbiased information on the conflict. In a letter to President Chandrika Kumaratunge, Reuters news agency points out that censorship severely undermines the credibility of news reporting.
Journalists or independent observers are prohibited into the north-eastern war zone and the conditions of the civilians remain largely unreported outside Sri Lanka. Death of civilians as a result of military operations and lack of food and medicine continue to occur. The current censorship will only help to continue the cover-up of the plight of civilians, observers say.
Hours after censorship was imposed in September 1995, Airforce bombers killed 34 children in a Jaffna school. In a repeat performance, the Airforce struck at Suthanthirapuram in Tiger-held Mullaitivu District on 10 June while the Army shelled the area. Twenty five civilians, including three children, were killed and 52 injured. The LTTE say five cadre were also killed. Following the attack, over 1,380 families fled to neighbouring villages. Some 380 families found shelter in schools at Kaiveli and Puthukudyiruppu, but others were forced to live under trees. MP Joseph Pararajasingham, speaking in Parliament in mid-June, condemned the killings as a grave violation of human rights.
Colombo observers believe that censorship was introduced to control information on losses in the battlefield at Mankulam in the Vanni and civilian casualties, while the government faces Provincial Council elections in a month’s time. The Suthanthirapuram incident has been effectively blacked out by the censorship.
The Provincial Council elections in six provinces scheduled for August were in doubt, after President Chandrika Kumaratunge seemed to accept a challenge from the main opposition United National Party (UNP) leader Ranil Wickremasinghe to hold the Presidential elections before provincial polls.
Sources say some PA members favour a Presidential election in which, they believe, President Chandrika would be able to defeat Mr Wickremasinghe. But winning the provincial elections, without a clear victory in the Vanni while the military expenditure rises rapidly, may prove more difficult.
The uncertainty was cleared when the cabinet decided on 26 June to go ahead with the Provincial Council elections. However, difficulties remain. Election Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake has indicated that at least 30,000 troops are needed for election security. Mr Ratwatte is reported to have informed the cabinet that it would not be possible to release any troops until December.
Four main Mahanayake Theras or Buddhist highpriests have urged the government to postpone the elections until the end of the war as withdrawal of troops will adversely affect the offensive against the Tigers who have suffered defeat in Jaffna and the Vanni and are now considerably weakened.