Attack on journalists in  Murippu forest: Protest in M’tivu town

Protesting journalists and civil society activists plant trees in the Mullaitivu town

… scribes allege Wildlife workers involved

Text and pic by Dinasena Ratugamage

A group of journalists on Thursday (15) protested, in Mullaitivu, against the failure on the part of the police to arrest those responsible for the recent attack on local colleagues Shanmugam Thavaseelan and Kanapathipillai Kumanan in the Murippu forest in the district.

The group protested opposite the Wildlife Department Office there. Protesting scribes displayed posters and banners on the fence of the Wildlife Department Office alleging complicity of some public servants in the attack.

Professional Web Journalists’ Association, International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its Sri Lanka associates the Free Media Movement (FMM) and the Federation of Media Employees’ Trade Unions (FMETU) urged the government to bring the perpetrators to justice. They called for a thorough investigation into the recent attack on two journalists in the Murippu forest in the Mullaitivu district.

They alleged the journalists had been beaten up by gangsters on Oct 12 while they were covering ongoing illegal felling of trees in the Murippu forest  area. They said that timber racketeers and illegal sand miners had the backing of local officials, including some law enforcement authorities, hence the reluctance on the part of the police to properly inquire into the incident.

They pointed out that the Mullaitivu incident had taken place place soon after an attack on a journalist in the Moneragala District.