Denies malicious web stories:

Govt commited to democracy, FR

The Goverment remains totally committed to the principles of democracy and the protection of Fundamental Rights guaranteed by the Consitution, said a press release issued by the Preisdential Secretariat yesterday.

It was responding to a well coordinated series of statements and web comments on alleged Government plans to arrest NGO activists and to suppress and intimidate its opponents and critics.

The release, in particular refered to a website named Lanka News Web which carried a report titled 'State intelligence units list journalists supportive of Opposition and NGOs Saravanamuttu and Weliamuna top in the list!', on March 10. This report had falsely stated that State intelligence services had placed the Executive Director of the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu and Executive Director of Transparency International (TI) J. C. Weliamuna at the top of a list that included other members of CPA staff engaged in its programs on human rights, public interest litigation and citizen journalism initiatives, and that those in this list had been categorized on the basis of an unspecified system of points, according to the work they do and a brief description of each individual," the release said.

The release also said: "On the following day, Dr Saravanamuttu and Weliamuna wrote a letter to President Mahinda Rajapaksa expressing grave concern over the contents of the above Lanka News Web report.

On the same day, the CPA issued a statement on this report to the local and international media.

Other organizations such as Freedom House, Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International (AI) did not lag behind in coming out with statements expressing concern and criticizing the Government based on this web report and the CPA statement, without any verification of the accuracy of the original report.

"Having made its own inquiries into these allegations, the Office of the President has not found evidence of any such list of persons prepared by the State Intelligence Service as stated on Lanka News Web, or by any other law enforcement authority.

Further, this Office has found there is no point system in intelligence gathering in Sri Lanka as referred to in the news website. Any investigation by the authorities on alleged or suspected illegal or criminal activities are, and will be, conducted strictly in accordance with the law.

"In view of the statements made with regard to this web report, it is necessary to state that the law enforcement authorities have every right to investigate any suspected illegal or criminal activity and there is absolutely no need for such inquiries to be conducted with the consent of those being inquired into, as stated by the CPA, or to reveal the nature or scope of the investigations to the person or persons being probed.

Such revelations will surely negate the purpose of the investigation. However, there is absolutely no reason to fear that there is a physical threat or lack of safety to the critics of the Government including journalists, civil society activists and human rights defenders, as suggested by the news website, CPA, HRW, AI and others, who are repeating a frequent litany of criticism of the Government based an a wholly false web report.

"The Lanka News Web, in which the said item first appeared, is well-known for the publication of totally fabricated, malicious and slanderous material to discredit the Government and its leaders.

It is surprising as to why any persons interested in the truth and with analytical capabilities, would give credence to an item published in such a website, which has not hidden its vested interests.

Further, not a single other publication of credibility and repute in Sri Lanka have carried this item or followed it up on their own.

The Government remains totally committed to the principles of democracy and the protection of Fundamental Rights guaranteed by the Constitution, and all inquiries conducted by the law enforcement authorities are done fully in keeping with the law, and not in breach of accepted standards of Human Rights, with all citizens having full recourse to the Courts and due process, said a press release issued by the Presidential Secretariat yesterday.