Lanka e news website has been set on fire this early morning (31) at about 2.00 a.m. by a group of unidentified individuals.
Consequently , the main office of the website comprising the computer Hall and the most precious and valuable Library have been completely destroyed. The building where the office was maintained is so badly damaged that it is not in a state for continuation of website operations .
By now it has become very clear that the fire has been created by the use of fuel - petrol .The arsonists have broken open the front door and entered the premises to commit the crime.
Following the explosion of a screen of a computer sounding like a bomb when the fire was raging , the neighborhood have woken up. Though they have tried to douse the flames they had not been successful. After the neighbors have informed the police emergency unit of the incident the police had arrived. The Editor of the website has complained to the OIC Upul Perera of the Koswatte police over the phone. The owner of the premises too has lodged a complaint with the police.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa has instructed the Police Chief to conduct an urgent inquiry into the attack on the Lanka e news office in Malabe, Presidential Spokesman Bandula Jayasekera told Daily Mirror.
A group of men broke into the offices of a website critical of Sri Lanka's government and set fire to it Monday, a journalist from the publication said, adding that he suspected a government role in the attack.Bennett Rupasinghe, news editor of LankaeNews, said the fire destroyed everything in the offices. He said the attackers could have been sent by the government as punishment for the website's critical articles.
Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella denied the allegation.
"If they just say it is the government without an iota of evidence it is very unfair," Rambukwella said.
He said authorities were investigating the cause of the blaze.
LankaeNews continues to be operated by its editor, who lives in exile in Europe, but the website said computers, a library of 3,000 books and newspapers from 20 years have been destroyed.
There have been a series of attacks against media workers and offices in Sri Lanka in the recent past but no arrests have been made. Last July, a media company whose owners were opposition supporters was destroyed in a similar attack.
Prageeth Ekneligoda, a columnist for LankaeNews, disappeared a year ago and is suspected to have been abducted.
His wife wrote to U.N. Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon earlier this month, saying that the government has showed no interest in investigating the case. She said she suspected the government was complicit in her husband's disappearance.
Media rights groups say Sri Lanka silences dissenting journalists with threats.
Amnesty International says at least 14 Sri Lankan media workers have been killed since the beginning of 2006 and each case remains unsolved.
Gnanasiri Kottigoda, president of the Sri Lanka Working Journalists' Association, said he saw Monday's attack as an "extension" of the anti-media violence of the recent past.
"These are well-planned attacks and the authorities have not taken any interest in investigating," he said. "This raises the question whether the government is responsible directly or indirectly."
Consequently , the main office of the website comprising the computer Hall and the most precious and valuable Library have been completely destroyed. The building where the office was maintained is so badly damaged that it is not in a state for continuation of website operations .
By now it has become very clear that the fire has been created by the use of fuel - petrol .The arsonists have broken open the front door and entered the premises to commit the crime.
Following the explosion of a screen of a computer sounding like a bomb when the fire was raging , the neighborhood have woken up. Though they have tried to douse the flames they had not been successful. After the neighbors have informed the police emergency unit of the incident the police had arrived. The Editor of the website has complained to the OIC Upul Perera of the Koswatte police over the phone. The owner of the premises too has lodged a complaint with the police.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa has instructed the Police Chief to conduct an urgent inquiry into the attack on the Lanka e news office in Malabe, Presidential Spokesman Bandula Jayasekera told Daily Mirror.
A group of men broke into the offices of a website critical of Sri Lanka's government and set fire to it Monday, a journalist from the publication said, adding that he suspected a government role in the attack.Bennett Rupasinghe, news editor of LankaeNews, said the fire destroyed everything in the offices. He said the attackers could have been sent by the government as punishment for the website's critical articles.
Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella denied the allegation.
"If they just say it is the government without an iota of evidence it is very unfair," Rambukwella said.
He said authorities were investigating the cause of the blaze.
LankaeNews continues to be operated by its editor, who lives in exile in Europe, but the website said computers, a library of 3,000 books and newspapers from 20 years have been destroyed.
There have been a series of attacks against media workers and offices in Sri Lanka in the recent past but no arrests have been made. Last July, a media company whose owners were opposition supporters was destroyed in a similar attack.
Prageeth Ekneligoda, a columnist for LankaeNews, disappeared a year ago and is suspected to have been abducted.
His wife wrote to U.N. Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon earlier this month, saying that the government has showed no interest in investigating the case. She said she suspected the government was complicit in her husband's disappearance.
Media rights groups say Sri Lanka silences dissenting journalists with threats.
Amnesty International says at least 14 Sri Lankan media workers have been killed since the beginning of 2006 and each case remains unsolved.
Gnanasiri Kottigoda, president of the Sri Lanka Working Journalists' Association, said he saw Monday's attack as an "extension" of the anti-media violence of the recent past.
"These are well-planned attacks and the authorities have not taken any interest in investigating," he said. "This raises the question whether the government is responsible directly or indirectly."
