Result : cutting the nose to spite the face
(Lanka-e-News -08.May.2016, 8.00PM) The closure of the Police media spokesman’s office by the new IGP on the orders of Sagala Rathnayake through the minister of law and order has been frowned upon by the media as well as the public as a violation of the people’s right to information.
This office was closed since 2 nd May , and disciplinary action has been instituted against police media spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera ASP.
According to the ministry , under the police ordinance there is no separate division such as office of police media spokesman , but there is one called the’ Police public division.’ The tasks performed under the present media division will be carried out henceforth by the ‘Police public division’ under the police ordinance, the ministry added.
However , Lanka e news learns there is another side to this story…..
It is following the report by the defense columnist Shaminder Ferdinandez in the Island newspaper pertaining to the Chavakachcheri arms detection going awry , the police media spokesman came under the ‘guillotine.’
In the report though Ferdinandez had stated it was the police media spokesman who gave him the information , the latter had however obtained an undertaking from Ferdinandez not to mention that he passed the information.
Ferdinandez had however betrayed the police media spokesman and degraded media ethics by stating it was the police media spokesman who gave that report as well as revealing his name , owing to which report the government was driven into embarrassment. Consequently , the officials took action to closed own the police media spokesman’s office.
By this conduct of Ferdinandez, he has not only violated media ethics and norms , but has also been the cause of the closure of the entire office of the police media spokesman because of a lapse of a police media spokesman . This action of Ferdinandez is tantamount to cutting the nose to spite the face .
The non establishment of the proposed system by the ministry through the Police public division so far has seriously dented and gravely affected the people’s right to official information regarding the country’s crimes and security . While the government is tabling a right to information bill in parliament, it cannot at the same time hinder and hamper that same right in a different quarter. It is something unpardonable.
(There being no system right now that enables us to garner further information on this report from the police side , is per se proof how serious and grave the situation is ).
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by (2016-05-08 15:30:32)
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