Sinhala Army & Navy personnel have posed an obstacle to journalists traveling from the South to report on the resettlement of the Tamil IDPs...!!!

Security forces pose an obstacle to journalists traveling to Jaffna

2010-03-07

Army and Navy personnel have posed an obstacle to journalists traveling from the South to report on the resettlement of the displaced persons and the current situation in Jaffna.

A journalist who traveled to the Nagadeepa area had been informed by a Navy officer on February 28th that permission could not be given for him to carry out his work as they had not been directed to accept the media accreditation card issued by the Government Information Department.

The journalist had traveled to the North to report on the resettlement of people on either side of

the A9 that commenced on March 1 and another Army soldier had asked him to return with a permission letter from the Army Headquarters.

When inquired about the reason for Army and Navy personnel to disregard the media accreditation issued by the Information Department, Information Director Anusha Pelpita said that copies of media ID cards are sent to the Defence Ministry, Police Department, Army, Navy and Air Force before they are issued along with a request to respect the respective ID cards.

Navy Spokesperson Captain Athula Senarath and Military Spokesperson Major General Prasad Samarasinghe said that members of all ranks have been informed to show due respect to media personnel who possess a government media accreditation card.


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