Blank page because Noyahr not there: Police

In the wake of an increasing number of attacks on the media, the new Police Chief Jayantha Wickremaratne hopes to take various steps to protect journalists, police spokesman Ranjith Gunasekara said yesterday.

He said investigations into the attack on The Nation newspaper’s associate editor Keith Noyahr were hampered due to Mr. Noyahr being away from the country.

DIG Gunasekara said the police were awaiting Mr. Noyahr’s return to continue the inquiry from where it stopped.

“We have a number of questions that Mr. Noyahr needs to answer. We have collected some evidence but are unable to proceed in his absence,” he said. The spokesman said investigations into the attack on Sri Lanka Press Institute’s media advocacy acting manager Namal Perera was continuing with three special police teams conducting the inquiries and some evidence collected from the scene of the attack.

He said the Police Chief had been updated with regard to the progress on the investigations into attacks on Mr. Noyahr and Mr. Perera and he said he would personally look into the matter and vowed to arrest those behind the assaults, abductions and killings of journalists.

“The Police Chief also feels that he has a special duty to protect the journalists. He has already taken a personal interest in the investigations into the attacks against journalists and vows that those responsible will be arrested,” DIG Gunasekara said.

Meanwhile the Foreign Correspondents Association of Sri Lanka (FCA) has urged the authorities in Sri Lanka to carry out a thorough investigation and to bring to justice the perpetrators behind the attack on Namal Perera and Mahendra Rathnaweera.

While condemning the attack, the Association said Mr. Rathnaweera was a long standing member of the FCA while Mr. Perera was well known to many of its members.