Govt. curtailing freedom of expression: UNP

18 July 2013 08:34 am

The UNP said today that the government was curtailing freedom of expression and creativity of artistes by targeting their artistic creations and branding them as treacherous.

Speaking at a media briefing UNP MP Mangala Samaraweera questioned the rationale behind the furor created by the movie Flying Fish and asked how it could be termed as treacherous and stated that it couldn’t be an affront to the army.

He mentioned that it was merely an expression of human nature and that the depictions in the film couldn’t be in anyway an insult to anyone and denounced the allegation as untrue.

He refuted the allegation that army uniforms being used without permission as being completely untrue and unsubstantiated.

“These are normal happenings throughout history and is merely an expression of human nature, therefore I don’t understand how it can be an insult to the Army,” he said.

He said that that government alleged that it was funded by a member of the Tamil diaspora, whom they have named as Manohan, conveniently omitting his surname Nanyakkara.

Samaraweera further pointed that only a meagre sum of Rs. 25 lakhs was expended by Mr. Nanayakkara to facilitate the aspiration of a young film director.
Pointing out the irony of a film of this nature being termed an anti-national act, Samaraweera went on to state that it was the government that harbours those identified as having had LTTE ties.

“We must question who the real traitors are. Karuna Amman is a Cabinet Minister, KP a Presidential Advisor and Daya Master a Northern Provincial Council candidate of the UPFA. Are the LTTE members with us, or with them? We must open our mouths and ask.” he said.

He said that the real oppressor of the integrity of the Army was the present government itself and that this must be made known to the public.( By Yohan Perera & Jehan Gunasekara)