Former parliamentary affairs minister S.B. Dissanayake, who was himself accused this week of planning the murders of two editors during his term in government, put the blame on the president.

Dissanayake, who defected from the government to the opposition last month, said a spate of violence and arson against opponents of the ruling People’s Alliance party had given “pleasure” to those who ordered the attacks.

“It looks like they derived a lot of pleasure from setting fire,” Dissanayake told reporters.

“The president always said she wanted to set fire to newspaper offices and the homes of editors.”

Dissanayake accused the elite Presidential Security Division (PSD) of carrying out recent violent attacks and alleged Kumaratunga had enlisted the services of a notorious underworld criminal as a close bodyguard.

The guard, Baddegane Sanjeeva, who was wanted by police in connection with several crimes, was mysteriously gunned down in Colombo on Friday.

“It is Sanjeeva and the PSD which is responsible for the attacks against journalists and other opponents of the government. I have no hesitation in saying that,” Dissanayake said.

Dissanayake’s outburst followed Kumaratunga’s allegation — reported in the state-run Daily News on Monday — that he had himself suggested killing editors to save the government from collapse.

“Madam, the government is very weak and it could collapse at any time,” Kumaratunga quoted Dissanayake as saying before he left the cabinet.

“If necessary I will kill an editor or two who is critical of the government.”

The Daily News said the president had told the minister it was “not necessary to think that the government was weak” when it had the apparent support of opposition members.

That support fell through and Kumaratunga, following the defections from the government, has called a snap election for December 5.

The former minister has challenged Kumaratunga to prove the allegation and in a counter-attack named the editors of the pro-opposition Sunday Leader and the Sinhalese language weekly Ravaya as potential targets of the president.

Sunday Leader editor Lasantha Wickrematunga said he was not surprised by the claim, but would hold the president responsible if he or his newspaper was attacked.

“On two previous occasions my family and I have been brutally attacked,” Wickrematunga said after sending a protest letter to the president, citing assaults in February 1995 and June 1998.

The Free Media Movement (FMM), a local media rights organisation, said the charges and counter-allegations made it clear that the murder of journalists was discussed “without any inhibition at the highest level of government.”

“This also explains as to why no proper investigations have been carried out into the murder of two journalists, attempted murder of a number of editors and assault of journalists in the past seven years,” the FMM said.—AFP