Columns

A forum titled ‘10 Years After Lasantha: Whither Investigative Journalism in Sri Lanka?’ will be held on January 8 at the Lighthouse Auditorium, No. 24, Horton Place, Colombo 7, from 4 to 6 p.m.

The speakers will comprise The Sunday Morning Editor and former The Sunday Leader Editor Mandana Ismail Abeywickrema, Sunday Observer Editor and former The Sunday Leader journalist Dharisha Bastians, AFP Sri Lanka and Maldives Bureau Chief Amal Jayasinghe, Nikkei Asian Review Regional Correspondent and former The Sunday Leader Features Editor Marwaan Macan-Markar and Groundviews Editor and former The Sunday Leader journalist Raisa Wickrematunge. A panel discussion will follow.

Slain in the line of duty, The Sunday Leader Founding Editor Lasantha Wickrematunge was one of Sri Lanka’s leading journalists. The organisers of the event say his paper led the charge in investigative journalism in the country. Entrance is free and all are welcome.

Graveside memorial service to mark 10th anniversary of Lasantha’s assassination
The 10th anniversary of the assassination of The Sunday Leader founder Editor-in-Chief Lasantha Wickrematunge, will be marked with a service at his graveside on January 8.

Family, friends, former colleagues and others, including those from political and diplomatic circles, will gather at Borella Kanatte at 9 a.m. to mark the anniversary and remember Lasantha. This year’s memorial will also feature a tribute to other journalists slain in the line of duty, acknowledging that Lasantha’s story wasn’t the only one.

Assassinated on January 8, 2009, Lasantha was one of Sri Lanka’s leading journalists and an outspoken critic of the Rajapaksa Government. He was attacked as he drove to work and later died of his injuries. The brazen attack was carried out by two gunmen on motorcycles in the middle of morning-rush-hour traffic.

The investigation into Lasantha’s murder has yielded no tangible results thus far and his killers still roam free, a decade later.