But in our extremely peaceful times when the Tigers have been vanquished by September 11th and a new International Community, when there are no arms being smuggled, when the North-East is perfectly democratic, when the talk of two confederated states is pure fiction, when the press is completely free and when we are about to enter a period of milk and honey; in short when there is really no exciting news to report, a peculiar story has cropped up, about some purloined letter. This is what the British press would have called a story for the silly season. Let us trace it through the media.

The Sunday Island of April 21st in its provincial edition led with the story "Sangha Opposes Tiger De-ban." It was in recent history the most important Sangha news. And being our traditional intelligentsia we have had much Sangha news at key events of our history. And coming from Kandy the place where in 1815 a monk pulled down the British flag, it was another Sangha statement for the Independence of the country.
All the highest Buddhist prelates in Sri Lanka had signed an urgent and very significant document rejecting the implications of the Norwegian drafted MoU. It was signed by the Mahanayakes, Anunayakes and the major Buddhist lay organizations in the country. This was the first time that this degree of cooperation among the highest monks and lay organizations had occurred since Independence. The statement addressed to Sri Lanka's President, Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, Ministers and Members of Parliament rejecting the MoU implications warned against LTTE intentions, expected future disasters. But within hours, the story disappeared.

But in the meantime, in what would be an object lesson for all would- be-dictators in the interconnected modern Third World, the message was going around the Sri Lankan's world. In fact it went around the global Sri Lankan village before the Sunday English newspapers were out, as a credible report stated that pressure was being brought both to kill the story and on the monks to withdraw the statement.

Within two hours on Saturday at least a thousand of those Lankan influentials who have access to the Internet and email had seen not only the statement but also a description of the attempt to kill it. Within two days most websites devoted to Sri Lanka carried the statement as well as the story about its suppression. It was an unprecedented suppression of monks' and Buddhist freedoms reminiscent of Portuguese times. Monks had been denied the elementary freedom of expression, while LTTE propaganda including Prabhakaran's infamous interview rebroadcast several times over state TV was allowed free rein.

The following days saw the coverage on the statement increasing. The Sunday Divayina mentioned in its front page that there would be a parliamentary discussion on the censorship of the statement. The Sunday Island had two articles on the suppression. But again, no statement. The President herself in a letter published in the media not only acknowledged receiving the statement, but broadly agreed with its contents. And, the two new alternative papers Lakmina and Lanka now carried the full text. Putting the lid on the statement was now having negative repercussions.

At a meeting at Malwatte Viharaya, the PM was questioned intensely by monks; he denied any role in the censorship saying that they should ask the media owners. That evening's TV announcement implied the monk stating that the document had been doctored. Immediate checking by a former university teacher of the monk's secretary showed that the Maha Nayake had said nothing of the kind. The signing of the identical text was done in an order of precedence; first Mahanayakes, then Anunayakes, and finally lay leaders. This was not being mischievously distorted in the inspired media. Naturally the first to sign would not see the signatures that were done later? But the reality was that the very formulation of the document had been done openly by monks and laymen with over six drafts being discussed over ten hours.

Already, monk and lay organizations have resorted to the usual practice of overcoming censorship. Thousands of Samizdat copies of the statement were being printed for hand-to-hand distribution. And in the coming weeks, the story and its repression is bound to spin on in various national and international fora, especially in those devoted to press freedoms. The Internet was buzzing with reports of complaints to international organs devoted to press freedom. In short, the missing letter itself had now become news. The letter was purlioned but the story was by no means dead.

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