Sri Lankan editor points finger from the grave
[AP]
Lasantha Wickrematunge, a prominent Sri Lankan journalist and outspoken critic of the government’s war on ethnic Tamil rebels, knew he was marked for death — and thought he knew why. Three days after he was gunned down execution-style, Wickrematunge’s newspaper published a haunting, self-written obituary Sunday in which he says he was targeted for his writings and adds: “When finally I am killed, it will be the government that kills me.” Even as Sri Lanka savors battlefield victories over Tamil Tiger rebels that offer hope of finally ending the decades-long civil war, the government is coping with attacks on another front: It faces harsh criticism from abroad, from at home — even from the grave — over high-profile attacks on the independent media.