Journalist Wijesuriya goes to the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka to oppose making government media ID cards mandatory for journalistsShantha Wijesuriya, Editor-in-Chief of Lanka Sky News, filed a complaint with the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka on 4 May under HRC-HO-1673-25, alleging that the compulsory requirement made for journalists to participate in press conferences to hold media identity cards issued by the Government Information Department has violated his right to freedom of expression and fundamental rights.

Journalist Wijesuriya filed the complaint against the Department of Information for not being able to attend the government’s decision-informing press conference held on May 6, 2025, on the grounds that he did not have a media ID card issued by the Department of Information.

The complaint names the Director General of the Government’s Department of Public Works and the Secretary of the Ministry of Mass Media as respondents.

Journalist Wijesuriya has been participating in the government’s cabinet decision press conference held every Tuesday at the Government Information Department auditorium for almost two months using the media ID card issued to him by the Sri Lanka Professional Journalists Association and the International Association of Journalists. At the government’s cabinet decision press conference held on April 30, 2025, the Minister of Mass Media and Health, Nalin de Jayatissa, informed that journalists participating in the cabinet decision press conference must obtain the media ID card issued by the Government Information Department.

confirming the government media ID card mandatory for the media briefing especially to inform the cabinet decisions, the minister said that a certain newspaper had given a government ID card to a person who was involved in underworld activities in the past and that it would be easier to obtain a government ID card for identification purpose when the government provides scholarships, insurance and other benefits to journalists.

At a discussion held on May14 at the ministry of Mass Media auditorium with media organizations, the Editors’ Guild, journalists and media institution owners, the minister said that the ID card would be made mandatory to prevent journalists from using the cabinet press briefing to implement their personal political agendas.

The minister has let the cat out of the bag by banning journalist Wijesuriya from giving a press conference to inform him of cabinet decisions. He is not a member of a political party or has stood for a party, and he is a media user and fighter for the liberation of the working-class and oppressed people.

Sinhala nationalism has right-wingers as its friends and communists as its enemies.

A press conference to inform cabinet decisions is a political discussion and the minister should be able to answer any political question raised by journalists. If the minister behaves like a fascist and bans that journalist from giving a press conference when he questions the promises made by the National People’s Power government when it came to power and the policies of the government, it is a contraction of democracy. If any ruler interferes with the public’s access to information, it is a descent into an authoritarian rule.

The National People’s Power government, by replacing the PTA  act with the ATA  act and using the repressive laws brought by former President Ranil Wickremesinghe, is trying to drag the public to the graveyard, not to lead them to a so-called renaissance. We urge the working class masses to fight against the capitalist government with an international working class perspective.