Sri Lanka Tamil Media Alliance (SLTMA)
113/6, Ellie House Rd, Colombo-15.
Phone: 077-304010
E-mail:tamilmedia@hotmail.com
21-06-2001
Her Excellency,
The President
The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
Your Excellency,
The Sri Lankan state media and the Sunday Divaina, published by the Upali Newspapers Ltd have published news stories and articles which have created a situation which poses a threat to the journalist Mr.Dharmeratnam Sivaram and his family. Mr. D. Sivaram is a well known defence and political analyst. The state owned Daily News carried a front-page story on June 8 accusing Mr. Sivaram of being a spy for the Liberation Tigers.
The accusation was repeated again on June 17 in the Sunday edition of the state run Tamil daily, Thinakaran. The paper prominently displayed a colour photo of Mr. Sivaram on its front page along with the story, which levelled very serious accusations against him.
The Sunday Divaina of 17 June too made similar accusations in an article written by the paper's defence correspondent.
Mr. Sivaram informs us that as a result of these articles and news stories which carry his full name and pen name plus his photograph he is unable to move about freely for fear of being identified on the basis of the serious accusations made against him in the Divaina and the state media. He says that he and his family now face the possibility of retaliation by extremist elements and assassins. His family was threatened by a person on the basis of the Divaina article.
We wish to draw attention to the fact that this is not the first time that Tamil journalists like Mr. Sivaram have been accused of being agents of the LTTE.
Last year the state media and the defence correspondent of the Sunday Divaina launched a similar campaign against Mr. P. Seevagan, the former secretary of the Sri Lanka Tamil Media Alliance, Mr. Roy Denish, the defence correspondent of the Sunday Leader, Mr. D Sivaram and Mr. Saman Wagaaratchchi, the editor of the Irida Peramuna, accusing them of being agents of the LTTE. The journalists also received threats to their life.
Again, Mr. Mylvaganam Nimalarajan, the Jaffna correspondent to the BBC and the Sinhala political weekly, Ravaya was also accused of being an LTTE agent by sections of the state. He was later assassinated at him home in October last year. There has been a marked apathy on the part of the state to expedite the investigations and to bring his murderers to book.
Earlier this year Mr. Thiruchelvam was arrested and tortured by the Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) of the Police on the ground that he was linked to the LTTE. He was released later without charges. Similarly, Mr. P. Manickavasagam, provincial correspondent of Virakesari and correspondent for BBC and Mr. Sree Gajan, staff reporter of Virakesari were also arrested and detained by the TID, accused of connections with the LTTE. They too were released without charges while they were portrayed in sections of the press as real LTTE agents. Most recently, the Mannar correspondent of the Tamil daily, Thinakkural, Mr. A. S. M Faszmi who brought to light the rape and torture of two women in the custody of the Counter Subversive Unit of the Mannar Police, had had to face threats and harassment on account of his reports.
Later, in response to concern expressed by the RSF regarding his plight, the Special Media Information Centre of the government issued a press release which among other things stated that Mr. Faszmi had taken a bribe.
The SMIC release was calculated to ruin Mr. Faszmi's reputation as a journalist.
We condemn this dangerous trend of baselessly and grossly levelling dangerous accusations against Tamil journalists whose reporting about the ground situation may not be to the liking of the authorities or Sinhala extremists. The trend which remains unmitigated so far is clearly calculated to silence Tamil journalists by terrorising them and their families with the accusation that they are pawns of the LTTE. This is done with the knowledge that the accusation poses the very real danger of provoking Sinhala extremist retaliation and of arrest, torture and prolonged detention under the Prevention of Terrorism Act and Emergency Regulations under which any member of the armed forces regardless of his/her rank can arrest a person if he/she has "reasonable ground" for suspecting someone of having links with the LTTE.
We therefore urge you to please take concrete steps to arrest this trend and create a situation in which Tamil journalists can work without fearing for their lives and undergoing mental torture.
Thank you
P.Manikavasagar,
President
R.Bharati,
Secretary
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