Government party paramilitary men threaten Tamil daily editors in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 February 2009, 00:06 GMT]
Paramilitary men of a Tamil political party that is a member of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government of Sri Lanka threatened the editorial staff of the two Tamil dailies published in Jaffna for not giving prominence for the news related to their party activities or the reports issued by their party leader, according to the complaint made by the editorial staff to the Joint Media Association in Colombo, sources in Colombo said.

The said Tamil political party paramilitary men issued the threats to the editorial staff of the two Tamil dailies in person at the office of the dailies.

The paramilitary men had warned the editors that the public in Jaffna peninsula are dissatisfied with the two dailies for not publishing news of their party and that the party cannot be held responsible if members of public choose to attack the offices of the dailies.

Recently, the Tamil political party had organized a march in Jaffna town calling the Tamils in Vanni to leave the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) held areas and come to Sri Lanka Army (SLA) occupied Jaffna peninsula.

The paramilitary men had accused the editors of the dailies for deliberately not reporting on the event.

The killings of Tamil journalists from Nimalarajan on 19 October 2000 to that of Paranirupasingam Thevakumar in 2008 have resulted in many Tamil journalists and editors leaving Jaffna peninsula for good or to quit their profession to save their lives.

The threatened editorial staff told the Joint Media Association in Colombo that they are forced to obey the instruction of the paramilitary men.

The two Tamil dailies now carry the news and reports related to the Tamil political party in the front pages, sources in Jaffna said.