Empty fire engines standby as fire destroys Jaffna shops

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 May 2005, 21:12 GMT]
Four shops at the Old Park road- Kandy road junction, near Jaffna Kachcheri were were destroyed by fire which broke out around 7 p.m. TamilNet correspondent in the northern town said.
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‘Taraki died defending the Tamil cause’- paper

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 May 2005, 03:26 GMT]
Condemning the abduction and murder last week of political columnist and military analyst Dharmeratnam Sivaram, the Tamil Guardian newspaper this week reproached those who sought to rationalise his killing on the basis of his support for the Tamil struggle. “Yes, he was a Tamil patriot. [But] in a field laden with hyperbole and zeal, Taraki’s writing compelled prevailing understandings to be questioned rather than simply foist his own views on readers. His death will sadden those on all sides prepared to listen to rational, even if contrary, arguments,” the paper said.


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'Sivaram was a terrorist journalist' - JHU

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 May 2005, 00:02 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s hardline monks party, the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) this week denounced Mr. Dharmeratnam Sivaram, the Tamil political columnist and military analyst who was murdered on Friday, as a “terrorist journalist” working for the LTTE. Saying Mr. Sivaram was akin to “Hitler’s Goebbels” a statement issued by the JHU's General Secretary, Omalpe Sobitha Thera, said he had “undermined the morale of the armed forces who were fighting the fascist Tigers.” Saying Sivaram should have been arrested according to the laws of Sri Lanka, the JHU urged the government to take stern action against others working in support of the Tigers.
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Sivaram: ‘Don’t raise false hopes amongst our people’

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 May 2005, 18:35 GMT]
The last article published by Mr. Dharmeratnam Sivaram, the political columnist and military analyst abducted and murdered on Friday, was an appeal to his colleagues in the Tamil media. Urging them not to hype up the chances of a positive outcome with regards to the joint mechanism until it actually happens, Mr. Sivaram argued that the media has a duty to not to raise false hopes amongst the Tamil people and to keep the Sri Lankan state’s determination not to meet Tamil expectations in sight.The article, written in Tamil for the Colombo-based Virakesari newspaper appeared in its edition of Sunday April 24.
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Funeral of Sivaram held in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 May 2005, 10:13 GMT]
Murdered Tamil journalist Mr D Sivaram's funeral rites began at his family home in Lady Manning Drive, Batticaloa Monday afternoon after his body was taken to LTTE controlled Karadiyan Aaru earlier in the day. The body of Mr.Sivaram is now being taken to the cemetery in Aalayadichcholai, which lies in a High Security Zone of the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF). The funeral procession is escorted by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and Police. Representatives of the SLMM are also following, TamilNet correspondent in the eastern town said.
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Govt. of Sri Lanka is accountable for journalist's murder- US Tamils

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 May 2005, 00:48 GMT]
"Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) is accountable for the murder of journalist Mr D Sivaram," said a press release issued by a group of US Tamil Organizations, Sunday. "Sadly, the murder of Mr. Sivaram is not an aberration; it is consistent with a long history of state-sponsored murders of journalists and political opponents, and general contempt for freedom, democracy and the rule of law which have become the norm for Sri-Lanka," the release further said.
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Pirapaharan confers "Maamanithar" title to Sivaram

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 April 2005, 16:07 GMT]
“Death never destroys great men who had lived for lofty ideals,” said V Pirapaharan in a message released from Vanni Saturday conferring the "Maamanithar (Great Humanbeing)"award on journalist Dharmeratnam Sivaram. Mr Sivaram, a senior editorial board member of TamilNet, was abducted and murdered by unidentified persons Thursday evening 10.30pm.
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Sri Lanka President must be answerable for the murder - IFT

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 April 2005, 07:14 GMT]
International Federation of Tamils (IFT) The purported murder was committed in a High Security Zone which is under the constant and vigilant protection of the Security Forces of the Sri Lankan government. As supreme commander of the armed forces, the Executive President of Sri Lanka, Chandrika Bandaranaiake Kumaratunge should be held responsible and made answerable for the murder. Several Tamil journalists and human rights activists, including Nimal Rajan in Jaffna, G.Nadesan in Batticaloa, Kumar Ponnambalam in Colombo and Chandra Nehru in Batticaloa, have been murdered, all in High Security Zones, during the present President’s tenure.
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Sivaram Dharmeratnam: A Journalist’s life

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 April 2005, 21:11 GMT]
Mark Whitaker, an associate professor of anthropology at the University of South Carolina, Aiken, U.S.A, is completing an intellectual biography of Dharmeratnam Sivaram’s life and work in a book entitled “Learning Politics from Sivaram.” Prof. Whitaker summarizes Sivaram’s life and work in this feature.


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CPJ condemns ‘brazen abduction and execution’

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 April 2005, 18:25 GMT]
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemned the murder on Friday of leading military analyst and political commentator, Dharmeratnam Sivaram, saying “the brazen abduction and execution of a veteran journalist sends a chilling message to others in the Tamil media.”
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Sivaram's loss, a true tragedy- Teresita Schaffer

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 April 2005, 17:54 GMT]
"I am so distressed by this. I knew Sivaram as one of the best political analysts in Sri Lanka, and someone who valued and defended his independence of thought and action. Sri Lanka and the Tamil community need people like him. His loss is a true tragedy, and whoever killed him has done great harm to the country and the community," said Ambassador Teresita Schaffer in a message sent to TamilNet Friday.
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Batticaloa burial planned for slain journalist

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 April 2005, 12:48 GMT]
Sivaram's body will be buried according to Sivaram's wishes in Batticaloa, at the family burial grounds where his parents' bodies lie in rest, a relative organizing the funeral arrangements said. Viewing is to be held in Colombo at Sivaram's residence in Ratmalana and the body is to be taken to Batticaloa Sunday for Monday's funeral,
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RSF ‘revolted’ at Sivaram’s murder

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 April 2005, 12:19 GMT]
Reporters Sans Frontières (Reporters Without Borders) Friday said it was revolted at the brutal killing of well known journalist and military analyst Dharmeratnam Sivaram who was abducted in front of a Colombo police stations Thursday night. Describing Mr. Sivaram as a “brilliant journalist”, RSF said he was targeted because of his “uncompromising coverage of the political and military situation” in Sri Lanka.
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Journalist Sivaram murdered

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 April 2005, 02:37 GMT]
The body of abducted journalist Mr Dharmeratnam Sivaram was found with severe head injuries in Himbulala, a Sinhala suburb between Jayawardhenapura hospital and the Parliament building in Colombo Friday morning. The location is about 500 meters behind the parliamentary complex and lies inside a high security zone. Mr Sivaram, a senior editorial board member of TamilNet, was abducted Thursday evening around 10.30 PM by unidentified persons in front of the Bambalapitya Police Station in Colombo.
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Journalist Sivaram abducted

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 April 2005, 18:31 GMT]
Mr. Sivaram Dharmeratnam, 46, a senior editorial board member of TamilNet was abducted at around 10.30 PM by a group of unidentified men in front of a restaurant in Bambalapitiya, Colombo, according to reliable media persons in Colombo. A Sinhala journalist who has been in touch with the HIRU newspaper said that four unidentified persons, who were standing in front of the Bambalapitya Police Station, got into an ash coloured Toyota SUV type of vehicle and pulled Mr. Sivaram into the vehicle and drove off. 9.30pm was the last time Mr. Sivaram was in touch with TamilNet.
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‘SLFP campaign a time buying tactic’ – Gajendrakumar

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 April 2005, 13:09 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Monday dismissed the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) campaign to explain the Joint Mechanism for distributing Tsunami aid in the northeast as “a time buying tactic to gloss over the fact that it cannot overcome JVP’s strident opposition”. SLFP General Secretary Mr. Maithripala Sirisena said this weekend his party will hold a series of seminars to educate its membership about the proposed joint mechanism. “These seminars are the way out for the SLFP leadership which wants to show donor countries that it is committed to a joint mechanism with the Tamils while saving its alliance with the JVP”, Mr. Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam TNA MP for Jaffna told TamilNet.
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Discussion on making documentary on Vali North IDPs

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 April 2005, 15:38 GMT]
A discussion was held at the Tellipalai Divisional Secretary’s office in Jaffna Saturday to prepare a documentary on the plight of the thousands of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Valigamam North division of the northern peninsula. The IDPs homes, villages and entire towns in the division were garrisoned by the Sri Lankan armed forces fifteen years ago. “The documentary will be aimed at drawing the world’s attention to the long suffering of IDPs who lost their homes to the Sri Lankan military”, Mr. T. Ganesh, President of Valigamam North public organizations told TamilNet.
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Where the truce promise rings hollow

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 April 2005, 14:26 GMT]
The cease fire agreement between the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the Liberation Tigers was greeted eagerly by the people of Batticaloa because it held out the hope that their daily lives would be spared of the tensions, fears, anxieties, stress and trauma which they suffered for two long decades of war. They were glad that they could lead normal lives again. Today the cease fire’s promise rings increasingly hollow to them as the Sri Lankan armed forces reintroduce war era measures, which are tinged indelibly with bitter memories of a past the people of Batticaloa wanted to put behind so that they could start their lives anew.
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"All Mullaitivu tsunami affected are in transit camps"- Maaran

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 April 2005, 01:12 GMT]
"Of the 5905 families displaced by tsunami in Mullaitivu district, all 2124 families which needed a place to live have been transferred to transit camps [from welfare centers] and the rest are living with friends and relatives in a temporary setting. We are waiting for funds to start our third phase of resettling the families in permanent state land," said Mr Maaran, Head of Mullaitivu district Emergency Task Force (ETF), when TamilNet spoke to him recently in his offices in Mullaitivu.
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JVP slams NGOs, western countries for meddling

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 April 2005, 18:28 GMT]
“We should spit on NGOs and stop them from walking on our streets. Donor countries and their NGO agents are holding this country to ransom, telling the government to set up a joint Tsunami relief mechanism with the LTTE. It is something that can be done through the Sri Lankan state machinery. There is no need for a joint mechanism”, said Mr. Wimal Weerawansa, the powerful propaganda secretary of Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), speaking to a packed audience in Maharagama, an outer suburb of Colombo, at a meeting Wednesday to ‘expose the NGO Mafia that is against the land and the country’.
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