Journalists in North receive death threats over phone

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 March 2014, 23:49 GMT]
A section of Tamil journalists in North, who have been subjected to investigations and harassment by the Sri Lankan military intelligence in the recent past on Tuesday said they were receiving phone calls with death threats this week. The Sri Lankan military was using a projected image of ‘LTTE regrouping’ to silence the journalists and civil activists, especially during the 25th session of the human rights council in Geneva. In the meantime a top commander of the Sri Lanka Army has told a rights activist in Colombo that the whole Geneva discourse would end as the talk of USA sending ship to evacuate LTTE political leaders while brokering a surrender-deal at the end of Vanni war in 2009.

“Like Pulidevan and Nadesan were talking to foreign journalists, Elilan’s wife Ananthi is now talking at Geneva. At the end of the day, everything would end like the US ship affair,” the SL commander was quoted as saying.

The threats issued to journalists in Jaffna should also be interpreted with the attempt by the Sri Lankan military operatives to organise a protest in support of Mahinda Rajapaksa through paramilitary operatives. The attempt has been unsuccessful, Tamil activists in Jaffna said.

In Ampaa’rai and in Mannaar, the occupying SL military has waylaid Tamil people to rally in support of the president and commander-in-chief of the genocidal Sri Lanka.

“The worsening situation is caused by the watered-down resolution being framed by the USA, UK and others,” an activist in Jaffna said.

“This year many rights activists and journalists have been effectively silenced by the occupying Sri Lankan military,” the activist said as mobile phones of almost every activist in Vanni remained switched off on Tuesday following the terror actions by the SL military under the TID tag.