SLA shuts down Jaffna paper

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 May 2000, 05:28 GMT]
The Sri Lanka army sealed the Jaffna daily, Uthayan, yesterday. Soldiers who went to the paper's office in Jaffna town last evening locked the building, cut phone lines and took the keys away said a journalist at the paper. The Sri Lankan government declared draconian laws recently granting sweeping powers to specially appointed officials including the authority to close down news papers and printing presses.

The SLA warned the Uthayan paper's assistant general manager and associate editor C.N Vithiyatharan last week for publishing a story about the Sri Lankan President's meeting with Indian Air Force commander.

The troops had come in four trucks to the office of the Uthayan in Jaffna town last evening around 7 p.m. The Uthayan press is also in the premises of the newspaper's office.

The Uthayan journalist who made phone contact with colleagues in Colombo last night said that the troops had informed the paper's editor that they were shutting it down. No clear reason was given the journalist added.

The power to shut down news papers and printing presses is granted under section 14 of the Emergency (Miscellaneous Provisions and Powers) Regulation No.1 of 2000 promulgated under section 5 of the Public Security Ordinance (Chapter