Fasting campaign to demand inquiry into Nimalarajan’s murder

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 September 2003, 17:24 GMT]
A fasting campaign is to be held by the Jaffna Journalists’ Alliance (JJA) in front of the Jaffna District Secretariat to remember the slain journalist, Mr. Mylvaganam Nimalarajan, who was killed three years ago in Jaffna, and to call for a commission of inquiry into his murder, the Jaffna-based Tamil daily, Uthayan, said Monday.

The fasting campaign will be held in front of the Department of Information at the District Secretariat on October 14, Tuesday, commencing at 9 a.m.

Gunmen suspected to be members of the paramilitary Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) murdered Nimalarajan, a popular Jaffna journalist who worked for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), at his residence on October 19, 2000.

Though three years have passed since Mr. Nimalarajan was killed, no tangible progress has been made in the inquiry into his murder. Four members of the EPDP, Michael Collin David, Palanichamy Visvan, Kandasamy Jegatheeswaran, and Karalaingham Sinthuparan were arrested in the case and then allowed to go free on bail.

The main suspect in the journalist’s murder, an EPDP leader known as Napoleon who worked closely with the Sri Lanka Navy in Jaffna, is believed to have left Sri Lanka surreptitiously with the assistance of some powerful sections of the Sri Lankan armed forces.

When the last time the case was brought up before the Jaffna Magistrate on July 25, 2003, the Chief Inspector of Police in Jaffna, Mr.Ranjith de Silva, told the Magistrate that the police were on the trails of two more suspects, also members the EPDP, who were said to be moving around the Puttalam and Mannar areas.

However, there has been no reported progress since then.

“Violence and death threats directed against Tamil journalists continue,” the JJA said in a press release. Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister, Mr. Ranil Wickremasinghe, should “ensure justice to the affected journalists,” said the press release, “and order a commission of inquiry into the murder of Nimalarajan.”

The JJA called on Tamil parliamentarians, the National Upsurge Movement, representatives of the International Federation of Tamil Students, University Students, Tamil patriots and journalists to participate in the fasting campaign.

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