Media organizations protest on IHR Day in Colombo

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 December 2007, 16:21 GMT]
Five media movements including Free Media Movement (FMM), Sri Lanka Tamil Journalists Movement and Working Journalists Association staged Monday, International Human Righs (IHR) day, a protest demonstration march from Narahenpittya junction to the Sri Lanka Media Ministry located in Narahenpittiya in Colombo where they handed over a memorandum to a ministry official, sources in Colombo said.
Full story >>

Sivaram murder case inquiry fixed for February 11

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 November 2007, 16:22 GMT]
Popular military analyst and TamilNet editorial board member Dharmeratnam Sivaram (Taraki) murder case was taken up for inquiry Monday before the High Court Judge Mr.W.A.D.Ratnayake. The court announced that the inquiry in this case would commence on February 11 next year before a panel of Jury. Attorney General has indicted Arumugam Sriskandarajah for murdering Mr.Sivaram on April 8, 2005, legal sources said.
Full story >>

Rights group launches campaign against attacks on Journalists in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 October 2007, 08:03 GMT]
Expressing concern on the level of prevailing impunity of the killings of media personnel in Sri Lanka, the Asian Human Rights Commission, citing 11 cases where 12 Tamil media personnel were killed since 31 May 2004 till 29 April 2007, on Tuesday urged the public to write letters to the concerned Sri Lankan authorities demanding impartial investigation in order to identify and bring the perpetrators to justice. "Not a single person has been brought before the court," in the 11 cases, the AHRC noted and urged the public to forward a copy of their appeal to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions.
Full story >>

Taraki Sivaram remembered

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 April 2007, 10:14 GMT]
"We once again remember with pride the service rendered to the media by Taraki Sivaram. He exercised his right to freedom of expression without fear. We bear this in our minds as we take it among the people on his second death anniversary," the statement issued by North Sri Lanka Journalists Association (NSLJA) Friday said. Members of NSLJA and Jaffna University Media Research & Training Centre (MRTC) jointly took part in the first event of a programme launched to remember Taraki Sivaram, the well-known, political analyst and senior editor of TamilNet, on the second anniversary of his assassination on 28 April 2005.
Full story >>

Media delegation briefed on the woes of Tamil journalists

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 October 2006, 11:25 GMT]
The delegates of International media, who arrived in Colombo on Monday on a fact finding mission, to assess the climate of press freedom in Sri Lanka, held a meeting with the representatives from Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association (SLWJA), Free Media Movement (FMM), Sri Lanka Tamil Media Alliance (SLTMA), Sri Lanka Muslim Media Forum (SLMMF) and Federation of Media Employees Trade Union (FMETU ) in collaboration with the Sri Lanka Press Institute (SLPI), sources in Colombo said.
Full story >>

Lt.Seelan remembered in Muttur east

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 July 2006, 14:53 GMT]
Twenty third death anniversary of Charles Anthony (nom de guerre Lt Seelan), the LTTE first martyr from Trincomalee district and the first attack commander of the LTTE, was observed Saturday evening at Lt.Seelan Memorial Hall in Muttur east. Mr.S.Elilan, LTTE Trincomalee district political head delivered the keynote address, sources said.
Full story >>

Australian Tamils call for an end to military occupation in Tamil homeland

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 May 2006, 06:46 GMT]
Over 1200 Tamils from across Australia gathered in front of their national parliament on Monday, May 29, to raise the voices in concert with the global protest campaign organised by the Tamil Diaspora. Parliamentarians from all sides of Australian politics, religious dignitaries, people who had been to the homelands and others addressed the protesters between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. The parliamentarians expressed their conviction that the gathering had conveyed the level of support amongst the Diaspora for the Tamil cause. Some parliamentarians undertook to convey this message of support to the rest of the politicians.
Full story >>

SL Police abandons Sivaram murder investigation- RSF

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 May 2006, 12:14 GMT]
"Violence between Tamil factions, sometimes manipulated by the security forces, has had particularly bloody results. The renowned Tamil journalist Dharmeratnam Sivaram "Taraki", head of the news website TamilNet and editorialist on the Daily Mirror, was gunned down in Colombo in April. After arresting one suspect, police abandoned the investigation," said Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in its annual report for 2006 on Sri Lanka, issued Tuesday.
Full story >>

Jaffna journalists pay tribute to Sivaram on first death anniversary

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 April 2006, 01:18 GMT]
"Sri Lanka Government (GoSL) has failed in its attempt to stifle the voice of the entire Tamils by killing Sivaram. Many young Tamil journalists are in the forefront, continuing his mission, informing the international community of the perils faced by Tamils in Sri Lanka. This is the greatest tribute we journalists can pay Sivaram," said Mr. S. Kathirgamathamby, president North Ceylon Journalists Association (NCJA) in his address at the first annual memorial day Dharmeratnam Sivaram (Taraki), a senior editor of TamilNet, held at the Media Research and Training Center in Jaffna University Friday evening at 4 p.m.


Full story >>

TamilNet editor's murder still unpunished, impunity prevails in Sri Lanka- RSF

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 April 2006, 11:35 GMT]
Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the Sri Lanka Free Media Movement (FMM) all voiced outrage on the lack of progress in the investigation into the murder of Dharmaretnam Sivaram and and said "the current serious crisis in Sri Lanka - the result of unacceptable terrorism - in no way justifies the impunity prevailing in the murders of journalists and human rights activists," in a press release issued Friday.
Full story >>

Sivaram remembered in Batticaloa and Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 April 2006, 07:19 GMT]
The first death anniversary of reputed journalist Dharmeratnam Sivaram (Taraki), a Senior Editor of TamilNet, who was assassinated a year ago in Colombo was held in Batticaloa on Thursday and Friday morning in Jaffna. Batticaloa Rural Development Organization in collaboration with Thamileelam Education Development Board organized the event held at Ramakrishna Mission School in Kokkadichcholai. Jaffna District Media Association (JDMA) organized the Jaffna event.
Full story >>

The Importance of ‘Rearbase’: Taraki, 1989

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 February 2006, 02:05 GMT]
In the 29 October 1989 issue of Sri Lanka's English daily, Island International, late Dharmeratnam Sivaram, popular journalist and Senior editor at TamilNet, writes on the waning importance of a rear base in Tamil Nadu after the end of Eelam war I in 1987. "That a multipurpose comfortable rearbase would in the long term erode the conviction to fight and play into the hands of India was an opinion expressed in 1983. Finally the rearbase started becoming a factor that threatened to undermine the control various leaders had over their fighting cadres," Sivaram wrote.
Full story >>

War and Peace- LTTE way: Taraki, 1991

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 January 2006, 00:08 GMT]
In the 12 June 1991 issue of Sri Lanka's English daily, Island International, late Dharmeratnam Sivaram, popular journalist and Senior editor at TamilNet, writes on issues that dominated the early Premadasa period after the departure of IPKF as prevailing climate appeared ripe for peace talks. However, on the day the article appeared, two soldiers were killed in a Batticaloa landmine attack. Enraged soldiers massacred 150 Tamil civilians (13 June) in Kokkadichcholai. LTTE retaliated by killing 19 soldiers (20 June) in an ambush, leading to continued blood letting as Eelam War II (June 1990 to 1994) was fought without any hopes of peace talks.
Full story >>

US Tamils call for sanctions against SL Government

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 December 2005, 11:24 GMT]
Expressing anger and sadness at the killing of Senior Parliamentarian Joseph Pararajasingham, US based Tamil Organizations, in a press release issued Monday, pointed out that "Tamils killings are never investigated...and armed forces in Sri Lanka operate with complete impunity," and urged the international community to "show political and moral courage and impose sanctions on the government of Sri Lanka in order to put an immediate end of this deliberated and calculated violence."
Full story >>

Tigers two pronged strategy- Taraki, 1989

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 November 2005, 01:02 GMT]
On the 3 December 1989 issue of Sri Lanka's English daily, Island International, late Dharmeratnam Sivaram, popular journalist and Senior editor at TamilNet, writes on LTTE's ascendency after the collapse of the Indo-Lanka accord. Beginning of withdrawal of Indian troops, JVP insurrection in the South that made Sri Lanka a killing field, and the start of Premadasa-LTTE talks provide the political context to the article.
Full story >>

"SL Government's speak soft, hit hard policy" - Taraki, 1992

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 November 2005, 03:33 GMT]
In the 10th June 1992 issue of Sri Lanka's English daily, Island International, late Dharmeratnam Sivaram, popular journalist and Senior editor at TamilNet, sheds light into the then Sri Lanka's President Premadasa and Leader of the House, Ranil Wickremesinghe's strategy of dealing with Tamil national question, a strategy of wooing Tamil votes with political rhetoric and to inflict military defeat on LTTE by planning to allow Sri Lanka forces to "smash their way into Jaffna."
Full story >>

The LTTE’s New Concept- Confederation: Taraki

[TamilNet, Monday, 31 October 2005, 04:41 GMT]
In the 31st July 1991 issue of Sri Lanka's English daily, Island International, popular journalist and military analyst, late Dharmeratnam Sivaram, portrays the 1991 battle of Elephant Pass as demonatrating the LTTE's capability as a conventional army and predicts how this emergent force will dictate the trajectory of Sri Lanka's war.
Full story >>

US's strategic interests in Sri Lanka- Taraki

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 July 2005, 18:45 GMT]
What are the US government’s strategic interests in Sri Lanka? If the US has specific strategic interests in the island, then what are the means and modes by which it was and is securing them? Dharmaretnam Sivaram, popular military analyst and senior editor at TamilNet was working on this feature when he was abducted and killed on 28 April 2005.
Full story >>

JVP: party on the path to power- Taraki

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 June 2005, 09:49 GMT]
In an Opinion column that appeared in Colombo weekly, Midweek Mirror of Wednesday, January 15, 1998, popular journalist and military analyst, late Dharmaretnam Sivaram wrote on the rising popularity of the Sinhala Nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) among the masses of Sinhala South and of JVP's imminent rise to be a strong contender as a ruling party in the democratic electoral politics of Sri Lanka. This feature reproduces the full text of the article.
Full story >>

Police blame political party for Sivaram murder - paper

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 June 2005, 14:17 GMT]
Sri Lankan Police have cracked the murder of journalist Sivaram Dharmaratnam but are keeping it under wraps until all suspects are arrested, The Sunday Leader newspaper claimed this week, adding a political party supportive of President Chandrika Kumaratunga's ruling coalition is to blame. The claim was echoed in by the Sunday Times’ defence column.
Full story >>