Coercive Airpower in the Eelam Conflict- Taraki

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 May 2005, 00:11 GMT]
The article on the use of airpower in Eelam conflict written by late Dharmeratnam Sivaram that appeared in the 19 May 1991 issue of the Island gains added significance in view of recent controversy over Liberation Tigers’ alleged possession of Czech made Zlin type Z-143 aircraft. Full text of the article is reproduced in this feature.


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The Idea of Eelam- Taraki

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 May 2005, 13:59 GMT]
In the 14th March 1990 issue of Sri Lanka's English daily, Island International, popular journalist and military analyst, late Dharmeratnam Sivaram, provided insight into how the concept of Eelam in its various interpretations were adopted or dismantled as the basis of the armed struggle of different Tamil liberation movements.
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Do Sri Lanka's defense forces have conventional warfare capability?- Taraki

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 May 2005, 00:34 GMT]
In an article in the Colombo-based Tamil daily, Virakesari, on March 27, 2005, Dharmaretnam Sivaram, analyzed the history of Sri Lanka's defense forces and argued that from the very beginning, the Sri Lankan forces' mission was to confront internal crises that the country's ruling elite feared as grave threats, without the strategic thinking required for conventional warfare or to confront external threats.
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RSF slams Colombo’s ‘lack of will’ on journalists’ murder

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 May 2005, 13:48 GMT]
Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF) has written to participants at the Sri Lankan Development Forum (SLDF) meeting in Kandy urging them to put pressure on the Sri Lankan government to conduct a serious investigation into the 29 April murder of Tamil journalist Dharmeratnam Sivaram (Taraki).


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Sinhala Nation, refusing to share national wealth- Taraki

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 May 2005, 11:46 GMT]
Liberation Tigers' demand for an independent administrative arrangement and funds to rehabilitate and rebuild the infrastructure of the Tamil homeland is rooted on the fact that for the past 56 years the Sinhala Nation has resolutely exercised its monopoly power on island's national wealth and refused to accept Tamil's right to a fair share of the wealth, argues late Dharmeratnam Sivaram, in a column which appeared in Virakesari of 21 November 2004. This feature provides an English translation.
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Pro-peace groups receive death threats

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 May 2005, 13:46 GMT]
Leaders of civil society organisations calling for a peaceful solution to Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict have received death threats from an extreme Sinhala nationalist group calling itself ‘Theraputtabhaya force.’ The letter, which claimed responsibility for the murder of journalist Sivaram Dharmeratnam, says that all traitors should be ready to become "fertiliser for the motherland" if they continue to betray it.
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‘Sivaram’s phone still ringing, but where?’

[TamilNet, Sunday, 08 May 2005, 13:44 GMT]
More than a week after he was abducted and murdered, the mobile phone of one of Sri Lanka’s best known political columnists continues to ring, weekend press reports said. And despite the technology which can allow law enforcement agencies to pinpoint a cellular phone’s location using its relative proximity to local base stations, Sri Lanka’s police claim they have no idea where Mr. Sivaram’s phone might be.
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Journalists dismayed over Sivaram debate

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 May 2005, 18:24 GMT]
The lack of a quorum in Sri Lanka’s Parliament and the subsequent lacklustre debate when the abduction and brutal murder of Tamil political columnist and military analyst, Dharmeratnam Sivaram, was taken up Friday dismayed journalists who three days earlier had taken to the streets in a major protest over the brazen killing in Colombo.
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UN petitioned to pressure GoSL for murder inquiry

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 May 2005, 11:16 GMT]
Speakers at a memorial event held in Temple Hall, Paris, condemned the murder of Tamil journalist, Mr Dharmeratnam Sivaram, and urged the United Nation's (UN's) Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression,Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on human rights defenders to pressure the Government of Sri Lanka to conduct an independent inquiry into the killing, a press release issued Friday in France by Tamil Center for Human Rights (TCHR) said.
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Editor seeks protection after JVP threats

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 May 2005, 11:07 GMT]
Mr. Lasantha Wickramatunga, Editor of Colombo based newspaper Sunday Leader, informed of imminent risk to his life and sought protection from Inspector General of Police, Mr Chandra Fernado, after threatening statements were made by Mr Wimal Weerawansa, a government-party MP and leader of the parliamentary group of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) during a meeting held at Maharagama by JVP's front, the ultra-nationalist Patriotic National Movement (PNM).
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TNA demands international commission to probe Sivaram murder

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 May 2005, 10:16 GMT]
Mr.R.Sampanthan, parliamentary group leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Friday demanded in Sri Lanka's parliament that the government should take steps to constitute an international commission of inquiry comprising of impartial and qualified persons from the countries in the SAARC region, like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and from the Commonwealth countries like Australia, New Zealand and canto to investigate all aspects of the murder of journalist Mr.D.Sivaram.
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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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Australian Tamils condemn journalist's murder

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 May 2005, 10:52 GMT]
The Australian Federation of Tamil Associations, in a press release issued Tuesday condemned the murder of Dharmeratnam Sivaram and said, "This murder is the latest in a series of brutal slayings of Tamil journalists which includeBBC journalist, Mr Mylvaganam Nimalarajan and Mr Nadesan...We call upon the Australian Government and the Australian Media in particular to condemn this brutal and premeditated murder. AFTA is outraged that the Sri Lankan politicalestablishment should continue silencing the voice of Tamils despite the cease-fire."
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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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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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LTTE accuses SLA Intelligence, para-militaries for Sivaram's murder

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 April 2005, 00:16 GMT]
Accusing Sri Lanka military intelligence, and para-militaries collaborating with security forces as responsible for murdering Taraki D Sivaram, the Political Wing of the Liberation Tigers in a press release issued from Vanni Friday said, "Forces that cannot stand up to Sivaram's resoluteness, his firm conviction on issues, and depth and brilliance in broad range of skills, have abducted and murdered him to silence his voice."
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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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Tamil Media Alliance condemns Sivaram's murder

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 April 2005, 14:12 GMT]
Sri Lanka Tamil Media Alliance (SLTA) Friday condemned the murder of journalist Dharmeratnam Sivaram and said that the death threatens media freedom in Sri Lanka. "Especially the discovery of the body in a high security zone closer to the symbol of democracy, the Sri Lanka parliament, sends a chilling message to the journalists who are already working in an atmosphere of fear," the statement added.
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FCA condemns Sivaram slaying

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 April 2005, 12:37 GMT]
Foreign Correspondents' Association of Sri Lanka (FCA) condemned the abduction and killing of Mr. D. Sivaram (Taraki) and said: "to gun down an unarmed man is pure cowardice; to gun down a journalist is to attack freedom of speech."
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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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