Tamil MPs slam SLA, paramilitaries for threats to media

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 July 2004, 14:14 GMT]
“Journalist Nadesan was murdered because the Sri Lankan government did not disarm paramilitary groups working with the military as it agreed to do under the cease-fire agreement. A paramilitary group in Batticaloa killed Nadesan and is threatening other independent journalists with death. This group cannot roam Batticaloa with weapons and intimidate and murder journalists without the military’s permission”, said Mr. Senathirajah Jeyanandamoorthy, Tamil National Alliance MP for Batticaloa speaking Tuesday during a debate in the Sri Lankan Parliament on the state of the media in the island.
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Karuna cadre killed, two injured

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 July 2004, 12:56 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers in Batticaloa said that a key associate of renegade commander 'Karuna' was killed in an ambush by one of their special jungle warfare units in Batticaloa Wednesday afternoon around 2.45 p.m. "We ambushed a small group of the paramilitary Karuna Group carrying small arms upon information provided by civilians. We recovered the body of a key person of the Karuna Group. A search is on to apprehend the others", an LTTE military officer said.
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Armed Tamil youth arrested in Buddhist temple

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 July 2004, 18:36 GMT]
Hingurakgoda Police said Tuesday morning that the arrested youth had in their possession three T- 56, three T - 84 type assault rifles and a T - 81 special assault rifle. They also had six hand grenades. A van and a car in which they had traveled were also seized from the Bubula temple, Police said.
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The cease-fire’s weakest link: Tamil paramilitaries

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 June 2004, 17:50 GMT]
When Norwegian Special Envoy Erik Solheim flew into Sri Lanka this week, he was well aware that the problems that have bedeviled his government’s peace process thus far have now been eclipsed by new and far more severe one: a weak link in the formal ceasefire between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers has finally snapped.
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Batticaloa turns nightmare for local journalists

[TamilNet, Saturday, 26 June 2004, 10:28 GMT]
A journalist in Batticaloa went into hiding Friday, fearing for his life after persons suspected to be members of a paramilitary group working with the Sri Lankan military intelligence threatened him with death, family members told TamilNet. The journalist, Mr. Thanthiyan Vedanayagam, was working as the Batticaloa correspondent for the independent Tamil daily ‘Thinakkural’. Two journalists fled the eastern town earlier this month after they too were threatened with death by persons suspected to be members of a paramilitary group working with the Sri Lankan military intelligence.
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Tigers slam Sri Lankan state media for vicious propaganda

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 June 2004, 10:01 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers Wednesday expressed serious concern about ‘malicious and false propaganda’ in Sri Lanka’s state controlled media regarding the situation in the Batticaloa district, during discussions with the Norwegian Ambassador in Colombo. “If the Sri Lankan Government is honest in taking the LTTE as a sincere partner in the peace process, this type of clandestine media activity should stop forthwith”, Mr. S. P Thamilchelvan told the ambassador. There is yet no agreement on restarting the talks the ambassador told the press at the conclusion of the meeting.
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Pattern of intimidation and murder to silence independent Tamil journalists

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 June 2004, 11:50 GMT]
“Nadesan had been harassed and threatened before his death because he had criticized the government and security forces, according to CPJ research”, the New York based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said in a statement condemning the murder of the veteran Tamil journalist in Batticaloa on Sri Lanka’s east coast. Meanwhile Mr. Nadesan’s colleagues in the east demanded investigations into “the pattern of intimidation and murder to silence Tamil journalists”.
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RSF condemns Nadesan's murder

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 June 2004, 21:57 GMT]
The Paris based world media watchdog, Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontieres) Tuesday condemned the murder of Tamil journalist Aiyathurai Nadesan in Batticaloa and voiced concern that "dissension within the Tamil separatist movement and existing tensions with the security forces could lead to an escalation of violation against the news media".
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North-East to shut down over Nadesan's murder

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 June 2004, 14:47 GMT]
Media associations in the North-East province Tuesday called for a general shut down (Hartal) on Wednesday to condemn the slaying of a leading Tamil journalist, Mr. Aiyathurai Nadesan, who was shot dead by unknown gunmen on Monday in Batticaloa town, sources said.
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Vanni journalists condemn Nadesan’s murder

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 June 2004, 13:56 GMT]
The Vanni district journalists association Tuesday released a statement expressing its shock and grief at the murder of the Batticaloa-based senior journalist, Mr. Iyathurai Nadesan, Monday. The association strongly condemned the murder and said the journalist's slaying has created a sense of fear and insecurity among Tamil journalists.
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Killings threaten press freedom- SLTMA

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 June 2004, 02:53 GMT]
"We urge all those who cherish press freedom and democracy to pressure the Sri Lanka Government to take immediate steps to safeguard the journalists from murder and harassment, and to bring to justice those who perpetrate dastardly crimes on Tamil journalists who question oppression and injustice," said members of the Sri Lanka Tamil Media Alliance (SLTMA), in a memorandum released Tuesday.
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Batticaloa journalist shot dead

[TamilNet, Monday, 31 May 2004, 08:31 GMT]
Mr. Aiyathurai Nadesan, a leading Tamil journalist in Sri Lanka, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen Monday morning around eight a.m. when he was going to work in a motorbike. The assailants came in a motorbike in front and fired at him, Batticaloa Police said.
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Batticaloa youth arrested for possession of firearms

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 May 2004, 13:51 GMT]
Mr. Theivanayagam Sutharsan of Mamangam in Batticaloa was arrested by Sri Lanka police and produced before the Magistrate, Mr. A.H.M. Ajmeer, on Monday, for illegal possession of firearms. The Magistrate remanded the youth till June 7, sources in Batticaloa said.
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JVP holds discussions on peace process with allies

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 May 2004, 18:10 GMT]
The leadership of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), a main constituent of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA), has been holding intensive discussions with the other constituent political parties of the UPFA on the current position of the peace process, as a prelude to announcing its final stand on the Norwegian brokered peace talks between the UPFA government and the LTTE, JVP sources said Friday.


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Suspect in Nimalarajan murder allowed reduced bail

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 May 2004, 17:27 GMT]
The Jaffna Magistrate, Mr.R.T.Viknarajah, on the orders of the Court of Appeal on Monday allowed the fourth suspect, Mr.Balachchandran Uthayapavan, in the Jaffna Journalist Mylvaganam Nimalarajan' murder case, on bond signed by two sureties, who should be government servants, for one hundred thousand rupees each. The suspect is a member of a Tamil paramilitary group, the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP), legal sources said.
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Two LTTE activists shot dead in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 May 2004, 13:48 GMT]
Mr.Sivanathan Murali alias Pahalavan and Mr.Vathanan, two unarmed political activists of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), were shot dead Thursday afternoon around 2 p.m. at Thannamunai, located 9 kilometers northwest of Batticaloa town in the Sri Lanka Army-controlled area. At the time of the incident the Sri Lanka Army was patrolling the area, sources said.
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RSF fears for safety of Tamil journalist

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 May 2004, 16:18 GMT]
The Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières) in a letter to Sri Lanka's minister of home affairs, Mr. Amarasiri Dodangoda, on Tuesday expressed its fears for the safety of Tamil journalist Mr. Dharmeratnam Sivaram ("Taraki"), whose home in Colombo was searched by Sri Lanka police Monday.
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Tamil media Alliance slams raid on journalist's home

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 May 2004, 13:07 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Tamil Media Alliance (SLTMA) said Tuesday it strongly condemns the Police raid on journalist Sivaram Dharmeratnam’s home in Colombo on World Press Freedom Day. “The Sri Lankan government and its armed forces have long attempted to portray Tamil journalists as supporters of armed violence with a view to destroying their professional credibility. We consider the raid on Mr. Sivaram’s home as a continuation of this policy," the SLTMA said in a statement Tuesday.
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Suspects in Analaitivu EPDP camp fire allowed bail

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 April 2004, 14:42 GMT]
The Kayts Magistrate, Mr.A.Premashankar, Thursday released 22 residents of Analaitivu in the Jaffna district, arrested by the police in connection with the torching of a camp of the paramilitary Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) in the village on April 11th, on cash bail with two sureties, legal sources said.
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Analaitivu villagers complain of police harassment

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 April 2004, 18:07 GMT]
The Kayts Police in Jaffna district has up to now sent notices to about 35 residents of Analaitivu village to appear in the police station in regard to the alleged torching of a camp of the paramilitary Eelam People's Democratic party (EPDP) on April 11. However, five civilians who went to the Kayts Police station Wednesday morning on receipt of such notice have not returned to Analaitivu till late in the night, civil sources said.
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