by Dr. Victor Rajakulendran; published May 5, 2004
An open appeal to the Foreign Ministers of Democratic Nations
The
Hon. Jan Peterson, State Secretary, Norway
Hon. Jack Straw, Foreign Secretary, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, London
Hon. Javier Solana, Secretary General, European Union Council
Hon. Bill Graham, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Canada
Hon. Nkosayana Dlamini-Zuma, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Republic of South Africa
Mr. Colin L. Powell, Secretary of State, US Department of State, Washington DC
Hon. Yoriko Kavaguchi, Foreign Minister, Japan
Hon. Alexander Downer, Minister Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australia
Your Excellencies
Re: Concerns about safety and freedom of expression of the Sri Lankan journalist Mr. Sivaram Dharmeratnam
D. Sivaram
News reports coming out of Sri Lanka indicate that there is an imminent threat to Mr.Sivaram Dharmeratnam’s (“Taraki”) safety and of State terror being used to prevent Sivaram from using his freedom of expression. Sivaram is a political affairs columnist for English and Tamil newspapers published from Colombo and a member of the TamilNet editorial board, which is the Tamil Website reporting to the world on Tamil affairs.
An Associated Press report dated Tuesday, May 4, 2003 states: “DILIP GANGULY – Associated Press Writer – COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – (AP) Police searched the home of a prominent Sri Lankan journalist in the capital Colombo while he was out of town taking part in World Press Freedom Day celebrations, the journalist said Tuesday. “That the police should have chosen World Press Freedom Day to raid a well-known Tamil journalist’s home speaks volumes for the state of media freedom in Sri Lanka” said R. Thurairatnam, president of the Sri Lanka Tamil Media Alliance, a watchdog group. Sivaram was attending World Press Freedom Day events in the eastern city of Batticaloa when the search took place.
“The raid on the Tamil journalist’s home is an act of crude intimidation aimed at stepping up pressure on Mr. Sivaram’s family and thereby preventing him from writing critically on sensitive issues affecting the Tamil people,” Thurairatnam said in a statement.
Sivaram was threatened with death in 2000 and 2001 by unidentified armed groups believed to be working clandestinely with the Sri Lankan state and by an ethnic Sinhala extremist group, according to reports in Tamil newspapers then. Sivaram’s Website has gained widespread notoriety for its reporting on Tamil affairs, with special emphasis on human rights violations by government security forces. In 2001, Sivaram said he feared for his life after Sri Lankan newspapers linked him with Tamil Tiger separatists.”
During President Chandrika Kumarathunka’s previous government, prior to 2001, very strict press censorship was in place and journalists like Sivaram were not allowed to report freely. During that period journalists and politicians who wrote political columns critical of the government had to face intimidation from the government security apparatus and in some cases even death. Mr Kumar Ponnambalam, a famous criminal Attorney at Law and a politician who raised his voice for the oppressed Tamils, and wrote newspaper columns criticising the President and her government, was gunned down in daylight while sitting in his car on a Colombo street. This cold-blooded murder was alleged to have been carried out by underworld figures close to the Presidential Security Division. Mr. Mylvaganam Nimalarajan, a British Broadcasting Corp. journalist based in the northern city of Jaffna, was shot to death in his home in October 2000 after being accused of working for the rebels. This murder was alleged to have been carried out by Tamil paramilitary personnel operating from the government Security Forces’ camps in the NorthEast of the country. The chief suspect in this case was arrested only a few weeks back after he absconded all this time with the help of the Security Forces. The famous Defence Correspondent for the Colombo English Daily, Sunday Times, Iqbal Athas, was subjected to similar intimidation to what Sivaram is subjected to now by some members of the Sri Lankan Navy.
By intimidating Sivaram’s family while he was participating in World Freedom Day celebrations, the government security apparatus have tried to give Sivaram a serious warning.
Under the Sri Lankan draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) a person can be detained indefinitely without prosecuting him in a court for charges of possessing weapons. It has been a very common practice during President Chandrika’s previous regime for the Security Forces to plant weapons under the disguise of searches whenever they wanted to arrest Tamils and detain them indefinitely. Numerous members of the Tamil community, who were languishing in prisons for years under such circumstances, wer released during the last government headed by Ranil Wickramasinghe after the cease-fire came into existence.
During the last 2 years under Ranil Wickramasinghe’s government only, journalists were able to use their freedom of expression without fear after a long time. During this period Sivaram has written much and exposed the human right abuses committed by the State Security apparatus. He has also written regular newspaper columns critical of the way the leaders have been dealing with the peace process.
I have interviewed Mr. Sivaram via telephone for the Tamil Community Radio broadcasts in Sydney on several occasions and found him expressing fearlessly whatever he felt true and fair. It is very clear that Sivaram has become another target for victimisation of the Sri Lankan State terror. 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.
It appears that with the return of the President Chandrika’s government to power the usual State terror and intimidation against selected journalists has started to surface again.
Your Excellencies, I humbly appeal to you all, who uphold freedom and democracy in high esteem, to consider Sivaram’s plight seriously and use your influence to persuade President Chandrika’s government to give a guarantee for Sivaram’s safety and his freedom of expression.
Yours truly,
Dr. Victor Rajakulendran
Sydney
AUSTRALIA
5th May 2004