Rummage on Tamil journalists house for reporting Sinhala Buddhist atrocities

Police rummage Tamil journalists home for weapons

Associated Press, Tue May 4, 2004 02:49 EDT . 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 Batticoloa 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 prevent
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 Web site 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.

Sri Lanka - 's civil war was born of an ancient conflict between two ethnic
groups with their own distinct languages, cultures and history. The majority
Sinhalese who are 14 million of Sri Lanka - 's 19 million people are mainly
Buddhist. Most of the 3.2 million Tamils are Hindus, like Sivaram.

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.

Published: Tue May 4 03:41:48 EDT 2004