(CPJ/IFEX) – CPJ is deeply disturbed over the Saturday 21 August 1999 attack on the Tamil-language newspaper “Uthayan”, the only daily publishing in the northern city of Jaffna. At around 8:30 p.m. (local time) on 21 August, unidentified assailants threw two hand grenades at “Uthayan”‘s office building. The grenades exploded outside the building. About seventy […]
(CPJ/IFEX) – CPJ is deeply disturbed over the Saturday 21 August 1999 attack
on the Tamil-language newspaper “Uthayan”, the only daily publishing in the
northern city of Jaffna.
At around 8:30 p.m. (local time) on 21 August, unidentified assailants threw
two hand grenades at “Uthayan”‘s office building. The grenades exploded
outside the building. About seventy people were working inside at the time
of the attack, according to M.V. Kanamylnathan, chief editor of New Uthayan
Publications. A security guard was injured in the blast.
As a Tamil paper published in an area now controlled by the Sri Lankan
military, “Uthayan” operates in an extremely threatening environment. One
journalist with the paper told Deutsche Presse-Agentur: “It is a matter of
anybody who does not like what we are writing, attacking us with bombs,
grenades, or shooting us. Therefore we have to be very careful what we
publish.”
Though no one has claimed responsibility for the attack, a newspaper
spokesman has said that one of the pro-government paramilitary groups is
likely behind the incident, perhaps in retaliation for the paper’s recent
criticism of such militias. Paramilitary forces have helped government
troops in their offensive against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
(LTTE), a guerrilla movement seeking independence for Sri Lanka’s ethnic
Tamil minority. Until three years ago, Jaffna was an LTTE stronghold.
CPJ joins the Colombo-based Free Media Movement in condemning this incident
and believes the the attack on “Uthayan” represents a serious threat to
press freedom in Sri Lanka.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to the president:
the safety of journalists working in the country’s more volatile regions,
given that tight military restrictions on media access to conflict areas
have already severely hampered the ability of journalists to report on Sri
Lanka’s 16-year-old civil war
investigation into the attack against “Uthayan”
Appeals To
Her Excellency Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga
President, Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
Presidential Secretariat
Colombo-1, Sri Lanka
Fax: +94 1 333 703
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
