Suresh Kumar and Ranjith Kumar were minority Sri Lankan Tamils working for the Uthayan – a Tamil newspaper published from Jaffna. Uthayan has been specifically targeted for its independent reporting by the Sri Lankan military and the paramilitary group EPDP.[1][2] They were killed on 2 May 2006 during an attack on the Uthayan office.

Background

In Jaffna – which is under Sri Lankan army control – journalists, human rights activists and civilians have lived under constant fear. These killing are part of series of killing, abduction and attacks on the Tamil Media in Sri Lanka.[3][4][5] These killings, abductions and threats are seen as part of the dirty war launched by Mahinda Rajapaksa government.[6][7]

Incident and reaction

Suresh Kumar and Ranjith Kumar were killed after a Uthayan published a cartoon mocking Douglas Devananda the leader of EPDP a paramilitary group allied with the Sri Lankan Army.[8] Armed Gunmen entered the office of Uthayan in army controlled Jaffna on 2 May 2006 and demanded to see the editor R. Kuhanathan and finding he was not there opened fire and the two employees died instantly.[9][10][11]

References

  1. ↑ Gunmen set fire to Tamil newspaper’s press
  2. ↑ Jaffna paper beats the odds
  3. ↑ Tamil media caught in ongoing conflict Archived 2010-07-12 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ↑ Intimidation of Tamil media.
  5. ↑ Press Freedom, World Review, June - November 2006
  6. ↑ Fact-finding report by the International Press Freedom Mission to Sri Lanka
  7. ↑ White van 'terrorises' Jaffna
  8. ↑ Media Terror in Sri Lanka's Jaffna
  9. ↑ Gunmen 'kill two' at Jaffna paper
  10. ↑ "Jaffna's media in the grip of terror". Reporters Without Borders. 24 August 2007. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  11. ↑ "11th anniversary of Uthayan killings remembered". Tamil Guardian. 3 May 2017. Retrieved 22 February 2023.
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