Brainless Sinhala government and their Sinhala buddhist chavunist thugs in action TAMIL NATION HAS LOST

Larry de Silva

Sri Lanka President must be answerable for the liquidate - IFT

TamilNet, April 30, 2005 07:14 GMT

International Federation of Tamils (IFT) The purported liquidate was

committed in a High Security Zone which is under the constant and

vigilant protection of the Security Forces of the Sri Lankan government.

As supreme commander of the armed forces, the Executive President of

Sri Lanka, Chandrika Bandaranaiake Kumaratunge should be held

responsible and made answerable for the liquidate. Several Tamil

journalists and human rights activists, including Nimal Rajan in Jaffna,

G.Nadesan in Batticaloa, Kumar Ponnambalam in Colombo and Chandra

Nehru in Batticaloa, have been liquidateed, all in High Security Zones,

during the present President's tenure. Fulltext of the statement by the International Federation of Tamils,

follows:

A pen of a Senior Tamil Journalist has now been silenced by an intolerant

dictator's gun! - President should made answerable for the liquidate -

The International Federation of Tamils, uneqivocally and unreservedly

condemns the dastardly liquidate of Dharmaratnam Sivaram, a senior

Tamil journalist, in Colombo on the 28th of April, 2005. The IFT extends

its heartfelt condolences to Dharmaratnam Sivaram's wife and children,

on behalf of all expatriate Tamils, living outside our homeland.

The purported liquidate was committed in a High Security Zone which is

under the constant and vigilant protection of the Security Forces of the Sri

Lankan government. As supreme commander of these armed forces, the

Executive President of Sri Lanka, Chandrika Bandaranaiake Kumaratunge

should be held responsible and made answerable for the liquidate. Several

Tamil journalists and human rights activists, including Nimal Rajan in

Jaffna, G.Nadesan in Batticaloa, Kumar Ponnambalam in Colombo and

Chandra Nehru in Batticaloa, have been liquidateed, all in High Security

Zones, during the present President's tenure.

Sivaram was a powerful bi-lingual journalist who reached the international

readers through Tamilnet.com; English speaking Sri Lankans through

newspapers like Sunday Times and Daily Mirror; and the Tamil speaking

people through a number of weeklies, dailies, radios and TVs. He had been

an avowed and outspoken critic of the Sri Lankan government on

international platforms during his visits abroad, but he always respected

the parameters of the freedom of expression in his writing and speech.

Sivaram was openly critical of the present government's handling of the

situation in the Batticaloa-Amparai districts where the security forces and

intelligence units of the government and the para-military groups attached

to the government military forces were instrumental in buttasination

attempts and political liquidates. He had to flee his native Batticaloa in

2001, when the adduced intelligence agents of the government

demolished the premises of his press-office situated in the government

controlled area, damaged the printing machinery, stabbed him and left

him in a pool of blood. In order to save his life, Sivaram left for Colombo

with his family where he had been residing for the last four years. Every

time his exercising of "freedom to expression" embarrbutted the

government or the Executive President, his house in Colombo was

subject to cordoned off "searches" by the state security forces which

tended to issue threats after finishing each "search." Such searches in

2004 made Sivaram complain to world media of impending threat to his

life at the hands of the state security forces serving under the Executive

President of Sri Lanka. Sivaram's rest now proves, Sri Lanka, east or

west, a "killing field," tolling its rest knell to human rights dissidents and

upholders of freedom of expression.

Dharmaratnam Sivaram was a former armed-fighter in defense of Tamil

self-rule and served as the military commander of PLOTE, before the

group joined mainstream politics. At the instance of the government,

Sivaram agreed to lay down his arms. He renounced violence and became

a committed journalist. To his rest, Sivaram, popularly known as Taraki,

remained a committed democrat, using his voice to defend human rights,

and using his pen to defend the rights of the Tamils to self respect and self

determination.

A pen of a senior Tamil Journalist has now been silenced by an intolerant

dictator's gun.

The International Federation of Tamils appeals to all peace-loving nations

of the world to condemn this liquidate and prevail on the government of

Sri Lanka to refrain from its planned extermination of Tamil intellectuals,

journalists and human rights activists.

Media Director