August 24, 1999
Her Excellency Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga
President, Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
Presidential Secretariat
Colombo-1
Sri Lanka
Your Excellency,
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply disturbed over Saturday’s attack on the Tamil-language newspaper Uthayan,the only daily publishing in the northern city of Jaffna.
At around 8:30 p.m. on August 21, unidentified assailants threw two hand grenades at Uthayan‘s office building. The grenades exploded outside the building. About 70 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, Uthayanoperates 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.
As a nonpartisan organization of journalists dedicated to the defense of our colleagues around the world, CPJ joins the Colombo-based Free Media Movement in condemning this incident. We believe the attack on Uthayanrepresents a serious threat to press freedom in Sri Lanka. It is crucial that the government guarantee 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.
CPJ respectfully urges Your Excellency to order a prompt, impartial, and thorough investigation into the attack against Uthayan,and asks that the results of this inquiry be made public.
We thank you for your attention to this matter, and await your response.
Sincerely,
Ann K. Cooper
Executive Director
Join CPJ in Protesting Attacks on the Press in Sri Lanka
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Her Excellency Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga
President, Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
Presidential Secretariat
Colombo-1
Sri Lanka