A dead rat and a threat to shoot

Friday’s attack on Rivira Editor Upali Tennakoon shook me. That delivered the message that Lasantha Wickrematunge’s brutal slaying was not an isolated event. MTV, Lasantha and Upali reveal a pattern.  It also portends the future scenario.

 If the present situation had prevailed in 1957, I would not have chosen journalism as my profession. Those were placid days, when an occasional murder, somewhere in the country, was big news, meriting page one display in newspapers.

I started searching for a job in late 1956, after collecting an Arts degree from Madras University. I had an offer from a Jaffna school to join its staff. I opted to join the Lake House Editorial department and was pleased, when posted as a Subeditor at the Tamil daily Thinaharan.

I was, like some of my colleagues of those days, Sinhalese and Tamils, influenced by the socio-cultural revolution that swept the country following the 1956 election. We joined Esmond Wickremesinghe’s select team that worked for the liberalisation of Sinhala and Tamil journalism from the hold of Sinhala and Tamil pundits. Wickremesinghe called it “giving people’s touch”.

The golden period of Tamil journalism in Sri Lanka commenced in 1958, when K. Kailasapathy took up the Editorship of the Thinaharan. Sunday Observer was at its height at that time, with Tarzie Vittachi as its Editor, Sooty Banda, the columnist and Collette, the Cartoonist.

Kailasapathy gave me the responsibility to write the political gossip column. I exposed the activities of the Tamil politicians who crossed over to the government seeking power and plums, and commented on the then ongoing controversy between the group of writers who called themselves progressives and others.

One day, I received a parcel of a dead rat, which I quietly took to the toilet and flushed. Another day, I received a call not to attend the annual conference of the Progressive Writers Association, warning that, a group led by a prominent writer would assault me. I conveyed that information to Kailasapathy, who suggested that I go with him. I rejected it, saying that the attackers would think I was scared. I went alone, and the threat was not carried out.

The third event that upset me was a call from an Eastern Province Parliamentarian. “You bloody rascal. If you don’t stop writing against me, I will shoot you.”  Those were the days when shooting was not heard of. I told Kailasapathy, who asked me not to worry and I continued writing about him. Nothing happened. There were no hit men those days.

But now? Though Lasantha laughed it off, when others advised him of his security, it is now clear that, he was aware of his fate. Otherwise, he would not have written his posthumous editorial. Upali’s attack has reiterated the message, and the 4000-strong media community is concerned. You go through last Sunday’s papers and you will realise it. The Tamil media is particularly worried. It has suddenly become subdued. Fear psychosis has gripped it.

Tamil media institutions and journalists have suffered since 1981, when Eelanadu was burned down by the security forces, to prevent it from reporting the burning of the Jaffna Public Library. Over a dozen Tamil journalists had been killed beginning December 31, 1999, when Vasthian Anthony Mariyadas, was gunned down, when he went to report the midnight mass at St. Anthony’s Church, Vavuniya for the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC).

Some of those killed include Mylvaganam Nimalarajan, Jaffna, Aiyathurai Nadesan, Batticaloa, Bala Nadaraja Iyer, Colombo, Subramaniam Sugirtharajah, Trincomalee, Dharmaratnam Sivaram, Colombo, Relangi Selvaraj, Colombo, Sinnathamby Sivamaharajah, Jaffna, Nadarajah, Guruparan, Colombo.  This list is not complete.

The common factor of all these murders is that, the murderers have not been arrested. Why? I don’t know. People are talking various things.

Tamil journalists are aware that, they face a higher risk than their Sinhala colleagues, because they can be arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. They are fully conscious of the Tissanayagam incident. For the last two years, our Sinhala colleagues have become the focus of attack. Three attacks were unleashed this month- on MTV, on Lasantha and on Upali.  Chief Government Whip Dinesh Gunawardene told Parliament last week that, nine journalists had been killed since 2006, 27 assaulted and five kidnapped. Of the kidnapped, four had been released. Just across the Palk Straits, the Press, especially the Tamil Press, has become very critical about Delhi’s handling of the Sri Lankan Tamil issue. Thinamani, one of the popular papers, wrote a stinging editorial, which forced Chief Minister M. Karunanithi to move a motion in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly on Friday, conveying to Delhi its ‘final request’.

The paper headlined its editorial with the phrase “Thazhantha Thamilagame” which means “Tamil Nadu has sunk to its lowest depth.”  That was a phrase coined by Karunanidhi during the ’50s, when the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam agitated against Delhi’s domination. The editorial accused Karunanidhi and his party of clinging to Manmohan Singh government, to enjoy the plums of office. Karunanidhi announced on Saturday, that his party’s executive council will meet before February 15 and announce the action it would take to help the Sri Lankan Tamils. He said that period was required to consult the political parties that support him.

Dr. S. Ramadoss and Thol Thirumavalavan have requested Karunanidhi to announce his support for the creation of an independent State of Tamil Eelam, as a solution to the Sri Lankan Tamil problem. Vaiko, who is a political ally of Karunanidhi’s main opponent Jayalalitha, had accused the chief minister of being a party to the Sri Lankan war against the Tamils.

What decision Karunanidhi will take is being kept a secret. Will he sever links with the Congress?