The guns pointed at Tamil journalists have not been silenced as yet. And it continues to hunt them and tries to leash their thoughts and expressions. The killing of student leader Sahadevan Nilkshan, who was a media student in Jaffna, is clear confirmation.

Nilakshan was among a group of students that came to Colombo recently to attend a two-week long media training programme. During his stay he visited several media institutions and enhanced his journalistic perception and returned to Jaffna on 29 July.

Two days later bullets pried the life out of Nilakshan.

The life of Nilakshan was nipped in Kokkuwil which is supposed to be one of the highly protected places in Jaffna. However, the motive for the crime and who executed it remain mysteries. No one is arguing to the contrary that Nilakshan's murder and the finding of answers to those questions would be similar to seeking justice in dark alleys, as usual.

The Tamil media is already stunned by several murders of journalists in the past. Tamil Journalist Niamalrajan was killed in a similar fashion on 19 October 2000 while he was writing and reporter Nadesan was shot to death in Batticaloa on 31 May 2004.

Meanwhile, Taraki Sivaram [Dharmeratnam Sivaram - Taraki was pen name for his Daily mirror column] was also massacred two years earlier on 28 April 2005 and MP Atputharaja, who also was a journalist, was assassinated on 29 July 1999 in Colombo.

Meanwhile, journalist Balanataraja Ayer, who was the media secretary of the Eelam People's Democratic Party, was killed on 16 August 2004 and another journalist, Sudirtharajan was shot and killed in Trincomalee in January two years later.

In essence, the killing spree of Tamil journalists continues.

It has to be acknowledged that attempts are being made to suppress the voice of the Tamil people along with their media efforts. It also has to be taken as a sign of persuading the Tamil journalists to quit, or face the consequences.

However, history has proved that guns cannot silence pens indefinitely, nor it can effectively gag the media altogether. The struggle of the pen would march along although a few colleagues have fallen.

We hail the martyrs of the pen while demanding the arrest of the culprits.

Source: Virakesari, Colombo, in Tamil 5 Aug 07

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