Suresh Kumar and Ranjith Kumar incident

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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