Pathivukal

!
 ''  !

'Taraki' Tharmaraththinam Sivaram [ 29, 2005]  , ' ,  ,  ,        ,                 '' ,             .

       . 1986          2001       .         40     .

     (PLOTE)           . ''             .        ''         .

Freedom of the Press      .   47     .       ,    .         .        .     .          .      ,           .  .  ? ?       .          .            .       .   , '' , '' , '' , , ' ', , ' '          .    '' .   ''   .          .           ,                 .                '' .

-  -

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''   . ' '    , , .

The writing is on the wall,
and it is in red!

By Taraki

An outsider in Batticaloa would get the impression that the JVP is the only organisation to build temporary houses for the people of this district who lost their homes in the tsunami. Eye-catching JVP posters announcing the public meeting to handover the houses to tsunami victims in Palamunai, a not-so-wealthy Muslim hamlet near Kattankudy, can still be seen in all the main towns and villages of Batticaloa. One often finds a crowd at the JVP office in Kattankudy. It is not uncommon these days for one to come across educated young men in the main Muslim towns of the Amparai district who seem quite impressed by the JVP's alacrity in helping people hit by the tsunami. Some of them are not just impressed but are beginning to learn the JVP's political philosophy.

Yet, the seriousness of the situation did not dawn on me until I ran into a young Muslim acquaintance recently at a 'soup shop' in Akkaraipattu. He, already a secret convert to the JVP's cause, told me that many young men like him are disgusted by the crass opportunism of Muslim politicians who use Islam to feather their own nests and care not for the poor.

You hear the same story, somewhat louder, in Muslim areas like Kinniya in Trincomalee.

The tsunami, no doubt, has created a political vacuum among the Muslims in the east. The JVP is shrewdly filling this void. And no mainstream political party can match the JVP's organizational skills in these parts of the country. The Divisional Secretary for Manmunai tells me that the JVP has appointed an MP to look after relief and reconstruction work in the Batticaloa district. I am sure the party is bound to make contact with Tamils here, sooner or later.

People cannot live by ethnic politics alone. There are many pressing social issues which the average money making politician is not intellectually or ideologically equipped to handle. The farmer is more worried about getting a good price for his rice than splitting hairs over Wahabi fundamentalism or Sufi mysticism. The JVP's message of social emancipation strikes a chord with the poor and marginalized classes. The party gets things done. It is not corrupt. There is no nepotism in the ranks. JVP MPs are not moneyed thugs. Its leaders are ordinary men and women. They can easily relate to the sentiments of the man or woman in the street.

The number of people who think the JVP is the right political choice is growing steadily. Wishful thinkers and armchair pundits in Colombo can say a thousand things to support their belief that the JVP is losing support. I certainly see it growing silently here in the east, in the plantations and in many areas of the south.

I see many Tamil youth in the Central Province today who think they should throw in their lot with the JVP to save the plantation community from the clutches of its incorrigibly crooked political and trade union leadership.

How is it possible that the JVP that is opposed tooth and nail to devolving any power to the Tamils and the Muslims could make this bold attempt in spreading its influence among them? Why is it getting a response after all?

It is a fact that the JVP is determined to prevent President Chandrika Kumaratunga from striking any sort of peace deal with the Tigers. For they know that if she does, she would be able to retrieve her party from the crisis in which it has been sinking since the formation of the UPFA. We all know that they want to cleave the SLFP until it is totally and irredeemably engulfed in a terminal calamity. The JVP stands to gain by blocking any move by Chandrika to talk peace with the Tigers.

The point here is that the JVP's staunch opposition to federalism is not merely tactical - the spanner they keep throwing in the works. It is deeply rooted in their political philosophy. It springs from Rohana Wijeweera's rigidly Marxist Leninist interpretation of Sri Lanka's history and society, enunciated in a long report to the JVP central committee on April 15 1986. The JVP's opposition to federalism does not automatically translate into a Sinhala hegemonic position, as it normally does in the south.

This is what makes it attractive to the JVP's potential recruits among the Muslims and the Tamils in the east and in the plantations. Their social deprivation makes them eager to change the system. They think the system is exploitative because it has been made servile to US imperialism. Increasingly, as these youth gain greater insight into the teachings of Marx, Lenin and Wijeweera, they come to believe that only US imperialism stands to profit from the ethnic conflict - that American capital is promoting the conflict to perpetuate the system of neo-colonial exploitation here.

Wijeweera says that the national question should be resolved to stop Sri Lanka from becoming "a slave camp of American Imperialism".

"The imperialist camp, led by American imperialism, has managed to increasingly reinforce its base in Sri Lanka using the crisis spawned by the national question. They have managed to greatly tighten their grasp economically, politically and militarily".

Also, the JVP says that all nationalities in Sri Lanka are equal. The JVP recognizes that there are Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim nationalities in Sri Lanka and that no nationality should be privileged over the other. This message sinks into the minds of the Tamil and the Muslim youth who are disgruntled by the social deprivation to which they have been subjected for many long years, with no light at the end of the social tunnel.

Let me quote from Wijeweera's 1986 report to the JVP central committee as it forms the basis of the party's current indoctrination programme.

"The social oppression of one nationality by another nationality and the oppression of one caste by another caste will be done away with and those who persist will be punished", declares Wijeweera in the report which is the JVP's political bible today. The complete policy framework of the solution of the national question is by bringing about national unity and national trust by abolishing national oppression, national inequality and doing away with the granting of special privileges to one nationality by subordinating the rights of another nationality. The present national question can be solved by simply implementing these policies. Whether the Tamil nationalist capitalist class agrees or disagrees with these points is not important".

"Whether the Tamil nationalist capitalist class and petty bourgeoisie class which call for the granting of special privileges for the Tamil nationality at the expense of the rights of the Sinhala and Moslem nationalities or whether the Sinhala nationalist capitalist class and the petty bourgeoisie class which calls on granting of special privileges to the Sinhala nationality at the expense of the Tamil and the Moslem nationalities agree with this or not, the proletariat will unfailingly implement it".

"After that the national inequality the national oppression and the national mistrust will be swept aside. This can only be achieved when the proletariat comes to power and abolishes all privileges. From this it should become clear why the national question cannot be solved except by the leadership of the proletariat".

(At one point in the report, Wijeweera says "innocent Tamil people were pushed towards Tamil Eelam by cruel repression")

The surprisingly forceful ideological arguments for supporting the JVP that one hears in this part of the world nowadays can be traced directly to Wijeweera's 1986 report.

This is not hearsay that one gathers from conversations with disgruntled youth in Muslim soup shops in the east and in the watering holes in Tamil towns in the hills. This is the reality today. The writing is on the wall, and it is in red.

Courtesy: DAILY MIRROR

Tamilnet.com!
Sivaram Dharmeratnam: A Journalists life!

[TamilNet, April 29, 2005 21:11 GMT] Mark Whitaker, an associate professor of anthropology at the University of South Carolina, Aiken, U.S.A, is completing an intellectual biography of Dharmeratnam Sivarams life and work in a book entitled Learning Politics from Sivaram. Prof. Whitaker summarizes Sivarams life and work in this feature.]

Taraki Sivaram Dharmeratnam, the famous and controversial political analyst and a senior editor for Tamilnet.com, was born on August 11, 1959 in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka to Puvirajkirtha Dharmeratnam and Mahesvariammal. His was a prominent family with significant land holdings near Akkaraipattu, though his immediate family later lost much of their inherited wealth. Nicknamed Kunchie as a child, Sivaram was educated at St. Michaels College in Batticaloa, and later at Pembroke and Aquinas Colleges in Colombo. He was accepted into the University of Peradeniya in 1982 but soon dropped out due to tensions associated with the first phases of Sri Lankas civil war.

In 1982 Sivaram joined the Ghandian Movement, then a front organization for the Peoples Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE). After Sri Lankas ethnic conflict erupted into civil war in 1983, Sivaram, under the alias SR, soon became a prominent PLOTE militant. Sivarams role in PLOTE was unique because he played an important part in both the organizations military and political wings at a time when PLOTE kept those functions, to its eventual misfortune, completely separate from one another. In 1988, a year after the Indo-Lankan accords were signed, Uma Maheswaran, PLOTEs leader, appointed Sivaram General Secretary of the Democratic Peoples Liberation Front (DPLF), the organizations registered political party. Sivaram left PLOTE in 1989, however, after arguing against Maheswarans attempts to establish firmer relations with the JVP and due to his distaste for the groups involvement in an abortive coup in the Maldives.

On September 8, 1988 Sivaram married Herly Yogaranjini Poopalapillai of Batticaloa. They eventually had three children: Vaishnavi (16), Vaitheki (13), and Seralaathan (10).

In 1988 while still General Secretary of the DPLF, Sivaram met the newscaster, journalist and actor Richard De Zoysa. De Zoysa, impressed by Sivarams ability to produce off-the-cuff political analysis, asked him to write articles for the UN-funded Inter Press Service (IPS), for whom De Zoysa was a correspondent. In 1989, when The Island newspaper found itself in need of a Tamil political analyst, De Zoysa suggested Sivaram. The Island editor, Gamini Weerakon, proposed tharaka (or star) as Sivarams pen name but a sub-editor accidentally printed Taraki instead, giving birth to Sivarams famous nom de plume. Sivarams Taraki articles were an immediate success. They combined a dispassionately, ironic style with accurate, inside information, and took care to explain in crystal clear prose the military, political, strategic and tactical assumptions of all sides in Sri Lankas complex conflict. Moreover, Sivarams wide reading in military science and political philosophy (especially in Marxism and post-structuralism) allowed him to bring intellectual tools to his articles that soon made them more powerful than mere punditry.

In 1990 Sivaram helped identify Richard De Zoysas body after De Zoysa was abducted from his home and killed.

By the early 1990s Sivarams Taraki column had become a must read for anyone interested in Sri Lanka. In 1991 fans of his writing among the Tamil community in France published a collection of his work entitled The Eluding Peace (An Insiders analysis of the Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka). As a free-lance journalist, Sivaram, eventually wrote for many newspapers including The Island, The Sunday Times, The Tamil Times (London), The Daily Mirror, and Veerakeesari. In 1997 Sivaram helped Tamilnet.com reorganize itself into a Tamil news agency with its own string of reporters, and remained a senior editor there until his death. He filed his last story for Tamilnet.com at 7:30 PM on the night he was murdered.

Sivarams work was not limited to journalism. Sivarams grasp of Tamil politics and literature and Sri Lankas complex history made him a magnate for scholars. Hence, Sivaram collaborated and argued with historians, political scientists, anthropologists, policy experts, and geographers from many of Sri Lankas universities and think tanks, as well as with foreign and foreign-based scholars from (among other schools around the world) the University of Colorado, the University of South Carolina, and Clark University. As recently as April 2005, Sivaram provided a purely scholarly introduction to the Mattakkalappu Poorva Sariththiram (Ancient History of Batticaloa), a recently released definitive edition of an ancient Batticaloa palm leaf manuscript.

Beyond this, in the mid-1990s many governments and Human Rights NGOs turned to Sivaram for advice on political and military matters. He soon became widely traveled in Europe, Asia, and North America and equally well known to governments, the diplomatic community, and human rights activists. Indeed, his death arrived just ahead of a scheduled trip to Japan to consult with the Japanese government.

As opposition to his reporting mounted, and as death threats began to multiply, friends and colleagues from around the world frequently begged Sivaram to move himself and his family out of Sri Lanka. He always vehemently refused to leave. Where else should I die but here? he often declared. Yet in 2004 the police twice searched Sivarams home, and various groups in Sri Lanka publicly threatened him. Given the uncompromising nature of his reporting, his death by violence was no surprise.

He will be an irreplaceable loss to the academic and human rights community around the world, said Dr. Jude Fernando, of Clark University, a sentiment echoed by many.

I should add a personal note here. I am an associate professor of anthropology at the University of South Carolina, Aiken. I first got to know Sivaram in 1982 while I was conducting cultural anthropological research in Batticaloa. We became friends because we discovered a common interest in philosophy, and because we also shared some horrors during the 1983 riots. My own work in Sri Lanka initially focused on Batticaloas local politics and religion, as can be seen in my 1999 book Amiable Incoherence: Manipulating Histories and Modernities in a Batticaloa Hindu Temple. But as the conflict in Sri Lanka grew more complicated and intense, and as Sivarams role as its primary chronicler and analyst loomed ever larger, I felt it my duty to try, in some way, to record his thoughts and efforts  especially since I grew worried over the safety of his life almost since I first met him. In 1997, therefore, we decided to collaborate on an intellectual biography of his life and work. It should, we agreed, be entitled Learning Politics from Sivaram; and he insisted also that the book be as uncompromising as he was. I hope to have this biography completed shortly; I only hope as a memorial it can even partly do him justice. I shall mourn for him, my lost best friend, for the rest of my life. I ask all of you who knew him well, friend or foe  for he would talk with anyone  to raise a glass and toast him. And may those that killed him look on in shame.

Courtesy: Tamilnet.COM

The Abduction and Assassination of "Taraki" Sivaram

By D.B.S. Jeyaraj

The time was 10.25 pm when Dharmaratnam Puvirajakeerthi Sivaram (DP Sivaram) alias Taraki came out of the Bambalapitiya restaurant on the land side of Galle Road in Bambalapitiya. There were three others with him. This place was not a favourite haunt of Sivaram for imbibing Bachchanalian brew as it served only beer and foreign liquor. Siva usually preferred hard, local stuff.It was by sheer accident on that fateful Thursday of April 28th that he had gone there with the others. Sivaram's companions were freelance journalist Kusal Perera, Health sector Trade Unionist Ravi Kumudesh and a NGO coordinator Prasanna Ratnayake a cousin of UNP Parliamentarian Sagala Ratnayake. How this quartet got together was quite interesting. Initially Kusal had run into Sivaram an old friend at the Bambalapitiya junction in the early evening. They decided to have a drink. Sivaram said that he had to meet someone before that. So they arranged to meet at the restaurant at a certain time.He gave Kusal his cell number and left.

Kusal went to the Majestic shopping complex food court and sipped a soft drink to kill time. While at Majestic another friend Prasanna saw Kusal and hailed him. They began chatting. Kusal told him that he was planning to meet "Taraki" the journalist. Now Prasanna who had never met Taraki wanted to meet him also. So Kusal whose mobile was not equipped for outgoing calls used Prasannas cellular to leave an SMS message for Sivaram. Siva responded soon. Kusal told him that he had a friend with him who also wanted to come for a drink. Sivaram said it was "OK" but that he would be delayed.

Now another call was received by Kusal. This was from Victor Ivan editor of "Ravaya". Ravi Kumudesh the trade unionist wanted to meet him over a "news" matter. Kusal told him that he was at Majestic food court and wanted Ravi to come there to meet him. Kumudesh informed Kusal through Victor that he would be there in 45 minutes.

A little later Sivaram rang saying that he was at the restaurant. So Kusal and Prasanna left the food court and went to the restaurant. Prasanna was introduced to Sivaram and the threesome began sipping beer. After a while Kusal got a call from Ravi now at Majestic food court. Kusal asked him to come over to the restaurant. Soon Ravi came in and there were four at the table.

After pleasant conversation on a number of topics including politics the quartet settled their first bill of 1300 rupees and went in for some more drink. Sivaram received four calls while being at the restaurant. He also called two journalist friends and asked them to join him. Both had declined as they were tied up in work. They decided to call it a day (or night) around 10. 20, paid the bill and came out of the water hole.

Ravi and Prasanna bade good - bye and walked towards the Kollupitiya side saying they wanted to take a three - wheeler to Borella. Kusal and Siva walked towards the Wellawatte side talking to each other. The idea was to finish their private discussion and then board a bus to go home.

Perera and Sivaram were at a bus stand near De Vos avenue when the latter received a call on his mobile phone. Speaking in Tamil the 46 year old bi - lingual journalist walked a little ahead while Kusal stayed behind looking out in the opposite direction for a bus. At one point he saw a Pettah - Panadura bus coming and turned to Sivaram and alert him about the bus.

What he saw unnerved Kusal. A silver - grey Pajeiro inter - cooler was parked on the road near Sivaram. .It was a Toyota SUV with the number plate WPG 11. Kusal could not see the other digits properly.Two men were trying to push Sivaram into the vehicle. A third man was standing near the open door. The motor was running with a fourth man at the wheel. Suddenly they gripped Sivaram from behind and began forcing him to get into the vehicle. Sivaram was grappling with his abductors. Though they were in civils they exuded an aura of "uniform".

Kusal Perera says that he saw this scuffle and tried to go near them shouting "Siva" and "Sivaram". The abductors succeeded in pushing Sivaram into the vehicle. Two men gestured menacingly at Kusal and got in themselves. Kusal says that he panicked as the vehicle sped off. Knowing that it was futile and impossible to give chase Kusal too hailed a three - wheeler . His idea was to go home safely and inform as many people as possible of the abduction. Pereras problem was that his mobile was not equipped for out - going calls. So he had to go home and call people.

While going home he received a call from Prasanna who asked him whether everything was all right. Apparently the three - wheeler driver in which they were travelling in had driven for a while towards Wellawatte in order to take a "U" turn to drive the other way. He had seen some people bundling a person into a vehicle and told his passengers. Kusal then told them of the incident. After reaching home Kusal began calling as many people as possible informing them of the abduction. He did not know Sivarams home number. Sivas mobile was not answering.

Sivaram had left home in Mt. Lavinia at about 5 pm telling his wife that he was going for a movie. She received a call from an unknown caller at 10.45 pm asking her where Siva was. When she told him he was out the caller had queried whether everything was all right. She had not thought anything wrong then. It was a little later that people alerted by Kusal rang her and told her of the incident.

An agitated Ranjini also known as Bhavani now tried calling Sivaram on his mobile. Somebody received it and then cut off the call. After this happened a few times she stopped . After some time she tried again. Now the phone was "off". Worried she called her brother .The brother in Mattakkuliya came over to Mount Lavinia. They went to the Police Station in Bambalapitiya and lodged a complaint relating all what had happened.The complaint was duly recorded. The time was now past 11.30 pm.

Two journalists alerted by Kusal Perera were Victor Ivan and Rajpal Abeynayake of "Sunday Times". They started informing many authorities. Abeynayake a close friend of Sivaram called Army Commander Shantha Kottegoda and informed him of it. Kottegoda was hazy at first about who Sivaram was. Once he realised that it was Taraki he became very attentive and concerned. He immediately informed army headquarters to issue an alert.

It was early morning when the worried family of Sivaram received an official call from the Police They were asked to identify a body.A corpse suspected of being that of Sivaram had been discovered at Kimbula - ela in a shrub on the bank of Diyawanna Oya. The spot was about 500 metres behind the Sri Jayewardenapura Parliament along the Japan - Sri Lanka friendship highway.

Sivarams family consisting of his wife, two daughters and son along with friends and relatives went there. The area came under the Talangama Police division.To their horror they found that the body was indeed that of Sivaram.

43 year old Yogaranjini and eldest daughter 16 year old Vaishnavi broke down. The younger daughter Vaideki (13) and son Seralathan (10) were held by relatives who did not allow them to see the body. Mother and daughter fell down and began weeping.

According to the Talangama Police they had received an "anonymous" phone call at about 1.00 AM that a body was seen in that particular spot. The first man to identify Sivarams body was "Sunday Times" journalist Christopher Kamalendran a close friend of Taraki. Another person who consoled the family at the spot was Selvam Adaikkalanathan the TELO leader and MP for Wanni.

Sivaram was gagged with a dotted serviette and had his hands tied behind his back. He had been hit with a blunt instrument on the back of his head. This seems to have been done to prevent his struggling. The brave fighter that he was Sivaram would have obviously resisted his abductors valiantly and therefore was made unconscious.

He seems to have been brought alive to the spot and then killed. Sivaram was shot at point blank range with a 9 mm browning. One shot had cleanly entered his neck and chest. The second had penetrated his hand and entered the body. Contrary to reports in the tiger media there were no signs of torture. Two 9 mm empties were found near his body. IT appeared that the killers had laid the presumably unconscious body on the ground and fired at close quarters

The body was then taken to the Colombo JMO office for a post - mortem. Dr. Jeanne Perera head of forensic medicine at the Colombo medical faculty conducted it. When the media contacted her afterwards she declared " there was no torture or assault. I say that vehemently".

Continuing Dr. Perera said " He (Sivaram) had been given one blow on the back of his head and then shot twice on his shoulder blade and neck while he lay on the ground. The killing occurred where the body was found. The swelling on one of his eyes was not the result of a blow but due to the vibration when the bullets pierced the body".

She also placed the time of death at about 12.30 to 1. 00 pm

Later the body was brought to AF Raymonds for embalming. It was then taken to his residence. It will be taken to Batticaloa for the funeral at the family residence on Lady Manning Drive and finally laid to rest at the Aaladicholai cemetery near Veechukalmunai - Pudooron Monday May 2nd.

The LTTE political Commissar SP Thamilselvan called Mrs. Sivaram to express condolences. He wanted her to air lift the body to Jaffna and then bring it by road to Kilinochchi. Many people including LTTE leader Pirapakaran wanted to pay his respects he said. Thereafter it could be taken for burial in Batticaloa.

Yogaranjini whose sister was married to Ramalingam Vasudeva the former PLOTE leader killed by the LTTE in Batticaloa in 1987, gracefully declined. She thanked Tamilselvan and told him that Sivaram had wanted a simple funeral in Batticaloa. Besides she did not want the body to deteriorate through the delay and exposure.

The Police are conducting inquiries and have recorded statements from more than 30 people including employees at the restaurant , other patrons, bystanders, Kusal, Ravi and Prasanna. The tiger media has accused some restaurant employees and even the companions at Sivarams last drink of being complicit in the murder. These seem to be wild charges.

The Police however are pursuing a line of inquiry as to whether some restaurant employee had tipped off the assailants that Sivaram was at the place. Another doubt is whether Sivaram was being tailed. The abductors seem to have set in a well - planned manoeuvre for grabbing Sivaram.

One thing that is puzzling police sleuths is the reason for the killers to bring Sivaram to Kimbula - ela and shoot him. They could have simply killed him at Bambalapitiya itself. If the motive was to abduct him and torture him for "information" that was not done. What then was the reason to abduct him in a crowded place like Bambalapitiya and kill him in three hours at a different place.

Even assuming it was a revenge killing it could have been done at Bambalapitiya instead of elsewhere. The Karuna faction infuriated by what they consider is a betrayal by Taraki could have committed the murder. Hardliners within the security establishment could have done it to convey a strong signal to pro - tiger elements that being supportive of the LTTE while living in Colombo or the South was not going to be tolerated. It could also be a collaborative effort of both the Karuna faction
and security hawks.

Another suspicion is that the murder had to do with the case of the missing Police Inspector. Inspector Jeyaratnam a well - known counter - subversive sleuth responsible for nabbing many tigers in the past went missing a week before Sivarams death. The incident has all the hallmarks of a tiger abduction. Moreover Jeyaratnam was always a LTTE target.

The Jayaratnam incident has aroused much resentment within Police and Intelligence services sector. There was a protest demonstration by the rank and file from Vajira road to Kollupitiya where the Sri Lanka Monitoring Commission office is situated. There is a possibility that some "people" could have abducted Sivaram in revenge and killed him. Again the question is why not kill him on the spot instead of taking the trouble to transport him elsewhere.

This gives rise to the possibility that Sivaram was taken initially perhaps as a "hostage" to barter for Jeyaratnam. There may also have been a plan to transport him alive to a Karuna camp in the East. The abductors may have acted on emotion and not thought things through. After the abduction was over they may have got cold feet in carrying the exercise through. Even superiors who came to know of this foolhardy attempt may have indicated that this move should be abandoned. Knowing that a released Sivaram would not keep quiet the abductors may have finished him off.

Another possibility is that some hawks in the security establishment with connections to Sinhala racist outfits could have done this. Sivaram may have been considered as a tiger agent. There have been such allegations made before.Even recently Wimal Weerawansa of the JVP mentioned Sivaram 's name publicly as being connected to the LTTE.

Besides The abduction style smacks more of a "southern" modus operandi. Even the call Sivaram got at the time of his abduction could have been made by the kidnappers themselves to identify Sivaram clearly and distract his attention. The killing is also reminiscent of that spree of killings allegedly committed by some STF and military intelligence people in the early period of Kumaratungas Presidency. The bodies of suspected tiger youths were dumped near waterways and canals or into them.

Many people including the notorious Richard Dias alias Capt. Munas were arrested and charged. Then they were released on bail. Thereafter to the eternal shame of Chandrika Kumaratungas first government the Attorney - Generals Dept failed to follow through. They kept away from courts and let the prosecution lapse through default. Subsequently all accused were released. Is Richard Dias riding again in a new avatar?

The security - intelligence network has reason enough to be pissed off with Sivaram. Some of his recent articles have been critical and contemptuous of their activity . He was particularly harsh on what he termed as an intelligence fiasco in relation to the Karuna faction. Siva praised the tiger skill in infiltrating the Karuna group and mocked the state intelligence saying that they were clueless about who was LTTE in the Karuna group. This would be insulting to both the intelligence and the Karuna faction. This plus Sivarams perceived closeness to the LTTE may have resulted in him being selected as a target. It could have been a combined Intelligence - Karuna operation. In any case Sivaram's perceived closeness to LTTE made him an object of harassment by the authorities in the past.

If indeed the killing was done by a Sinhala hawkish outfit in the security - intelligence network with links to a political organization then the reason for killing Sivaram may be a warning to those suspected of being linked to the LTTE that they should end it or face consequences. The choice of Jayewardenepura the political capital of Sri Lanka with its proximity to Parliament as the venue for the killing becomes symbolic. Who knows what the assassins told Siva before shooting him? If this possibility proves correct then this murder is a powerful warning signal. The danger is that more
killings of this type could follow.

The LTTE media is currently going to town accusing the Government. The LTTE has also accused the state intelligence and paramilitaries (Karuna) of being responsible. The LTTE leader has also cashed in on the situation and given Sivaram the "Maamanithan" (Great Person) award. The LTTE is exploiting the murder to their advantage blaming the state and the anti - tiger Tamil groups and factions.

While the Government condemns the murder it offers no defence to the charge of being responsible. Some anti - tiger elements however are attempting to blame the tigers themselves. They argue that recent writings of Sivaram had angered the LTTE. The "Maamanithan" ward is a deceptive ruse to cover up guilt they say.

Some anti - tiger media have begun launching tirades against Taraki. Others allege that the killing was a symbolic signal. This propaganda counter - offensive has very few takers. It is obvious to most people that the LTTE though responsible for most killings of Tamils in the past was certainly not responsible in this instance.

Sivaram in his personal and professional capacities may have earned enough enemies. His writings or his failure to write certain things may have incurred the wrath of many. This however does not give anyone the right to kill him. As a Journalist and as a human being he was entitled to his rights and opinion. His murder was a despicable act and should receive the highest condemnation. If the Government is to gain any credibility it must ensure that the guilty party is apprehended. Merely issuing condolences will not be enough. Given the track record of the law enforcement authorities this seems an impossibility.

courtesy: http://tamilweek.com/Assasination_Sivaram_0011.html

Tamilnet.Com!
Pirapaharan confers "Maamanithar" title to Sivaram

[TamilNet, April 30, 2005 16:07 GMT]
Death never destroys great men who had lived for lofty ideals, said V Pirapaharan in a message released from Vanni Saturday conferring the "Maamanithar (Great Humanbeing)"award on journalist Dharmeratnam Sivaram. Mr Sivaram, a senior editorial board member of TamilNet, was abducted and murdered by unidentified persons Thursday evening 10.30pm.

Full text of the message issued by Liberation Tigers conferring "Maamaniathar" award to Sivaram follows:

Tamil people have lost today a highly principled man who deeply loved them and the Tamil Nation. A voice that echoed the freedom of the Tamil people and their homeland, Tamil Eelam had been silenced today. An eminent Tamil journalist had fallen victim to the enemys act of cowardice.

Humble and honest, Mr.Dharmaratnam Sivaram is a unique person. He is knowledgeable and is an expert in the field of journalism. As an internationally renowned journalist, Sivaram does not need any introduction.

Through his writings, he brought out the Tamil National question in the international arena with clarity and cohesion. Diligently and cleverly, he exposed to the international and diplomatic community, the false propaganda undertaken by the Sinhala regime. Positioning him in the Sinhala stronghold, Sivaram forthrightly told the outer world the injustices and the atrocities perpetrated by the Sinhala ruling elite on the Tamil Nation. Although facing danger and threats, Sivaram fought against injustice fearlessly with courage. Above all, he relentlessly worked to keep the Tamil people politically vigilant. The yeoman service rendered by him is eternally praiseworthy.

Respecting his love of the Nation and his love for freedom, I am proud to confer post-humously on Mr.Dharmaratnam Sivaram, the noble National Award of Great Man. Death never destroys great men who have lived for lofty ideals. They have an everlasting place in the history of our Nation.

Courtesy: Tamilnet.Com