A complaint has been lodged in the Parliament of Sri Lanka regarding two journalists in the Eastern Province, who had to go into hiding due to the fear of threats made by a ruling party MP.
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP Shanakiyan Rasamanickam informed the Defence Minister in the Parliament, that the Secretary of the Tamil Journalists’ Association in the Batticaloa District Selvakumar Nilandan and Treasurer Punyamoorthy Sasikaran have left the province, due to the continuing threats by a paramilitary group led by MP Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan.
MP Shanakiyan Rasamanickam had recently berated the policemen – who were in civvies – recording a protest organized by the Batticaloa Tamil Journalists’ Association, against the repressive actions taking place not only in the East but also throughout the island, against media.
On May 3rd, in a letter addressed to the Batticaloa SSP, the Association had demanded an immediate probe into Shyam Siva and Dayasingham Pakyaraja, for posting defamatory and false information on social media against the said two journalists and their family members.
“We condemn this as one of the worst attacks on media freedom, which is detrimental to the reputation of journalists in Batticaloa and their service,” states the letter written by Chairman V Krishnakumar.
“Even the photos of their relatives are being published on Facebook and insulted in a very derogatory manner,” MP Shanakiyan informed the Defence Minister.
