Taraki Sivaram

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Dharmeratnam Sivaram
Dharmeratnam Sivaram

Taraki Sivaram or Dharmeratnam Sivaram (11 August 1959 – 28 April 2005) was a popular Tamil journalist of Sri Lanka. He was kidnapped by four men in a white van on April 28, 2005, infront of the Bambalapitya police station. His body was found the next day in the district of Himbulala, near Sri Lanka's parliament. He had been beaten and shot in the head.[1]

Contents

[edit] Biography

Sivaram, the well-known and controversial political analyst and a senior editor for Tamilnet.com, was born on August 11, 1959 in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka to a prominent local family with significant land holdings and political connections near the village of Akkaraipattu. He 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 civil war in 1983 (see Black July pogrom).[1]

Human Rights in Sri Lanka

Assasinations of Journalists
Aiyathurai Nadesan-Balanadarajah Iyer-K.S.Raja-Mylvaganam Nimalrajan-Richard De Soyza-Thevis Guruge-Taraki Sivaram-Relangi Selvarajah-Nadarajah Atputharajah-I.Shanmugalingam-Subramaniyam Sugirdharajan–Sinnathamby Sivamaharajah

On September 8, 1988 he married Herly Yogaranjini Poopalapillai of Batticaloa. They eventually had three children: Vaishnavi, Vaitheki, and Seralaathan.[1]

[edit] Political activity

In 1982 Sivaram joined the Gandhian Movement, then a front organization for the People’s Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam or PLOTE, one of the many Tamil militant groups. After Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict erupted into civil war in 1983, Sivaram, under the alias SR, soon became a PLOTE militant. In 1988, a year after the Indo-Lankan accord was signed, Uma Maheswaran, PLOTE’s leader, appointed Sivaram General Secretary of the Democratic People’s Liberation Front or DPLF, the organization’s registered political party. Sivaram left PLOTE in 1989, after disagreeing with Maheswaran’s attempts to establish firmer relations with the Sinhala nationalist JVP and because of group’s involvement in an abortive coup[2] in the Maldives.[1]

[edit] His career as a journalist

In 1988 with the encouragement of fellow journalist, activist and actor Richard De Zoysa he became a reporter for the UN-funded Inter Press Service (IPS), for whom De Zoysa was a correspondent. In 1989, when The Island newspaper needed a political analyst, De Zoysa suggested Sivaram. The Island editor, Gamini Weerakon, proposed tharaka or star in Sinhalese as Sivaram’s pen name but a sub-editor accidentally printed Taraki instead, giving birth to Sivaram’s nom de plume. It should be noted that in 1990 Sivaram helped identify Richard De Zoysa’s body after De Zoysa was abducted from his home and killed by government forces.[1]

[edit] Popularity

Sivaram’s Taraki articles combined a personal style with accurate, inside information, and explained military, political, strategic and tactical assumptions of all sides in Sri Lanka’s complex conflict. Moreover, his reading in military science and political philosophy benifited his literacy greatly.[1]

By the early 1990s, Sivaram’s Taraki column had become a must read for many interested in Sri Lanka.[3] As a free-lance journalist, Sivaram, eventually wrote for many newspapers including The Island, The Sunday Times, The Tamil Times of London, The Daily Mirror, and the Tamil newspaper Virakesari. 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.[1]

[edit] Collaboration with academics

Due to his grasp of Tamil politics and literature and Sri Lanka’s complex history, he was able to collaborate with many academics. Hence, Sivaram collaborated 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. His most prominent collaborators were Profesor Mark Whittaker, an anthropologist with the University of South Carolina, and Dr. Jude Fernando of Clark University.[1]

[edit] Involement with NGOs

In the mid-1990s many governments and Human Rights NGOs colloborated with Sivaram for advice on local political and military matters. He widely traveled in Europe, Asia, and North America and equally well known to governments, the diplomatic community, and human rights activists. He was killed just ahead of a scheduled trip to Japan to consult with the Japanese government regarding the then current peace process.[1]

[edit] Threat to his life

When Sivaram started receving death threats, he was requested by his friends and colleagues to move himself and his family out of Sri Lanka. He always refused to leave.[1]

Where else should I die but here? he often declared. Yet in 2004 the police twice searched Sivaram’s home, and various groups political parties such as the JHU and JVP in Sri Lanka publicly threatened him as a n LTTE activist and a terrorist sympathizer.[1]

[edit] International reaction

After his death was reported, governments such as Japan, and international organisations such as Reporters Without Borders[4] and UNESCO[5] officials publicly condemned his murder and requested the government of Sri Lanka to investigate the murder.[1]

[edit] Accusations and investigation

Allegations of State terrorism in Sri Lanka

Civilian Massacres
Akkaraipattu-Allaipiddy-Black July-Batticaloa 1990-Chencholai orphanage-Eastern University-Mannar 1984-Mannar 2006-Mylanthanai-Jaffna hospital- Jaffna lagoon-Jaffna library-Valvettiturai 1989-Iruthayapuram-Kokkadicholai-Kumarapuram-Kumudini boat-Nachikuda-Prison massacres-Tampalakamam - Trincomalee 2006-Nagerkovil school-Navaly church-Naguleswaram temple-Nelliady-Vaharai
Rapes and Murders

Krishanti Kumaraswamy-Ilayathambi Tharsini-Saradambal Sarma-Mary Madeleine Martin-Arumaithurai Tharmaletchumi
Assassinations
Taraki Sivaram-Fr.Chandra Fernando-Aiyathurai Nadesan-K.S.Raja-Mylvaganam Nimalrajan-Richard De Soyza-Kumar Ponnambalam-Joseph Pararajasingham-Rev.Jeyarajasingham-N. Raviraj
Forced Disappearances
Fr.Mary Bastian-Fr.Nihal Jim Brown

The LTTE accused the government in complicity of his murder.[6] Prior to his murder state owned media outlets since 2001 have accused him of being an LTTE spy,[7][8] leading to the conclusion by some that his death was officially sanctioned (see State terrorism in Sri Lanka). One year later a Tamil man belonging to the PLOTE organisation was apprehended but eyewitnesses refused to identify him as one of the kidnappers.[9] No more activity regarding the government investigation is available.[1]

[edit] Controversy

Sivaram was also accused by Human rights activists such as Rajan Hoole who was critical of Sivaram's role as the Tamilnet.com's editor, that he was involved in the murder of two PLOTE dissidents during his days as a Tamil militant.[10] This report was denied by fellow journalist David Jeyaraj from Canada.[11] However, some activists and writers associated with former PLOTE dissidents have disagreed with Jeyaraj's conclusions.[1].

Jeyaraj wrote that Karuna, a LTTE splinter group leader and a member of a government aligned political-military organisation was personally involved in the murder of Sivaram.[12] Karuna has denied this allegation categorically and blamed the LTTE leadership for his murder in addition to those of Lakshman Kadirgamar and Kumar Ponnambalam.[13]

[edit] See also

[edit] Collection of writings

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Whitaker, Mark. "Sivaram Dharmeratnam: A Journalist’s life", Tamilnet, 2005-04-29. Retrieved on 2006-10-02.
  2. ^ Rakshak, Bharat. Operation Cactus. Retrieved on 2006-10-02.
  3. ^ Sambandan, V.S.. "The end of a dissenter", Frontline, 2005-06-03. Retrieved on 2006-10-02.
  4. ^ Reporters Without Borders (2006-04-28). Tamilnet editor’s murder still unpunished after one year. Press release. Retrieved on 2006-10-02.
  5. ^ UNESCO (2005-05-03). UNESCO Director-General Condemns Murder of Sri Lankan Journalist Dharmeratnam Sivaram "Taraki”. Press release. Retrieved on 2006-10-02.
  6. ^ "LTTE accuses SLA Intelligence, para-militaries for Sivaram's murder", Tamilnet, 2005-04-30. Retrieved on 2006-10-02.
  7. ^ SRI LANKA. Committee to Protect Journalists (2001). Retrieved on 2006-10-02.
  8. ^ "CASES 2005: ASIA", Committee to Protect Journalists, 2005-04-29. Retrieved on 2006-10-02.
  9. ^ "Tamilnet editor's murder still unpunished after one year", International Federation of Journalists, 2005-04-28. Retrieved on 2006-10-02.
  10. ^ The Murder of Dharmaretnam Sivaram. The Curse of Impunity art II: Defiance, Hope and Betrayal – The Times of Sivaram. University Teachers For Human Rights (Jaffna) (2005-09-09). Retrieved on 2006-10-02.
  11. ^ D.B.S. Jeyaraj. "From Gun to Pen". Retrieved on 2006-10-02.
  12. ^ D.B.S. Jeyaraj. "Did Karuna Personally kill "Taraki" Sivaram?". Retrieved on 2006-10-02.
  13. ^ "LTTE killed journalist Sivaram, Kumar Ponnambalam and Kadirgamar -- Col. Karuna", Asian Tribune, 2005-11-25. Retrieved on 2006-10-02.

[edit] External links

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