Taraki Sivaram

Taraki Sivaram
For the former president of Afghanistan, see Nur Muhammad Taraki.
Taraki Sivaram

Dharmeratanam Sivaram
Born Dharmeratnam Sivaram
11 August 1959(1959-08-11)
Batticaloa, Sri Lanka
Died 28 April 2005(2005-04-28) (aged 45)
Colombo, Sri Lanka
Occupation Journalist, Writer, author
Title Mr
Spouse(s) Herly Yogaranjini Poopalapillai
Children Vaishnavi, Vaitheki, and Seralaathan
Ethnicity Tamil
Nationality Sri Lankan
Religious belief(s) Hindu
Official website

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, in front of the Bambalapitya police station. His body was found the next day in the district of Himbulala, near the Parliament of Sri Lanka. He had been beaten and shot in the head.[1]

Contents

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]

 
Aiyathurai Nadesan · Balanadarajah Iyer · K.S.Raja · Mylvaganam Nimalrajan · Richard De Soyza · Thevis Guruge · Premakeerthi de Alwis· Taraki Sivaram · Relangi Selvarajah · Nadarajah Atputharajah · I.Shanmugalingam · Subramaniyam Sugirdharajan · Sinnathamby Sivamaharajah · Lasantha Wickramatunge · Rajani Thiranagama This box: view · edit] Political activity

In 1982 Sivaram joined the Gandhian Movement, then a front organization for the People’s Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE), one of the many Tamil organizations. 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 (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 Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and because of group’s involvement in an abortive coup[2] in the Maldives.[1]

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. In 1990 Sivaram helped identify Richard De Zoysa’s body after De Zoysa was abducted from his home and killed.[1]

Popularity

Sri Lankan Civil War
(1983–2009)
Background
Sri Lanka · History of Sri Lanka
Origins of the Civil War
Origins of the Civil War · Sri Lankan Tamil nationalism · Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism · Riots · Black July
Main phases
Eelam War I · Indian intervention · Eelam War II · Eelam War III · Eelam War IV
LTTE
LTTE (Divisions)  · Black Tigers · Attacks · Expulsion of Muslims · Suicide bombings
Military of Sri Lanka
Military · Civilian attacks · Army · Navy · Air Force · Police · Home Guards · LRRP · STF
Major leaders
M. Rajapaksa · V. Prabhakaran · C. Kumaratunga · A. Balasingham · J. R. Jayewardene · Karuna
Indian involvement
Operation Poomalai · Indo-Sri Lanka Accord · Indian Peace Keeping Force · Operation Pawan · Rajiv Gandhi · RAW
Militant & paramilitary groups
Tamil militant groups (List) · ENDLF · ENLF · EPDP · EPRLF · EROS · PLOTE · TELO · TMVP
Other
Battles · Casualties · War crimes · LLRC · State terror · Human rights · Disappearances · Child soldiers  · Assassinations · Protests (Canada)
This box: view · talk · edit

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 benefited 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]

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 Professor Mark Whittaker, an anthropologist with the University of South Carolina, and Dr. Jude Fernando of Clark University.[1]

Involvement with NGOs

In the mid-1990s many governments and human rights non-governmental organisations (NGOs) collaborated 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]

Threat to his life

When Sivaram started receiving 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 Jathika Hela Urumaya and Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna in Sri Lanka publicly threatened him as a Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) activist and a terrorist sympathizer.[1]

International reaction

Letter in Sinhala sent regarding Taraki’s murder allegedly claiming responsibility

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]

Accusations and investigation

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]

Reporters Without Borders, a pres freedom organisation, said "The Sri Lankan authorities have regrettably demonstrated a complete lack of will to solve cases of murders and physical attacks against journalists." [10]

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.[11] This report was denied by fellow journalist David Jeyaraj from Canada.[12] However, some activists and writers associated with former PLOTE dissidents have disagreed with Jeyaraj's conclusions.[13]

Jeyaraj wrote that Karuna, an LTTE splinter group leader and a member of a government aligned political-military organisation was personally involved in the murder of Sivaram.[14] Karuna has denied this allegation categorically and blamed the LTTE leadership for his murder in addition to those of Lakshman Kadirgamar and Kumar Ponnambalam.[15] After the arrest of one suspect, the investigation was abandoned.[16]

See also

Collection of writings

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Whitaker, Mark (2005-04-29). "Sivaram Dharmeratnam: A Journalist’s life". Tamilnet. http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=79&artid=14778. Retrieved 2006-10-02. 
  2. ^ Rakshak, Bharat. "Operation Cactus". Archived from the original on 2006-08-27. http://web.archive.org/web/20060827180644/http://bharat-rakshak.com/LAND-FORCES/Army/History/1970s/Operation-Cactus.html. Retrieved 2006-10-02. 
  3. ^ Sambandan, V.S. (2005-06-03). "The end of a dissenter". Frontline. http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2211/stories/20050603001305200.htm. Retrieved 2006-10-02. 
  4. ^ "Tamilnet editor’s murder still unpunished after one year" (Press release). Reporters Without Borders. 2006-04-28. http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=17503. Retrieved 2006-10-02. 
  5. ^ "UNESCO Director-General Condemns Murder of Sri Lankan Journalist Dharmeratnam Sivaram "Taraki”" (Press release). UNESCO. 2005-05-03. http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=18849&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html. Retrieved 2006-10-02. 
  6. ^ "LTTE accuses SLA Intelligence, para-militaries for Sivaram's murder". Tamilnet. 2005-04-30. http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=14775. Retrieved 2006-10-02. 
  7. ^ "SRI LANKA". Committee to Protect Journalists. 2001. http://www.cpj.org/attacks01/asia01/sri.html. Retrieved 2006-10-02. 
  8. ^ "CASES 2005: ASIA". Committee to Protect Journalists. 2005-04-29. http://www.cpj.org/cases05/asia_cases05/sri.html. Retrieved 2006-10-02. 
  9. ^ "Tamilnet editor's murder still unpunished after one year". International Federation of Journalists. 2005-04-28. http://www.ifj-asia.org/page/srilanka060428.html. Retrieved 2006-10-02. 
  10. ^ "Call for murders of journalists to be discussed at donors conference". http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=13793. Retrieved 2007-05-16. 
  11. ^ "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. http://www.uthr.org/SpecialReports/spreport19ptII.htm#Murder. Retrieved 2006-10-02. 
  12. ^ D.B.S. Jeyaraj. "From Gun to Pen". http://www.tamilweek.com/Sivaram_Gun_to_Pen_0009.html. Retrieved 2006-10-02. 
  13. ^ http://www.thesamnet.com/issue25/page14.htm
  14. ^ D.B.S. Jeyaraj. "Did Karuna Personally kill "Taraki" Sivaram?". http://www.tamilweek.com/Karuna_Sivaram_0010.html. Retrieved 2006-10-02. 
  15. ^ "LTTE killed journalist Sivaram, Kumar Ponnambalam and Kadirgamar -- Col. Karuna". Asian Tribune. 2005-11-25. http://www.lankalibrary.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=1317. Retrieved 2006-10-02. 
  16. ^ "Sri Lanka - Annual report 2006". http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=17362. Retrieved 2007-05-16. 

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Look at other dictionaries:

  • TamilNet — Infobox Website name = TamilNet caption = url = [http://www.tamilnet.com www.tamilnet.com] type = Online Newspaper slogan = Reporting to the world on Tamil Affairs owner = author = founder = CEO= launch date = 1997 current status =ActiveTamilNet… …   Wikipedia

  • List of assassinations of the Sri Lankan Civil War — Sri Lankan Civil War (1983–2009) Background Sri Lanka · History of Sri Lanka Origins of the Civil War Origins of the Civil War · Sri Lankan Tamil nationalism  …   Wikipedia

  • Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam — The official emblem of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam as designed by Rishi Suresh. Dates of operation May 5, 1976 – present Leader Velupillai Prabhakaran Motives The cr …   Wikipedia

  • Sri Lanka — Ceylon redirects here. For the time period of 1948 1972, see Dominion of Ceylon. For other uses, see Ceylon (disambiguation). Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka ශ්‍රී ලංකා ප්‍රජාතාන්ත්‍රික සමාජවාදී ජනරජය (Sinhala) இலங்கை சனநாயக சமத்துவ… …   Wikipedia

  • Vellalar — Vellalars are a dominant caste of Tamil agriculturalists of Tamil Nadu, Kerala states in India and in neighbouring Sri Lanka. They are also found amongst the Tamil diaspora around the world. Like many other castes of Tamils they were also… …   Wikipedia

  • Karaiyar — Karaiyar, also known as Karayar, Karaiar or Kurukulam is a sea faring and warrior caste found in the Tamil Nadu state of India and coastal areas of Sri Lanka.Template:Sri Lankan Tamil peopleOriginsThe Karaiyar, along with Mukkuvar and Paravar are …   Wikipedia

  • Karava — ethnic group| group=Karava of Sri Lanka poptime=4.8 million popplace=Sri Lanka, India, USA, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Italy,Germany, France rels=Buddhism, Roman Catholicism, Hinduism, Protestantism langs=Sinhala, Tamil,… …   Wikipedia

  • Chetti Thanabalasingam — was a Sri Lankan criminal, most importantly known for his association with the leader of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Velupillai Prabhakaran, in the early days of insurgency. Thanabalasingam was the leader of Tamil New Tigers (TNT),… …   Wikipedia

  • Sri Lankan Tamil militant groups — rose to prominence in the 1970s to fight the state of Sri Lanka to create an independent Tamil Eelam. They rose in response to perception amongst minority Sri Lankan Tamils that the state was preferring the majority Sinhalese for education… …   Wikipedia

  • April 28 — Events*1192 Assassination of Conrad of Montferrat (Conrad I), King of Jerusalem, in Tyre, two days after his title to the throne is confirmed by election. The killing is carried out by Hashshashin. *1253 Nichiren, a Japanese Buddhist monk,… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”