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 was under Sri Lankan army control during the Sri Lankan civil war– journalists, human rights activists and civilians lived under constant fear. The two journalists' killing was part of a series of killing, abduction and attacks on the Tamil media in Sri Lanka.[3][4][5] These killings, abductions and threats were 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". Reporters Without Borders. 23 August 2006. Retrieved 10 July 2026.
  2. ↑ "Jaffna paper beats the odds". BBC News. 10 April 2001. Retrieved 10 July 2026.
  3. ↑ "Tamil media caught in ongoing conflict". AsiaMedia. UCLA Asia Institute. Archived from the original on 12 July 2010. Retrieved 10 July 2026.
  4. ↑ "Intimidation of Tamil media". Lanka Everything. Retrieved 10 July 2026.
  5. ↑ "Press Freedom, World Review, June–November 2006". World Association of Newspapers. Retrieved 10 July 2026.
  6. ↑ Fact-finding report by the International Press Freedom Mission to Sri Lanka (PDF) (Report). International Press Freedom Mission to Sri Lanka. Retrieved 10 July 2026.
  7. ↑ "White van 'terrorises' Jaffna". BBC News. 23 March 2007. Retrieved 10 July 2026.
  8. ↑ "Media Terror in Sri Lanka's Jaffna". International Federation of Journalists. 23 November 2007. Retrieved 10 July 2026.
  9. ↑ "Gunmen 'kill two' at Jaffna paper". BBC News. 2 May 2006. Retrieved 10 July 2026.
  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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