On May 2nd, 2006, 16 years ago, five armed paramilitary cadres stormed the Uthayan, a Tamil daily newspaper published in Jaffna and opened fire, murdering and injuring Tamil employees.
The circulation supervisor, Ranjithkumar (28) and the circulation manager, Sureshkumar Thevasagayam (35), were killed. Three other employees were injured, and the entire office was left in debris, with all equipment and computers destroyed. No security personnel were sighted to stop the vehicles as the assailants sped off.
"The gunmen were shooting at will, everybody they found inside the office were shot. Finally, they smashed all the computers in the office," an employee who managed to escape from the attackers told TamilNet at the time.
“Some men dressed in black broke into our office and opened fire,” recounted Vithyatharan, the Uthayan newspaper editor. “I have no doubts that this is a work of armed groups working with the government security forces.”
The government has attempted to blame the LTTE for the assault on the Uthayan office, despite no evidence being offered from the police or ministers to substantiate such an accusation.
The attack on the Jaffna-based newspaper came amid three days of events organized by the Sri Lankan state to commemorate UNESCO’s world press freedom day.
Uthayan is one of the northern-based Tamil newspapers most targeted by militia attacks and violence, with Reporters with Borders condemning the murders of other Uthayan Tamil journalists. Other international organizations have followed suit in condemning the attack, with International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) president Christopher Warren saying, “On the evening of the world press freedom day and while the Sri Lankan government acknowledges the vital role of journalists in society, it is cruelly ironic that such a cold and calculated attack can take place.”
Despite 16 years since the violent attack on the Tamil newspaper, no one has ever been brought to justice for it.