Chief editor of Sri lankan Tamil newspaper speaks to WSW

N. Vithyatharan, chief editor of the Tamil newspaper Sudar Oli, was released from detention on April 28, four days after police admitted in court that there were no grounds to charge him. His treatment further exposes the lawless character of the Sri Lankan government of President Mahinda Rajapakse.

Vithyatharan had been accused of aiding a Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) air raid on Colombo on February 20. Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse had declared: “We have definite evidence that this person is a Tiger accomplice. He is a Tiger. We will charge him on his crimes. We consider anyone who defends him, also to be a Tiger.” The subsequent police admission showed these claims to be false.

After his release, Vithyatharan told the media: “The management of Uthayan-Sudar Oli and I have decided not to leave Sri Lanka... Instead, [we will] expose and fight for the Tamil community and their rights at this crucial time. We have decided to dedicate ourselves to that task, even though we risk our lives even when we leave our premises.”

As part of the government’s war against the LTTE, the police, military and allied paramilitary thugs have unleashed a terror campaign of abductions, disappearances, intimidation and killing, mostly directed at Tamils. They have targeted the media and any journalists who have made any criticism of the war or the government.

Vithyatharan was abducted on February 26 from a funeral parlour in Mount Lavinia, a Colombo suburb, in broad daylight while he was attending the last rites of a close relative. The police spokesman, Inspector Ranjith Gunasekera, declared it to be just another abduction, like many others. After an international media alert, however, the abductors handed Vithyatharan over to the police.

On May 7 Vithyatharan told the WSWS: “It is evident that the perpetrators were closely coordinated by higher-ups. The Secretary to the Ministry of Defence [Gotabhaya Rajapakse], a leading person in the political set-up, is not only issuing the detention orders but also giving verdicts before the courts do.”