Tamil media jounalists meet President Rajapakse

The SLTMA met the President Mahinda Rajapakse at Temple Trees on Thursday.

The Secretary of the SLTMA, R.Sivarajah said that SLTMA sought President's urgent intervention in relation to the hardships and difficulties faced by Journalists, especially Tamil journalists in Sri Lanka.

Prolonged detention

Sivarajah said that they highlighed the prolonged detention of the journalist J.S. Tissainayagam and requested President Rajapakse to arrange an immediate investigation.

President Rajapakse said he had already ordered an investigation and three investigative teams to probe into Journlaist Namal Perera and British High Commission offical, Mahendra Ratnaweera.

"It is apparent that the pressures and the interferences on the media have increased in Sri Lanka. Particularly, in the war torn areas of the North and East and Colombo, many journalists have stopped reporting and dozens of them have fled the country due to increasing fear of their safety", SLTMA said in a letter handed to President.

Truth becomes casualty

This factor causes a negative effect on journalistic integrity, in which the truth becomes a casualty, and therefore critical journalism is hindered, SLTMA said.

Though, threats, murders, abductions and assaults are not confined only to Tamil journalists, SLTMA says generally, the Tamil journalists have been a target.

There are several instances of journalists being killed, arrested, attacked, abducted and receiving death threats. No investigation has been completed on the journalists killed in the last 10 years and perpetrators have never been brought to justice, it said.