For Generals and the Army the War may be over, but not for the upright political campaigners & activists, especially the Tamils
A Joint Picket (Protest) was held in Colombo on 2nd August to Protest the brutal assault of Gnana Sundaram Kuganadan News Editor of Uthayan Paper Published from Jaffna, Sri Lanka.
Gnana Sundaram, who is sixty years old, senior and respected Journalist of Sri Lanka is known for his fearless exposé’s of the Sinhala Buddhist majoritarian communalism and has been a forthright critique of Mahinda’s regime. Uthayan in which Gnana Sundaram is the News editor has been attacked umpteen times by the hired thugs of the ruling regime over the years.
On the 29th of July when Gnana Sundaram was returning home after work, Douglas Devananda’s armed supporters and the Army thugs (in Civilian garb) attacked Gnana with lethal weapons causing grievous injuries, he is still fighting for life in he Jaffna hospital, his condition is reported as critical. I had met Gnana the previous day while I was touring Jaffna, he had mentioned of the threats that he was receiving from the “unknown” people on a daily basis.
This attack on Gnana Sundaram took place soon after the local government elections in which United Peoples Alliance (PA) was badly defeated and overwhelmingly rejected by the Tamils in the north of Sri Lanka. Ealam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) of Douglas Devananda was the main campaigner for the ruling Mahinda Rajapaksa’s murderous regime and was hoping to be the chief of the north of Sri Lanka after the elections in the North, and this result seems to be a personal defeat for his misplaced ambitions. Mahinda’s regime is totally silent on these continued attacks and killings of Journalists.
The present regime of Sri Lanka ruled by Mahinda and his clique wants to pretend that they are democratic by holding routine elections , but their undemocratic and dictatorial intentions are very evident, they can not stomach the fact that the Tamil people have totally rejected them and their stooges in the recently held local government elections.
The USP and all those who respect media & press freedom condemn this attack on Uthayan’s news editor Gnana Sundaram. we condemn Mahinda’s dictatorship and hooliganism of his cronies. We demand the Government of Sri Lanka to meet the democratic national aspirations of Tamils in the North and the East.
Siritunga Jayasurya
General Secretary, United Socialist Party (CWI-Sri Lanka)