Taraki Sivaram

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Taraki Sivaram
Dharmeratanam Sivaram
Born
Dharmeratnam Sivaram

(1959-08-11)11 August 1959
Batticaloa, Sri Lanka
Died28 April 2005(2005-04-28) (aged 45)
Colombo, Sri Lanka
NationalitySri Lankan
Occupation(s)Journalist, writer, author
TitleMr
SpouseHerly Yogaranjini Poopalapillai
ChildrenVaishnavi, Vaitheki, and Andrew Seralaathan
Websitehttp://www.tamilnet.com

Taraki Sivaram or Dharmeratnam Sivaram (11 August 1959 – 28 April 2005) was a popular

Bambalapitya police station. His body was found the next day in the district of Himbulala, near the Parliament of Sri Lanka. He had been beaten and shot in the head.[1]

Biography

Sivaram, the well-known and controversial political analyst and a senior editor for

On 8 September 1988 he married Herly Yogaranjini Poopalapillai of Batticaloa. They eventually had three children: Vaishnavi, Vaitheki, and Seralaathan.[1]

Political activity

In 1982 Sivaram joined the

Indo-Lankan accord was signed, Uma Maheswaran, PLOTE's leader, appointed Sivaram General Secretary of the Democratic People's Liberation Front (DPLF), the organisation's registered political party. Sivaram left PLOTE in 1989, after disagreeing with Maheswaran's attempts to establish firmer relations with the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and because of group's involvement in an abortive coup[2] in the Maldives.[1]

His career as a journalist

In 1988 with the encouragement of fellow journalist, activist and actor

Sinhalese as Sivaram's pen name but a sub-editor accidentally printed Taraki instead, giving birth to Sivaram's pen name. In 1990 Sivaram helped identify Richard De Zoysa's body after De Zoysa was abducted from his home and killed.[1]

Popularity

Taraki's articles reflect his personal style combined with accurate and inside information, explaining military, political, strategic and tactical aspects of all sides in Sri Lanka's complex conflict. Moreover, his reading in military science and political philosophy benefited his literacy greatly.[1]

By the early 1990s, Sivaram's Taraki column had become a must read for many interested in Sri Lanka.

Tamilnet.com reorganise itself into a Tamil news agency with its own string of reporters, and remained a senior editor there until his death. He filed his last story for Tamilnet.com at 7:30 PM on the night he was murdered.[1]

Collaboration with academics

Due to his grasp of Tamil politics and literature and Sri Lanka's complex history, he was able to collaborate with many academics. Hence, Sivaram collaborated with historians,

University of Colorado, the University of South Carolina, and Clark University. His most prominent collaborators were Professor Mark Whitaker, an anthropologist with the University of South Carolina, and Dr. Jude Fernando of Clark University.[1]

Involvement with NGOs

In the mid-1990s many governments and human rights non-governmental organisations (NGOs) collaborated with Sivaram for advice on local political and military matters. He widely travelled in Europe, Asia, and North America and equally well known to governments, the diplomatic community, and human rights activists. He was killed just ahead of a scheduled trip to Japan to consult with the Japanese government regarding the then current peace process.[1]

Threat to his life

When Sivaram started receiving death threats, he was requested by his friends and colleagues to move himself and his family out of Sri Lanka. He always refused to leave.[1]

Where else should I die but here? he often declared. Yet in 2004 the police twice searched Sivaram's home, and various groups political parties such as the Jathika Hela Urumaya and Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna in Sri Lanka publicly threatened him as a Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) activist and a terrorist sympathiser.[1]

International reaction

Sinhala
sent regarding Taraki's murder allegedly claiming responsibility

After his death was reported, governments such as Japan, and international organisations such as Reporters Without Borders[4] and UNESCO[5] officials publicly condemned his murder and requested the government of Sri Lanka to investigate the murder.[1]

Accusations and investigation

The LTTE accused the government in complicity of his murder.

State terrorism in Sri Lanka). One year later a Tamil man belonging to the PLOTE organisation was apprehended but eyewitnesses refused to identify him as one of the kidnappers.[9] No more activity regarding the government investigation is available.[1]

Reporters Without Borders, a pres freedom organisation, said "The Sri Lankan authorities have regrettably demonstrated a complete lack of will to solve cases of murders and physical attacks against journalists."[10]

Controversy

Sivaram was also accused by human rights activists such as Rajan Hoole who was critical of Sivaram's role as the Tamilnet.com's editor, that he was involved in the murder of two PLOTE dissidents during his days as a Tamil militant.[11] This report was denied by fellow journalist David Jeyaraj from Canada.[12] However, some activists and writers associated with former PLOTE dissidents have disagreed with Jeyaraj's conclusions.[13]

Jeyaraj wrote that

Karuna, an LTTE splinter group leader and a member of a government aligned political-military organisation was personally involved in the murder of Sivaram.[14] Karuna has denied this allegation categorically and blamed the LTTE leadership for his murder in addition to those of Lakshman Kadirgamar and Kumar Ponnambalam.[15] After the arrest of one suspect, the investigation was abandoned.[16]

Legacy

Sivaram following his death, became a

oppressed people
all over the world empower themselves and get out from oppression. His colleague Dr. Jude Fernando, of Clark University, was quoted saying:

He will be an irreplaceable loss to the academic and human rights community around the world

Eelam poet Kaasi Ananthan mentioned him as a neutral journalist who was not driven by racial emotions. He was posthumously honored as Maamanithar, the highest civilian honor in the former state of

In 2015, the 10th anniversary of his death was observed, in various parts of Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka.[17][18][19] Also a documentary film on Taraki's work was released on the World Press Freedom Day at the Chennai Press Club, Chennai.[20]

See also

Collection of writings

References

  1. ^
    Tamilnet
    . Retrieved 2 October 2006.
  2. ^ Rakshak, Bharat. "Operation Cactus". Archived from the original on 27 August 2006. Retrieved 2 October 2006.
  3. ^ Sambandan, V.S. (3 June 2005). "The end of a dissenter". Frontline. Archived from the original on 5 September 2006. Retrieved 2 October 2006.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  4. ^ "Tamilnet editor's murder still unpunished after one year" (Press release). Reporters Without Borders. 28 April 2006. Archived from the original on 22 August 2006. Retrieved 2 October 2006.
  5. ^ "UNESCO Director-General Condemns Murder of Sri Lankan Journalist Dharmeratnam Sivaram "Taraki"" (Press release). UNESCO. 3 May 2005. Archived from the original on 20 July 2012. Retrieved 2 October 2006.
  6. Tamilnet
    . 30 April 2005. Retrieved 2 October 2006.
  7. ^ "SRI LANKA". Committee to Protect Journalists. 2001. Retrieved 2 October 2006.
  8. ^ "CASES 2005: ASIA". Committee to Protect Journalists. 29 April 2005. Retrieved 2 October 2006.
  9. ^ "Tamilnet editor's murder still unpunished after one year". International Federation of Journalists. 28 April 2005. Archived from the original on 22 August 2006. Retrieved 2 October 2006.
  10. ^ "Call for murders of journalists to be discussed at donors conference". Archived from the original on 19 August 2007. Retrieved 16 May 2007.
  11. ^ "The Murder of Dharmaretnam Sivaram". The Curse of Impunity art II: Defiance, Hope and Betrayal – The Times of Sivaram. University Teachers For Human Rights (Jaffna). 9 September 2005. Retrieved 2 October 2006.
  12. ^ D.B.S. Jeyaraj. "From Gun to Pen". Retrieved 2 October 2006.
  13. ^ "炒北瓜怎么做好吃-中国一冶集团有限公司".
  14. ^ D.B.S. Jeyaraj. "Did Karuna Personally kill "Taraki" Sivaram?". Retrieved 2 October 2006.
  15. ^ "LTTE killed journalist Sivaram, Kumar Ponnambalam and Kadirgamar – Col. Karuna". Asian Tribune. 25 November 2005. Retrieved 2 October 2006.
  16. ^ "Sri Lanka – Annual report 2006". Archived from the original on 17 June 2007. Retrieved 16 May 2007.
  17. ^ a b "Constitutionally recognise Tamil homeland to prove bona fides, exiled poet tells Colombo". TamilNet. Retrieved 4 May 2015.
  18. ^ "Sivaram commemorated in Tamil Nadu on 10th anniversary of his assassination". TamilNet. Retrieved 4 May 2015.
  19. ^ "Remembering Sivaram Dharmeratnam". Colombo Telegraph. 29 April 2012. Retrieved 4 May 2015.
  20. ^ "World Press Freedom Day marked with airing of documentary on Sivaram in India". Tamil Guardian. Retrieved 5 May 2015.

External links