Taraki Sivaram

Taraki Sivaram or Dharmeratnam Sivaram (11 August 1959 – 28 April 2005) was a popular Tamil journalist of Sri Lanka. He was kidnapped by four men in a white van on 28 April 2005, in front of the 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.

Biography

Sivaram, the well-known and controversial political analyst and a senior editor for Tamilnet.com, was born on 11 August 1959 in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka, to a prominent local family with significant land holdings and political connections near the village of Akkaraipattu. He was educated at St. Michael's College National School, and later at Pembroke and Aquinas Colleges in Colombo. He was accepted into the University of Peradeniya in 1982 but soon dropped out due to tensions associated with the first phases of Sri Lanka civil war in 1983 (see Black July pogrom). in the Maldives. As a freelance journalist, Sivaram eventually wrote for many newspapers including The Island, The Sunday Times, Tamil Times of London, The Daily Mirror, and the Tamil newspaper Virakesari. In 1997, Sivaram helped 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. and UNESCO officials publicly condemned his murder and requested the government of Sri Lanka to investigate the murder. Prior to his murder state owned media outlets since 2001 have accused him of being an LTTE spy, leading to the conclusion by some that his death was officially sanctioned (see 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. No more activity regarding the government investigation is available.

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. This report was denied by fellow journalist David Jeyaraj from Canada. However, some activists and writers associated with former PLOTE dissidents have disagreed with Jeyaraj's conclusions.

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. Karuna has denied this allegation categorically and blamed the LTTE leadership for his murder in addition to those of Lakshman Kadirgamar and Kumar Ponnambalam. After the arrest of one suspect, the investigation was abandoned.

Legacy Sivaram following his death, became a cause célèbre for Tamil activists and journalists worldwide. He is revered for his work which focused not just the plight of the Eelam Tamils but helping oppressed people all over the world empower themselves and get out from oppression. His colleague Dr. Jude Fernando, of Clark University, was quoted saying:

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 Tamil Eelam by LTTE Leader Velupillai Prabhakaran. Also a documentary film on Taraki's work was released on the World Press Freedom Day at the Chennai Press Club, Chennai.