A leading Tamil journalist who was constantly harassed for uncovering the problems of the war-affected Tamils is facing death threats for reporting on a blockage in the education of school students in Vanni.
Journalist Shanmugam Thawaseelan, who is also the head of the Mullaitivu Media Society, has complained to the Mankulam Police on Thursday, March 16, two days after he reported that the Sri Lanka Transport Board did not provide proper transport services to the school students studying at the Mankulam Maha Vidyalaya.
The audio tape of obscenely insulting death threats on the phone and the phone number of the person who threatened have also been given to the police.
Journalist Shanmugam Thawaseelan had reported on several occasions how although there are many transport services on the A-9 route, many buses belonging to the Sri Lanka Transport Board do not take school students from the area, so they are unable to go to school and return home after school.
On March 13, the school students of Panikkankulam and Kilavankulam who were studying at Mankulam High School in Thunkukai Education Zone of Mullaitivu district faced a similar transport problem. After the parents of the students notified the police, the police intervened to pick up the students in a bus belonging to the Sri Lanka Transport Board which was traveling from Jaffna to Batticaloa. had been dealt with.
The journalist caught on camera how the bus driver was talking about the difficulty of carrying school students who travel short distances in long-distance buses. The journalist’s complaint to the police states that although there is a suspicion that the person who threatened to kill him over the phone is the driver, it cannot be confirmed with certainty.
Journalist Shanmugam Thawaseelan’s reporting on the transport problem faced by school students that day was noticed by the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka in Jaffna. Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission Regional Coordinator T. In a statement issued by Kanagaraj on March 15, it is stated that the attention of the commission was focused on the information reported in the newspapers regarding the transportation problem faced by the school students.
Based on the information mentioned in the news, the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission has directed a letter to the manager of the Northern Region of the Sri Lanka Transport Board to pay attention to this matter and give proper instructions to the drivers and conductors of the buses to carry school students.
In addition to physical assaults to harass journalists who expose crimes and corruption scams in the war-torn north, death threats have also caused the journalists in that province to suffer.
Mullaitivu Media Club President Shanmugam Thawaseelan, who was attacked by a suspected intelligence service member while reporting on the fuel shortage in Mallavia, was the victim of a severe attack with Kuman in Kanapathipilla two years ago for exposing a fake timber trade.
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