Sri Lankan authorities have prevented Colombo-based journalists from attending the funeral of a colleague shot dead in the embattled northern peninsula of Jaffna, reporters and officials here said Sunday.
The defense ministry had given clearance to four journalists to travel to the town of Jaffna, 400 kilometres (250 miles) north of here by military aircraft, but later withdrew permission, the reporters said.
They were trying to cover the funeral Saturday of reporter Mailwaganam Nimalarajan, 38, who was gunned down on Thursday night in the heart of Jaffna town.
Defense ministry sources confirmed that the permission given to four journalists had been withdrawn but were unable to offer an explanation for the sudden change of heart.
Family friends said Nimalarajan's sister too had not been given permission to fly aboard a military aircraft to attend the funeral.
The main land link to the Jaffna peninsula is held by the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and civilians are completely dependent on military transport or a ferry under international red cross protection.
Nimalarajan, who worked for local radio and television stations and newspapers as well the BBC's Tamil and Sinhala services, had recently filed reports critical of a former Tamil militant group.
No group has so far claimed responsibility for the killing.
The Paris-based media watchdog, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), urged President Chandrika Kumaratunga to intervene personally in bringing to justice those responsible for the murder.
"If the guilty persons are not identified and punished, no independent journalist will be able to feel safe in Sri Lanka," RSF general secretary Robert Menard said.
"Impunity of journalists' murders has already lasted too long," the RSF said adding that 31 journalists have been killed in Sri Lanka since 1988 while practicing their profession.
The Vienna-based International Press Institute (IPI) called on Kumaratunga to investigate the murder of Nimalarajan.
"IPI urges your excellency to ensure that there is a thorough investigation into (the) murder and that those responsible are brought swiftly to justice," the IPI said in a letter to the Sri Lankan president -- COLOMBO (AFP)
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