Returning Tamil journalists forced to pledge written oath to unitary State

None of the Tamil journalists or political activists, who were exiled during and after the Vanni war, could return to their native Northern or Eastern provinces without getting whitelisted by the military intelligence of the occupying Sinhala military prior to their entry into the North and East. Media activists from Colombo who met a group Tamil journalists in Vanni this week told TamilNet that a section of journalists in North had met Major General Mahesh Senanayake on 06 April at Palaali military base. When the journalists questioned the SL commander that some of their exiled journalists, currently residing in Tamil Nadu and other countries, were wondering about returning to the island. The SL commander had refused to officially comment, but shared this information in a ‘unofficial’ way, the sources further said.

The SL commander was referring to the clearance as a standard ‘Ministry Of Defense’ procedure.

In the meantime, the journalists in Colombo said that the returning Tamil journalists were asked to attend for a ‘MOD interview’ in Colombo and pledge their ‘oath of loyalty’ to the unitary State of Sri Lanka and the sovereignty of SL State.

The journalists would be sent for military rehabilitation if they violated their secret pledge to the MOD, the journalists were told.

A Tamil journalist who recently returned from Australia was detained for his failure of pledging commitment to the 6th Amendment to the SL Constitution, the sources further said.

In the meantime, the SL President Maithiripala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasighe and the Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera have been going around and inviting exiled journalists, activists and diaspora Tamil political activists to return to North and East.

When the activists wonder about the possibility of their return, they are coached through middlemen to pledge commitment to unitary State and its exercise of ‘State Sovereignty’ on their occupied country. When they arrive, the MOD in Colombo briefs them about the ‘possibility’ of ‘military rehabilitation’.