Twenty-one years have passed since the murder of Ayyathurai Nadesan, better known as ‘Nellai Nadesan,’ considered the first journalist killed under the then United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) Government.
While no investigation has been conducted into Nadesan’s murder for many years. Local and international media, as well as human rights organisations, have pointed to the Karuna Amman faction which broke away from the LTTE in 2004 in connection with this murder.
However, with Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, alias Pillayan, the former Chief Minister of the Eastern Province and a close associate of Nadesan under Karuna Amman currently in custody, the Batticaloa Journalists’ Association is now preparing to call for an investigation into Nadesan’s murder, in a renewed bid to obtain long-denied justice.
According to its head, Shashidaran Punyamurthy, the Association believes that justice for their slain colleague must be sought through a formal investigation, rather than relying solely on an annual commemoration. Similarly, Nadesan’s nephew, Attorney-at- Law Sugash Kanagaratnam, has also voiced his intention to push for a thorough investigation into the killing of his uncle.
“The people believe that the justice denied under the Rajapaksa, Ranil, and Maithri regimes will, at the very least, be delivered under the Government of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake,” Ilangai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) MP Gnanamuttu Sirinesan told this year’s commemoration in Batticaloa. He also expressed confidence that justice could finally be achieved.
JVP–SLFP alliance
The year 2004 began with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) which now leads the National People’s Power (NPP) and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), setting the stage for the formation of a new political front. At the time, there was growing uncertainty about whether the Tamil Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the United National Party (UNP) Government would continue to uphold the Ceasefire Agreement.
Amid this backdrop, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s Government had made notable progress with a covert strategy to divide the LTTE. As part of this plan, Eastern Province LTTE Commander, Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, alias Karuna Amman, defected from the organisation and began operating under the aegis of the Government’s military.
The JVP–SLFP alliance, formally launched on January 20, 2004, under the banner of the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA), soon expanded further. Other parties—including the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna, Sri Lanka People’s Party, Desha Vimukthi Janatha Party, Communist Party of Sri Lanka, Lanka Sama Samaja Party, National Congress, and Azad Sali’s Muslim National Unity Alliance—also joined the coalition.
All these parties, which were directly opposed to the ceasefire and the peace process, united under the betel leaf symbol in April 2004, won the Parliamentary Elections, and formed the Government. Douglas Devananda’s Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP), Rauff Hakeem’s Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), and Arumugam Thondaman’s Ceylon Workers’ Congress (CWC) also joined the alliance.
Terror in Batticaloa
Batticaloa has historically been a region marked by conflict, much of it deliberately instigated. It was one of the initial targets of state-sponsored Sinhalese colonisation. The Gal Oya Development Scheme, followed by the Mahaweli Development Program, significantly altered the area’s demographic composition. Successive Governments took measures that exacerbated tensions between the Tamil and Muslim communities, leading to numerous incidents of mass violence. Various paramilitary groups backed by State forces were active in and around Batticaloa, further contributing to the region’s instability.
Facing death threats from a paramilitary group operating under PLOTE Mohan Veerakesari, reporter Nithya, based in Batticaloa, fled the country to save his life. His replacement, Kumaraguru, worked in the media for only a short period. Due to threats from Government Security Forces, he too gave up journalism and eventually went abroad.
The Veerakesari position vacated by him was later filled by Ayyathurai Nadesan, who was born in Nelliady, Jaffna. A graduate in Economics from the University of Jaffna, Nadesan was initially a school teacher and later served as a revenue officer.
He also held the position of Media Secretary for the North-Eastern Provincial Council under Chief Minister Varadaraja Perumal. At the invitation of his university friend, the Chief Minister, Nadesan had moved to the hill country to continue his work as a teacher.
Later, when the North-Eastern Provincial Council was dissolved by President R. Premadasa’s Government, Nadesan returned to his role as a schoolteacher in the hill country. However, he soon moved back to Batticaloa to serve again as a revenue officer.
Nadesan, who was politically inclined towards the Communist Party during his time in Jaffna, consistently advocated for unity between the Tamil and Muslim communities in Batticaloa. He was more than just a development reporter—he played a key role in highlighting the suffering of the people of the Eastern Province to a wider audience.
Rajkumar Subramaniam, who was the President of the Sri Lanka Tamil Journalists’ Association at the time, told the website Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka that Nadesan’s book written in support of the Tamil people’s right to self-determination stands as a powerful testament to his political insight. He said that Nadesan clearly went beyond the boundaries of a typical regional journalist.
Nadesan falls
As usual, on the morning of May 31, 2004, Nadesan was on his way to work at the Batticaloa Revenue Department when gunmen lying in wait ambushed him, shooting him multiple times. The assailants escaped unhindered through a nearby military checkpoint. The murder was widely attributed to the Karuna Amman faction.
A devoted father of four, Nadesan had chosen to remain in Batticaloa despite repeated threats to his life, driven by his deep connection and commitment to his hometown. This, however, led to his untimely and tragic demise.
He had been a key force behind the formation of the Eastern Lanka Journalists’ Association and was serving as the Vice President of the Tamil Journalists’ Association at the time of his death. With over 20 years of experience in journalism, Nadesan was recognised for his dedication and impact—receiving the Best Journalist of the Year award at the Editors’ Guild Media Awards 2000.
Nadesan, who consistently stood for Tamil-Muslim as well as Tamil-Sinhala cooperation, actively worked to foster unity across communities. His close colleague in the media, Shanthavarasa, shared the following recollection with Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka website;
“During the ceasefire, we, as the Eastern Lanka Journalists’ Association, organised a tour to Vanni and Jaffna. About thirty-five Tamil and Muslim journalists from the region took part. Nadesan was the driving force behind this initiative. He also participated in the Sinhala-Tamil dance festival organised by the ‘Hiru’ group in Colombo. I couldn’t attend due to personal reasons. Nadesan called me from Colombo and said that the Sinhala Heritage group, along with some individuals affiliated with the Divaina newspaper, had come to disrupt the event. But he told me firmly that he wouldn’t leave until the program was completed.”
This account illustrates Nadesan’s unwavering commitment to peace and cross-cultural solidarity, even in the face of hostility.
The body of the slain journalist Ayyathurai Nadesan was taken first to Kilinochchi and then to his hometown of Nelliady for final rites. Thousands of relatives, friends, and local residents, deeply saddened by his death, halted their daily activities, closed their shops, and gathered at the Public Stadium of Nellyadi to pay their last respects. Nadesan’s funeral was held under the leadership of Suresh Premachandran, leader of the Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF).
In response to the killing, the Tamil Journalists’ Association organised a protest at Colombo Fort on June 9, condemning Nadesan’s murder. A one-day hartal was observed in Trincomalee town as a mark of protest and mourning.
Local and international media outlets, along with human rights organisations, issued strong statements condemning and protesting against the killing of Nadesan.
However, no investigation was ever conducted into his murder, and no suspects were arrested. As repression intensified, media organisations in Batticaloa gradually disbanded. Prominent journalists who had worked alongside Nadesan — including Shanthavarasa, Thurairatnam, Vedanayagam, and Chandrakumar — went into exile. Many others left Batticaloa for Colombo, while those who remained were largely silenced by fear.
As the 21st anniversary of Nadesan’s killing passes, calls for justice are once again being raised. Yet without a proper investigation or accountability, the case remains a grim reminder of the impunity surrounding attacks on journalists in Sri Lanka and the long shadow such violence continues to cast over press freedom in the country.
