The owner of a Batticaloa-based Tamil newspaper who was attacked by unknown persons last Wednesday night said he would resume his newspaper as soon as he got out of hospital.
M. I. Rahmathulla, owner of the weekly “Vaara Uraikal”, added that this would not be the last time he would be attacked for his coverage of the local scene. “This will happen again when I re-start the paper,” he said. “But I cannot stop my work.”
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| M. I. Rahmathulla |
The 54-year-old Kattankudi resident was speaking from his hospital bed at the Batticaloa Teaching Hospital, where he is being treated for a broken arm and multiple head injuries.
The eight-page weekly “Vaara Uraikal”, which has a readership of about 2,000, is known for its exposés of corruption in government departments.
Mr. Rahmathulla had more than 20 years’ experience as a newspaper reporter for the Eastern Province when he launched his newspaper three years ago.
Describing the events of last Wednesday, Mr. Rahmathulla said he was putting the finishing touches to the 112th edition of “Vaara Uraikal”, which that day included a story about fishermen not getting the government-sponsored houses they had been promised, when five strangers broke into his office and attacked him with a cricket bat.
Mr. Rahmathulla said this was the third time he had been attacked since he launched his paper. In the first incident he suffered a broken arm, and in the second his house was burnt down.
“I am not scared,” Mr. Rahmathulla said on Friday. “I want to show the outside world what is happening here. Politicians are afraid of the media in Kattankudi. Otherwise there would be even more corruption.” |
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