In the veranda of the large courtyard house in Jaffna sat the 84-year-old Mrs Subramanium, who has worked as a secretary at Uthayan, Jaffna's most popular newspaper, for the past 17 years. I had arrived early for my appointment with Uthayan's editor, so Mrs Subramanium gave me a quick tour of the offices. Large archaic machines rattled as the newspaper went to press.
Mrs Subramanium was a one-woman hive of activity. Even at the end of the day, her starched sari was crisply in place, and there was a neatness and compressed energy in her movements. Our conversation was interspersed with her manning the phones and typing up letters. We spoke about the newspaper's painful history with violence. 'We have been going through a really terrible period,' she said. 'Because we had to undergo problems from the LTTE, EPDP [Eelam People's Democratic Party), then TELO (Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation) … Not only that, we also had to undergo problems from the army.'
The media has long been a target of intimidation and violence in Sri Lanka, and this has been especially so for the Jaffna press. On 2 May 2006, unidentified armed men stormed the Uthayan offices and shot and killed Rajaratnam Ranjit, a 25-year-old employee, as well as the marketing manager, Bastian Sagayathas. For their safety, a policeman at the gate now provides round-the-clock security, but Mrs Subramanium is not impressed. 'Even if the police is here, if somebody wants to do something – somebody wants to throw a grenade, he will do it because he is determined to do it. Police will only shoot at him after he leaves the place!'
On my way to the office of Mr Kanamylnathan, the editor, I passed a wall with photographs and newspaper clippings of the two killed staff members. As a tribute, the bullet holes had not been plastered over – a reminder that the threat of violence still loomed large. For the last five years, Kanamylnathan had not left his office, even though the war ended in May 2009. He feels it is unsafe for him to venture out of the office compound and lives here with his wife. Kanamylnathan fears that there might be another attempt on his life. He was badly injured after what he believed was a hit-and-run incident in 2001 and was evacuated to Switzerland for treatment, where he has permanent residency. Despite the pleas of diasporic family members to stay away, he returned to Jaffna to his role as Uthayan's editor.