Tamil journalist Punniyamoorthy Sathiyamoorthy, who was killed by a Sri Lankan artillery barrage inside the ‘No Fire Zone’ in February 2009, was remembered today in the North-East.
Jaffna Press Club and the Tamil National People's Front (TNPF) held commemorative events for Sathiyamoorthy, who began contributing to 'Pulikalin Kural' (Voice of Tigers) and later wrote the military column for the 'Eezhanaatham' daily. He was reporting from inside the 'No Fire Zone' when Sri Lankan artillery shells landed in the Mullaitivu district.
In the final months of the armed conflict, an estimated 146,000 Tamils were killed alongside Sathiyamoorthy in the government declared 'No Fire Zones' where the Sri Lankan government continued to fire heavy artillery.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said that Sathiyamoorthy "strove to maintain journalistic standards and an accurate representation of the wartime situations in which he found himself. His work had global impact, reaching large numbers of Tamils living overseas."
At the time, TamilNet wrote: "True to his name 'Sathiyamoorthy' (Manifestation of Truth) was known for his forthright and candid description of unfolding events, according to his media colleagues."