North and East journalists tell TID, ‘‘if you want to question us do it in our areas’’

Harassment of journalists, particularly those reporting in the North or East, is not new but summoning them to appear in Colombo is a tiresome process and too expensive these days.

In recent weeks, at least half a dozen journalists were summoned to appear before Terrorism Investigation Department (TID) Headquarters in Colombo from the North and Eastern provinces while undergoing tremendous difficulties from transport to securing lodging facilities.

One Northern journalist who was summoned to Colombo lamented that the travelling cost him was around Rs 4000, in addition to other expenses during his one day stay in Colombo.

An Eastern journalist also reported to the same department but only to respond to questions about why his phone number was on the call list of a colleague who happened to be currently under probe over the Easter Sunday attacks.

Given the random questioning of Northern journalists in recent times, they request the authorities to take steps to record statements in regional offices or respective Police stations.

The latest to be summoned by the TID is Pararajasingam Sujeevan, a student at the University of Jaffna and journalist attached to local media. He was summoned following a complaint lodged by a monk alleging he is attempting to revive the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).