Senior Presidential Advisor Vasudeva Nanayakkara yesterday told the Colombo High Court that the alleged writings of J. S Tissanayagam would not have led to any racial disharmony, and that Tissanayagam was an activist who worked hard to defend the youth in the South in 1989-90 terror period owing to JVP's second uprising.

The Attorney General's Department has filed indictment against Tissanayagam on three counts, including publication of ‘North- Eastern Monthly’ magazine from June 01 2006 to June 01 2007, and collecting funds for the publication of the magazine. He was denied bail by the High Court, and is still in remand custody.

Nanayakkara was yesterday called for evidence on behalf of the suspect Tissanayagam, when the case was taken up before High Court yesterday.

Examined by Defence Counsel Anil Silva, Nanayakkara said that he knew Tissanayagam as a journalist for many years. He told the Court that he and Tissanayagam were working together in 1989 regarding disappearances of Sinhala youths.

"I have met and discussed with Tissanayagam. He helped us a lot to collect data and prepare documentations. I and the present President went to Geneva, with those documentations that he prepared" Nanayakkara said.

"Once, when 16 police officers were captured by the LTTE, he engaged in discussions to get them released. I knew him as a journalist" he added.

The Counsel showed the witness Nanayakkara some paragraphs from the North Eastern Monthly which was edited by the accused Tissanayagam, and asked for his opinion about his writings.

"As I feel, these writings indicate that the future of the Tamil people depends on the security that is provided for them. He has written them to build up public opinion," Nanayakkara said.

When Counsel asked whether the writings would lead to racial disharmony as alleged, Nanayakkara answered in the negative.

Under cross-examination by State Counsel Sudarshana de Silva, Nanayakkara stated that he was aware of the fact that there were restrictions on media reporting under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. "The media should examine the matter properly before reporting something. But in order to prevent any possible harm, media should act instantly and report the same in advance" he said.