An organisation branding itself ‘Front for the Protection of Tamils’ stormed into three Tamil newspaper establishments in Jaffna on Wednesday and issued threats, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna said in a statement. The JV said the invaders were wearing black face masks and had issued threatening letters to the newspaper publishing offices.

The Sudaroli, Valampuri and Thiankural offices were raided by these masked men and the letters issued by them ordered that the news stories, that causes disturbances in the minds of Tamils should not be published,

And to stop with immediate effect publishing anti-government news. The warning letters also said that since no response had been shown during past warnings, the Front would be compelled to take a firm stand on this matter this time around.

The JVP statement said "establishing democracy is what is necessary at the present juncture, where separatism has been defeated. "The right of the people to express their feelings in a peaceful manner should be safeguarded. But the government was terrorising those who express views opposed to and critical of it. During the recent past, several journalists were subject to brutal assaults. Some were even killed. There was an abundance of news on abduction of journalists and attacks were launched on media institutions. The Government has so far failed to institute legal proceedings against perpetrators, who are still at large. Lot of evidence had emerged in the recent past that the government is either directly or indirectly involved in attacks on media institutions."

It also said that the recent threats on Jaffna based media institutions was also part of the suppression unleashed on media institutions. "These undemocratic acts will only help pave the way for the people to lose confidence in democracy and face a tragic future."

The JVP said that while it condemns the attack on the Jaffna based media publishing houses, it urged the government to investigate and institute legal action against the perpetrators.