Regional Editor of Virakesari newspaper in Jaffna Rajanayakam Barathy is no more. Barathy who was a determined and a committed journalist went under a critical surgery in his head and later died of heart attack while he was at a nursing home in his home town Thirunelveli, Jaffna on Sunday (9). Barathy who was an Old Boy of Jaffna Hindu College had entered the field of journalism after leaving school at a very young age. He first joined the Murasoli newspaper in 1985 in Jaffna as a sub editor. He was a sharp and a committed journalist with not only a good nose for news but also with a good wrist for writing.

From the early part of eighties the situation in Jaffna had changed drastically with Tamil militants from various militant organisations taking the upper hand in fighting against the armed forces and ridiculing the law and order situation by shutting down all Government institutions such as Police stations, Court houses and Secretariats in Jaffna and in the North and East Provinces at large. Therefore the darker period gradually started emerging in Jaffna as well as throughout the North and East Provinces with law and order system collapsing totally.

However the drastic situation which emerged in Jaffna as well as in other parts of North and East Provinces had paved the way to greater appetite for news not only in those two Provinces but throughout the country as well as internationally. So apart from the regional Tamil daily Eelanadu which was supposed to be one of the oldest dailies in the country , several other tabloid size Tamil dailies had come up in Jaffna and Murasoli where Barathi started his journalistic career was one of the dailies which had mushroomed during the turbulent days in the North. Barathy who was an intelligent and an energetic journalist played a vital role in bringing out the Murasoli newspaper as a good standard newspaper.

Senior journalist R.Thurairatnam who had worked with Barathy has mentioned that it was a pleasure to work with Barathy at the Murasoli office and he was always particular on maintaining the impartiality as far as the newspaper was concerned.It was in 1988 when the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) which had actively engaged itself in implementing the Indo-Lanka Accord, was removing all illegal settlers who were systematically settled in the traditional Tamil home lands in the Eastern Province.

The Illegal settlements in Trincomalee were severe and the IPKF had cleared several areas in Trincomalee. The IPKF arranged a media tour to Trincomalee to show a group of Jaffna based journalists about the removal of illegal settlers in the historic Tamil areas in Trincomalee. Barathy was one of the journalists who went with the IPKF officials in a special bus to Trincomalee. The bus carrying the media personnel were well escorted by the IPKF military vehicles. Barathy was sitting on a window side corner seat placing his right hand on the window frame. So when an IPKF military vehicle was trying to overtake the bus carrying the media personnel, it had collided with the bus and Barathy was severely injured in his right hand due to the collision. The accident happened at Kilinochchi on the A- 9 highway.

The IPKF personnel had immediately attended to Barathy and brought him to the Jaffna Teaching Hospital. When his right arm was found severely crushed, IPKF officials had decided to airlift him to Chennai, India to see whether his right arm could be treated. Whereas the attempt to save his right arm by Indian doctors had failed and they were compelled to amputate his injured arm. It was after the amputation, couple of weeks later Barathy was brought back to Jaffna. When Barathy completely recovered after the amputation he began to train himself to write by his left hand and later to even use the computers by left hand. With determination and commitment Barathy quickly started using his left arm for writing and keying
purposes.

In the early nineties Barathy had joined the Virakesari newspaper and later the Thinakural newspaper in Colombo. It was in Colombo he had established himself as a fully-fledged journalist despite the loss of his right arm. Barathy had written political articles as well as several other articles on various topics while he was editing the Thinakural weekly newspaper. Barathy even served as the Secretary of the Sri Lanka Tamil Media Alliance (SLTMA) and later as the President of the SLTMA. Barathy a quite but a strong personality in dealing with the challenges he faced with. A tireless worker and an amiable person who had helped those who had approached him over media related matters.

Barathy who had narrowly survived with an amputation of his right arm due to the accident caused by an IPKF armored vehicle has now passed away thirty five year after that accident at a private nursing home in Jaffna on February 9. At the time of his death he worked as a regional editor for Virakesari in Jaffna. May the good soul of determined and committed journalist Barathy, Rest In Peace.