Feb 10, Colombo: Sri Lanka's Marxist party Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) has condemned the assault on a distributor of a Tamil newspaper recently in Jaffna as a "cowardly threat on media freedom."

The distributor of Thinakural newspaper, Sivagurunathan Sivakumar, was attacked with poles at Point Pedro - Puttur area in the pre-dawn hours of Thursday (07). The attackers had burned his motor bicycle and the newspapers.

Issuing a media statement, the JVP said the attack and burning the papers is a cowardly threat aimed at the right of the masses for information and media freedom.

Reminding that there have been several similar attacks on journalists, the party criticized the authorities for their inaction in bringing the perpetrators to justice.

The JVP alleged that since government security forces are involved in people's lives in the Jaffna peninsula in every aspect, the attacks on media personnel and offices are carried out with the government's knowledge.

The party criticized the government for carrying out "these lethal experiments in the human rights sector" when the country's human rights record is up for another review at the Human Rights Council in Geneva in March.

The party demanded the government to take legal action against those who attacked Sivakumar and called upon all Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim and other people to rally against the "undemocratic conduct" of the government.