Senior Journalist Iya Sachchithanantham passes away in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 October 2014, 21:32 GMT]
The funeral of senior journalist Iya Sachchithanantham was held in Jaffna on Sunday. The 64-year-old journalist, who devoted his life for people-centric journalism and served two dailies, Eezha-Naadu and Thinak-kural, for a long time, passed away Thursday night following a heart attack. He was also a talented announcer, editor of Joasiyar magazine and the regional correspondent for Radio Ceylon.

Iya Sachchithanantham

In 1981, Iya Sachchithanantham survived an arson attack with severe injuries to one of his legs when Sinhala policemen and goons destroyed the office of the Eela-naadu daily and the Public Library of Jaffna.

Iya Sachchithanantham has been inspiring the newer generation of journalists throughout his carrier.

From Mylvaganam Nimalrajan, the BBC and TamilNet correspondent in Jaffna who was assassinated in 2000 to Paranirupasingam Thevakumar of Sakthi TV were inspired by his field-oriented journalism.

His dedicated contribution to Tamil journalism, especially during the difficult times of the war waged on Eezham Tamils by the Indian military between 1987 and 1990 and under the Sri Lankan military occupation of Jaffna peninsula since 1995, will be always remembered by the Tamil journalists, said fellow journalists paying tribute to Iya Sachchithanantan on Sunday.