Commenting on Labour Minister Mervyn Silva’s controversial decision to thwart Sirasa from covering a ceremony at the BMICH to honour journalists for their coverage of war against terrorism, Yapa said that Silva didn’t throw away the Sirasa microphone but kept it away when he addressed the gathering.

No plan to raise Tamil regiment

Yapa also dismissed recent reports on a move to form a Tamil Regiment in the Sri Lanka Army. He said though former LTTE combatants now with Karuna/Pilleyan could be taken into armed forces, fighting formations couldn’t be established on ethnic lines.

State media not in the red

He denied UNP accusations that that the entire State media apparatus had been running at a loss. He said though the SLBC had been running at a loss for several years, the ITN had made substantial profits. The Rupavahini, too, hadn’t taken losses, he said. The station had made a substantial investment. He said that there was no basis for the UNP assertion that the state media had been rejected by the people. He declared that the ITN had done extremely well.

He also faulted the UNP for its recent criticism that the government had deprived the Opposition of fair coverage by the privately owned media. Emphasising that the government hadn’t interfered with the privately owned media, he said that they couldn’t be held responsible for coverage by the privately owned media.

He accused the UNP of making an attempt to deceive the public as part of its political strategy to undermine the government. He said that the UNP had attacked the government over loss of employment while conveniently forgetting over 200,000 new employment opportunities, particularly in the agricultural sector.