Colombo, November 6
Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga today announced that she was taking total control of state-run radio, television and newspapers amid a deepening political crisis but said she would allow media freedom.
Ms Kumaratunga, who sacked the information minister as well as the Defence and Interior ministers on Tuesday, said she had reconstituted the boards of management of four state-owned media institutions.
“The President has ensured the media full freedom of expression,” her office said in a statement. “The first obligation of these media institutions will be to inform the country (of) the facts and events without prejudice or conscious partisanship.”
Meanwhile, President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s office today said there was no cause for “alarm or panic” as “the President has only exercised her duties as the head of state in the greater interest of the nation”.
The Media director of the President’s office, Mr Janadasa Peiris, said today that the President was committed to the continuity of the truce agreement and “to keep open the channel of communication with the LTTE and to a negotiated settlement within a united country.”
“She wishes to assure the people of this country there will be no return to hostilities. The UNF government will continue to negotiate with the LTTE and will be guided and supported in its quest for a negotiated settlement of the crisis and usher in peace with dignity for all the communities in Sri Lanka,” Mr Peiris said.
— AFP, UNI, PTI
