Do not publish Prof. Nalin de Silva’s articles
President orders the head of Divaina
2011-06-29
President Mahinda Rajapaksa has reportedly ordered the Managing Director of Upali Newspapers, Nimal Welgama not to publish any article of Prof. Nalin de Silva that criticizes the government in the Divaina and Vidusara newspapers.
Nimal Welgama, who has been appointed by the President as the Chairman of Sri Lanka Telecom, had had a lengthy discussion about the matter with senior editorial staff of Upali Newspapers.
All of them had asked Welgama to discuss the matter with the President and arrive at a reasonable compromise.
However, until the matter is discussed with the President, Welgama has asked the Divaina editor to edit any parts in Prof. Nalin de Silva’s articles that are critical of the government before publishing it in the newspaper.
Prof. Nalin de Silva has sent articles to the Divaina newspaper for over two decades following an undertaking by the newspaper’s editorial that the headings and the contents of his articles would not be changed without his approval.
Nevertheless, the Divaina heads had made several changes to the heading and some of the content in an articles sent by Prof. de Silva.
Although Prof. Nalin de Silva has written articles supportive of Rajapaksa and has helped build up support for him through his articles for over two decades, the President is angered over the controversy crated by him over the arsenic issue.
It is learnt that the conflict had been created by the heads of several agro chemical importing companies.
