Await: President to reveal "something very big" by end of January!

President Rajapaksa said he would reveal to the country "something very big" on Jan. 30 or so. "It is going to be a very big surprise," he said refusing to elaborate. "When the time comes," he said, "I will make it known to one and all."

(Island) During a meeting with the newspaper editors at Temple Trees on Tuesday (Jan 27), President Mahinda Rajapaksa said his government was ready to adopt all possible measures to ensure the safety of editors in view of attacks on them. He denied any government involvement in them as he said the government had no reason to sully its hands with such reprehensible acts of violence. He said for a government whose popularity was at the peak nothing would be more foolhardy than to attack the press. "The armed forces are doing extremely well and our popularity has never been this high, so why should we even think of such undemocratic action?" he asked.

IGP Jayantha Wickremaratne, who was present at the meeting, dismissed allegations that investigations were not being properly carried out. He said the police were probing the assassination of the Sunday Leader editor Lasantha Wickrematunga and the recent attack on the Rivira Editor Upali Tennakoon properly. There were several angles to investigations and each and every one of them had to be carefully studied.

President Rajapaksa said he was ready to provide security to editors who needed it.

As for the situation in the country, President Rajapaksa said he would reveal to the country "something very big" on Jan. 30 or so. "It is going to be a very big surprise," he said refusing to elaborate. "When the time comes," he said, "I will make it known to one and all."