Exiled journalist Poddala Jayantha Poddala Jayantha requested Minister Sajith Premadasa not to name a village in his name saying the entire exercise was useless. 

The journalist said there was no point in naming villages after journalists while there was a culture of impunity on attacks against the media.

Jayantha also objected to politicians naming publicly-funded projects at their own discretion.

Jayantha's remarks came in response to the Housing Minister's move to name three model villages after Lasantha Wickrematunga, Keith Noyahr, Upali Tennakoon and Poddala Jayantha - four journalists who came under attack under the previous government. 

Former General Secretary of the Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association, Jayantha was abducted in a white van in June 2009 – nearly five months after the attacks on Wickrematunge and Tennakoon. He was tortured and left to die on the streets.

Meanwhile, former Editor-in-Chief of Rivira newspaper Upali Tennakoon also expressed dismay at the stalled investigation into his attack.

“I highly doubt that justice will ever be served to me. The President speaks in public about the interests of the suspects of these heinous crimes. Only the CID, or perhaps God, know about the progress of the investigations. At one point, we were asked to submit applications seeking compensation. I too submitted an application thinking the authorities would ‘drop the ball’ if I did not respond to their requests. But, I did not expect any money from a government that did not have a genuine political will to prosecute those who were responsible for brutal attacks on journalists,” Tennakoon said in a Facebook post.

An armed gang assaulted Tennakoon in the vicinity of his house in Gampaha on January 23, 2009.