State of Emergency extended till March 7

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 February 2006, 15:53 GMT]
Sri Lankan parliament Tuesday extended the State of Emergency for another month till March 7. Mr.Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, Prime Minister and the Deputy Defense Minister moved the extension motion when the parliament resumed its sitting Tuesday. The State of Emergency was declared last year on August 13, the day after Mr.Lakshman Kadirgamar, Foreign Minister was assassinated at his residence in Colombo. Since then the State of Emergency has been extended every month with the approval of the parliament, sources said.

Mr.Ratnasiri Wickremanayake moving the extension motion said about 38 killings of civilians and security personnel had taken place in January. He recommended to the House to extend the State of Emergency for another month till the tense situation in the country eases, parliamentary sources said.

Venerable Athuraliyea Rathana Thera, parliamentary group leader of the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) said that both political parties, Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the United National Party (UNP) have been continuing their policy to appease LTTE stand.

Mr.T.Maheswaran, UNP parliamentarian said Tamil civilians in Colombo are being harassed under the Emergency Regulations (ER) unnecessarily and that this should be stopped.

Mr.Nimal Sripala de Silva, Minister and the Leader of the House said the government is not willing to rule the country under the State of Emergency but it is forced to continue State of Emergency to maintain law and order, sources said.

Thereafter the House unanimously adopted the extension motion, sources said.