Sri Lanka parliament extends emergency

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 September 2008, 14:17 GMT]
Sri Lanka's parliament Tuesday adopted a motion moved by the government led by President Mahinda Rajapakse to extend the State of Emergency for another month by a majority of 99 votes. 110 parliamentarians voted in favor for the motion to extend the emergency. Eleven parliamentarians of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) voted against the motion. Parliamentarians of the main opposition United National Party (UNP) abstained, parliamentary sources said.

The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), Janatha Nidahas Peramuna (JNP), a splinter group of the JVP, and Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), all monks' party voted with the ruling United People Freedom Alliance (UPFA).

The State of Emergency was declared on 12 August 2005. Since then it is being extended every month with the approval of the Sri Lankan parliament.