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Sri Lanka extends emergency

COLOMBO: The Sri Lankan Parliament on Tuesday voted to extend the state of emergency in the country by another month.

The government motion was passed with 97 members voting in favour and 18 members voting against.

Emergency in Sri Lanka was re-imposed after the assassination of the former Foreign Minister, Lakshman Kadirgamar, by suspected LTTE cadres in August 2005.

Under the Sri Lankan Constitution, only Parliament has the right to proclaim emergency and it is valid only for a month. From August 2005, the Sri Lankan Parliament has been extending the emergency every month.

Since the military defeat of the LTTE, there have been demands from several quarters to do away with these laws. However, the government has been arguing that with several suspected LTTE cadres still at large, it would not be prudent to do away with some extraordinary measures.

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