President moves resolution in Parliament | PTA will stay
President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday moved the resolution in Parliament to lift the state of emergency which was re-imposed in 2005 after the assassination of the then Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar.
President Rajapaksa also said the Northern Provincial Council Election would be conducted next year.Kicking off the day’s business, the President made the announcement in a special statement under the constitutional provisions which provide for the head of the state to address Parliament periodically on matters of national importance. Sri Lanka came under international pressure to do away with the state of emergency after the end of the war in May, 2009. Recently, India’s External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna, in a suo motu statement made in Lok Sabha reiterated the need for the Sri Lankan government to scrap the state of emergency as soon as possible.
However, the President, in his speech, said law and order had been restored in the country now after the defeat of terrorism, and therefore, there was no need to extend the emergency situations any further. He said that the government could maintain law and order situation with the remaining pieces of legislations approved by Parliament.
“I am convinced that there is no need for further extension of the state of emergency,” he said.
After the war was over, he said, the government took giant steps to develop the affected areas, and more than US $ 2000 million had been allocated for the restoration of infrastructure and other necessary facilities in the North.
He said all these monies were sought through concessionary loans, grants and tax revenue.
The state of emergency was imposed first in 1953 after public agitation caused by the rising cost of living. The country experienced a prolonged period of emergency during the JVP insurrections in 1971 and 1989, and the communal riots in 1983.
During the peace process initiated by the UNP government in 2002, the emergency was lifted to facilitate negotiations with the LTTE. Following the LTTE’s continuous violation of the peace process eventually leading to the assassination of Mr. Kadirgamar in August 2005, the government reintroduced the state of emergency.
Meanwhile Environment Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa said yesterday that although the State of Emergency would be lifted soon it would have no effect on the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).
Speaking at a Cabinet media briefing he said that the emergency regulations and the PTA were separate entities. However he declined to comment on the status of those being held under the emergency and the PTA, and said the question was best directed at the Attorney General.
US welcomes
The United States last night welcomed President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s announcement in Parliament that the Emergency Regulations will lapse at the end of August.
“This is a significant step towards normalizing life for the people of Sri Lanka, and reflects more than two years without terrorist activity after the defeat of the LTTE,” the US embassy in Colombo said in a statement.
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