Sri Lanka's parliament on Tuesday extended a state of emergency for one month, saying the country's security situation did not allow an easing of the tough anti-terror laws.
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's parliament on Tuesday extended a state of emergency for one month, saying the country's security situation did not allow an easing of the tough anti-terror laws.
Minority Tamil legislators kept up a boycott of the assembly as the government sought the extension of the emergency it declared on August 13, a day after then foreign minister Lakshman Kadirgamar was assassinated.
"We are also not happy with the emergency, but we need it because of the security situation" government's chief peace negotiator Nimal Siripala de Silva told parliament. "When the situation returns to normal, we will revoke it."
Legislators from the minority Tamil National Alliance (TNA) stayed away from the national parliament in protest at what they say is the harassment of civilians. The TNA, a proxy of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, blocked parliamentary sessions last month as part of protests they began after their senior MP, Joseph Pararajasingham, was shot dead by an unidentified gunman during a Christmas service at a church in eastern Sri Lanka.
The TNA, which has 22 members in parliament, also opposes search operations carried out by security forces under emergency laws. The constitution requires that the state of emergency be approved by parliament before it can be extended for a maximum period of one month at a time.
The rebels had asked the government to lift the state of emergency saying it was adding pressure to an already tenuous ceasefire which peace broker Norway arranged and put in place from February 2002. The government and the Tigers have agreed to meet in Geneva next week to discuss the full implementation of their ceasefire.
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