Emergency Regulations further extended

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 November 1998, 12:59 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Parliament yesterday extended the Emergency Regulations for one further month. One hundred and seven parliamentarians voted for the motion on extension of the emergency regulations while 80 voted against it.

The Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) and Ceylon Workers' Congress (CWC) voted for the extension along with the governing party.

The UNP, TULF, TELO and JVP voted against the motion.

The PLOTE parliamentarians and LSSP parliamentarians except the Deputy Minister Athavuda Senivaratne of the LSSP, were not present in the house.

Deputy Defence Minister, Anurudda Ratwatte while speaking on the motion of extension of Emergency regulations last evening said that he accepts there were some set backs at Kilinochchi. But such set backs were normal in a war.

He denied also the allegations from a UNP parliamentarian that President Kumaratunge has seen the footage of the Kilinochchi battle released by the LTTE.

The Deputy Defence Minister further said that the UNP is asking the government why it cannot resume negotiations without putting forward any conditions. The Tigers want to divide the country and the UNP is supporting them. The Tigers are putting up posters as the JVP did in Colombo. But Jaffna will never be handed over to the Tigers. Tamil people are relying on the Government, he said.