Emergency extended in Sri Lanka for another month

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 October 2009, 17:54 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s parliament Thursday adopted a motion to extend the State of Emergency by another month with a majority of seventy votes. Eighty-two parliamentarians from the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and the National Freedom Front (NFF), the rebel group of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) voted in favor of the motion. Twelve Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians who were present at that time voted against the motion. The main opposition United National Party (UNP) abstained from voting. Parliamentarians of the JVP were not present in the House at that time of voting. The State of Emergency is being extended by the parliament monthly since August, 2005.

Prime Minister Mr.Ratnasri Wickremanayake tabled the motion seeking the approval for the extension of state of emergency by another month.

He opened the debate stating that the threat from the LTTE and other terrorists is still not over in the country.

“There are still shadows of terrorism waiting to encompass our society. It is our duty to find out what they are. It is vital to seize all the weapons which have been hidden by the LTTE to prevent this type of destructive force to reorganize. There are LTTE suicide cadres lurking in the suburbs waiting for an opportunity and that there were instances when the security forces uncovered weapons hidden in Colombo in the recent past. LTTE should not be given a chance to succeed again,” the Prime Minister said.