SL parliament extends Emergency for another month

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 August 2009, 16:01 GMT]
Sri Lanka parliament Thursday adopted a motion to extend the State of Emergency for another month by a majority of sixty four votes. Seventy one Parliamentarians of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA), Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) and Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) voted for the motion. Seven Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians voted against the motion.

Parliamentarians of the main opposition United National Party were not present in the House at that time of voting, parliamentary sources said.

Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake opened the debate on the motion seeking extension of the State of Emergency now in force since August 12, 2005. Since then the State of Emergency is being extended with the approval of parliament. He pledged to root out any remnants of militancy after the defeat of the LTTE.

“LTTE is trying to regroup under a new leader. Any plot to create law and order problems in the country will be dealt firmly,” Mr. Ratnasri Wickremanayake warned.

Mr. Wickremanayake said that "another person is trying to mobilize the LTTE cadres to regroup," and that it would be dealt firmly. He did not mention the name of new leader.

"We have vowed to eradicate the germs that may still be there from the decades of LTTE terrorism. There could still be some remnant germs of the militancy that had plagued the country for nearly three decades. We will finish these remaining germs", he said.

Mr. Wickremanayake said it was necessary to extend emergency in the country to meet with such challenges.