Sri Lanka on Thursday announced the lifting of the state of emergency imposed nearly 30 years ago to confront the threat from the Tamil Tigers.
The announcement was made by President Mahinda Rajapaksa in Parliament saying, “I am satisfied that the state of emergency is no longer required. So, we will not extend it.”
In a special speech in Parliament, the president said he had continued with the emergency rule only for curbing terrorism.
He went onto say that emergency laws helped eliminate terrorism during June 2006 to May 2009.
Thereafter, the laws were used to restore civilian life and for rehabilitation and resettlement activities.
The president said that except for 8,000 people, all the 300,000 displaced have now returned to their home villages, adding that such an achievement was a victory by his government.
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