President proposes to lift Emergency
Democracy secured by
holding elections:
* Govt maintaining law and order
* No terrorist activity reported
Sandasen MARASINGHE and Irangika RANGE
President Mahinda Rajapaksa proposed to Parliament yesterday that the
state of Emergency needs to be repealed.
Making a special statement he said: “I am satisfied with the fact
that there is no need of an Emergency law for the administrative
activities of the country now. The country can function democratically
under the ordinary law”.
President Rajapaksa added: “I inform Parliament that we will not
extend the Emergency any more”.
The President also told Parliament that there have been no terrorist
activities since the end of the conflict in May 2009.
“The fact has been accepted by the international community as well,”
he added. “During this period through the conduct of several elections,
the country moved further towards democracy. The society has accepted
that these were peaceful and fair elections,” he said.
“Accordingly, in the recent past we have been removing various
clauses of the Emergency regulations and steadily bringing society to
normal administration,” he added. President Rajapaksa recalled that the
government introduced internationally recognized laws and regulations to
avoid monetary activities, exchange of goods, drug trafficking, banking
and financial risks carried out by terrorists engaged in further
nurturing terrorism.
“In addition to strengthening national security, we have worked
towards pre-empting opportunities for terrorism to emerge through these
laws and regulations,” he added.
On the success of these achievements, the President noted: “We are
proud to mention that our government has succeeded in protecting the law
and order and peace through rules and regulations approved by Parliament
based on the constitution. Therefore, it is our responsibility to
protect the democratic freedom achieved after many years.”
President Rajapaksa also emphasized the importance of having a very
strong connection between the Executive and the legislature.
“In establishing a very strong connection between the Executive and
Legislature, we have done a great task on behalf of the country after it
was freed from terrorism. It is my belief that through the close
connection between the Executive and the Legislature, it would be
possible to strengthen democracy, establish sustainable good governance,
strengthen the economy and further confirm the belief of the people in
the process of Parliamentary democracy,” he added.
Recalling the incidents that led to the enforcement of emergency
laws, the President said that the brutal terrorism launched by the LTTE
coincident with the destruction of places of worship, livelihoods of the
people and property in the Black July of 1983 created an unfortunate
environment where the country had to be governed by Emergency
Regulations.
Terrorism and insurrection in the South in 1988/89 and the systemic
increase of the assassination of politicians led to justifying the
continuation of Emergency Regulations, President Rajapaksa said.
The State of Emergency was removed with the signing of the Ceasefire
Agreement in 2002 with international cooperation seeking to open the way
to peace. However, Emergency Regulations had to be brought back with the
LTTE violating this ceasefire agreement on several occasions and
demonstrated the height of its terror with the assassination of Foreign
Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, he added.
The President said that since assuming office, the present
government’s efforts to achieve a peacefully negotiated solution had
failed due to continuing terrorist atrocities.
He said that the brutal killing of people by the LTTE at
Kebithigollawa and the later closure of the Mavil Aru anicut led to the
launch of a humanitarian operation.
He noted that the Emergency Regulations became necessary and useful
for providing relief to a large number of innocent people who had been
taken hostage by the forces of terror and were released with the
liberation of the entire North and East from terror, as well as for
carrying out urgent measures for their resettlement.
The President also told Parliament that the government did not use
emergency regulations arbitrarily.
He said that even before 2005, there were several occasions when
there were censorship of the press under Emergency Regulations.
“However, although we were compelled to carry out a massive battle
against the most ruthless terrorist organization in the world, at no
time in the term of our government has there been a control or
censorship of the press under Emergency Regulations,” he added.
”Although some sections of the media caused grave obstacle to the
humanitarian operation up to this time, we have not carried out any
media censorship,” he said.
The President said that this was a very good means of showing the
world that the government was engaged in a genuine humanitarian
operation.
However he said: “It is with considerable regret that I state that
this media freedom is been betrayed today to discredit the humanitarian
operation that we carried out”.
The President observed that the humanitarian operation carried out
between June 2006 and May 2009 enabled to eradicate terrorism from the
country.
Since then the government has been engaged in the gigantic task of
developing the affected areas and the people with much success, he added
presenting relevant details to Parliament.
The President also told Parliament that within a short span of time,
the government had also been able to resurrect political institutions
and establish civil administration in the affected areas. ”We expect a
very high level of development in this area within the next two years,”
he noted.
The President noted that that the government had been able to achieve
a broad level of progress in economic development during this period
with the speed of economic growth rising to eight percent in 2010. “It
is nurtured by all ethnicities, all religions as well as those who hold
liberals and progressives views,” he added. “We have for the first time
an opportunity to find solutions for problems in our country within a
democratic framework and without any influence from terrorists.
Therefore, on behalf of the people of this country, I request Parliament
to grant this opportunity to them through Parliament,” he added while
proposing to do away with emergency regulations.
US welcomes end of Emergency regulations
The United States welcomes President
Rajapaksa’s announcement in Parliament that the Emergency regulations
will lapse at the end of August. This is a significant step towards
normalizing life for the people of Sri Lanka and reflects more than two
years without terrorist activity after the defeat of the LTTE, a US
embassy release said. |