Sri Lanka declares state of emergency

International Desk: Sri Lanka on Tuesday declared a state of emergency for 10 days to rein in the spread of communal violence between majority Sinhala and minority Muslims in the country's scenic Kandy district that left two persons dead and damaged several mosques and homes.

Violence, triggered by the death of a Sinhalese man at the hands of a mob last week, erupted yesterday in the Theldeniya area of the central hill district popular with tourists. The government sent troops and elite police commandoes to Kandy to restore order and enforce the curfew.

President Maithripala Sirisena and the Cabinet decided to declare a state of emergency for 10 days following the violence prevailed in some parts of the country, Minister of Social Empowerment S B Dissanayake told reporters after a Cabinet meeting.

A Gazette notification would be issued right away after the President signs the proclamation, giving effect to the state of emergency, he said.

Muslims claimed that around 10 mosques, 75 shops and 32 houses belonging to the minority community were badly damaged in the attacks by the Sinhalese Buddhists, forcing police to fire tear gas shells and impose an overnight curfew to prevent clashes between the two communities.

The situation, however, remained tense in part of Kandy, home to famous tea plantations and Buddhist relics, after burnt body a Muslim man was recovered today from the remains of a burnt building.

Fresh curfew was imposed today and heavily-armed police commandos of special task force were deployed in Theldeniya and Pallekele areas of Kandy after rioters disobeyed an overnight curfew and went on a rampage.

This will be the first time since August 2011, that a state of emergency will be in force in the Indian Ocean's island nation.

The state of emergency allows the deployment troops on the street, search and arrest people without a warrant.

Sri Lanka has a long history of state of emergency during the LTTE rebellion both in the south and the Tamil minority dominated north and east of the island.

 

Source: Agencies

 

risingbd/Dhaka/March 06, 2018/A K Azad