Sri Lanka extends emergency in surprise move
A state of emergency was
extended by Sri Lanka’s President Saturday, going back on pledges to relax the
tough laws introduced after the Easter Sunday attacks that killed 258 people.
Maithripala Sirisena said in a decree he believed there was a
“public emergency” in the country, and was invoking provisions of the public
security act extending the state of emergency.
The tough laws, granting sweeping powers to police and
security forces to arrest and detain suspects, were due to expire on Saturday.
Just over 100 people, including 10 women, are in custody in
connection with April’s Easter Sunday suicide attacks against three churches
and three luxury hotels in Colombo.
In late May, Sirisena told diplomats — from Australia,
Canada, Japan, the US and European states — the security situation was “99
percent back to normal” and he would allow the emergency laws to lapse by June
22.
He assured diplomats security forces had either detained or
killed all those directly involved in the attacks, blamed on a local jihadi
group and claimed by the ISIS group.
There was no immediate word from the government why Sirisena
changed his mind, but security remains tight in the capital.
The emergency can be declared for a month at a time, and
parliament must ratify it within 10 days.
The continuation of the emergency came as police announced
criminal investigations against several top officers, including the
Inspector-General, for negligence and lapses ahead of the bombings.
Sirisena himself has been criticized for failing to act on
precise Indian intelligence that jihadists were about to hit Christian churches
and other targets in Sri Lanka.
A parliamentary public inquiry has been told Sirisena — who
is also the minister of defense and law and order — failed to follow proper
national security protocols.
The mainly Buddhist nation of 21 million people was about to
mark a decade since ending a 37-year-long Tamil separatist war when the Islamic
extremists struck.