Colombo, Nov 07: Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga has withdrawn the state of emergency she declared on Tuesday, a senior government official told mediapersons today. Government Chief Printer Neville Nanayakkara said the President had ordered him not to release the gazetted notification imposing the emergency. "There is no state of emergency," Nanayakkara said. Kumaratunga on Wednesday declared a state of emergency, a measure which had not been in force since October 2001, just before the government reached a cease-fire with tamil tiger rebels. Her office said the emergency, which would give security forces sweeping powers to detain suspects, was declared for "administrative and logistical reasons." The move came a day after Kumaratunga sacked three key ministers in the government of her rival, Wickremesinghe, and suspended parliament for two weeks.

The emergency was due to go into effect yesterday and troops had stepped up their presence, setting up checkpoints on major Colombo streets and checking the identity papers of pedestrians and motorists. But police officials had said they were waiting for the gazette to be published to learn the regulations of the new emergency. Sri Lanka had been ruled under an emergency during the height of the 30-year Tamil separatist conflict, which has claimed more than 60,000 lives.
Bureau Report