Sri Lanka's Parliament reconvened for a special session on Thursday to approve the renewal of state of emergency which gives wide powers to security forces battling separatist minority rebels. Deputy Defence Minister Anuruddha Ratwatte opened the session saying that the emergency was necessary to combat the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who are fighting for a separate Tamil state in the country's north and east. “The LTTE terrorists continue to attack police posts and army camps in the north and the east. They have not abandoned killing of innocent civilians,'' ratwatte said. The emergency regulations, which have been in force almost continually since 1983, give police and the military wide powers of arrest and detention and are mainly used against the LTTE.
President Chandrika Kumaratunga extended the emergency by proclamation earlier this month and summoned Parliament to approve it as required by the Constitution. Bureau Report