JO to reconsider vote for Emergency extension in August

• JO to have discussion on Emergency at next group leaders’ meeting  
• Claims Govt. misusing Emergency Regulations to restrict trade union actions

The Joint Opposition (JO) yesterday said they will reconsider voting to extend Emergency Regulations during the next JO group leaders meeting next week. 

Speaking to media at the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) head office, Parliamentarian Kanchana Wijesekera claimed the Government had been misusing Emergency Regulations to restrict trade union action and public protests.

He noted the JO had only supported to extend Emergency Regulation to bring the country back to normalcy, but if the Government continues to misuse the regulations they would have to reconsider how they vote in Parliament when the State of Emergency is next up for extension in August.  

“The Emergency Regulations exist to eliminate threats to national security, but the Government is using these regulations to control public protests and restrict the public from standing up for their rights. We have seen how the Government controlled recent protests of university students and unemployed graduates,” Wijesekera said.

He noted the participation of the Government MPs for debates on extending emergency regulation was low, which according to him was a sign that the Government had given lack of prominence for the matters on national security.

Wijesekera argued the Government’s decision to increase the level of security for the Kandy Esala Perahera had shown the country’s security situation has not returned to normalcy.

“If the situation of the country has improved, why would the Government deploy thousands of security officials for Esala Perahera? We are happy to see more security officials in public palace but that shows the situation has not improved.” He said certain members of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) had earlier requested to deploy more security forces to the North following the Easter Sunday attacks, but they had not been supportive of Emergency Regulations.

“The TNA did not support to extend Emergency Regulations but soon after the Easter Sunday attacks they requested to increase the security in the North. But without Emergency Regulations, the military personnel cannot be deployed. Therefore everyone should keep their politics aside and work together to bring the country back to normal,” he said.