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State of emergency to protect Rajapaksa regime: Rajith Keerthi Tennakoon 

17 May 2022

  • Claims property of corrupt, thuggish politicos protected under said law 
  • Fmr. Governor calls on Opposition to pressure Govt to revoke emergency law 
BY Dinitha Rathnayake  The current state of emergency has been imposed to protect the regime led by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, and not for the purposes of ensuring public safety, claimed Centre for Human Rights Executive Director Rajith Keerthi Tennakoon. Making a statement in this regard, the former Governor said that it is stated that the President can call in the Army for public security under Section 12(1) of the Public Security Ordinance. “Where circumstances endangering the public security in any area have arisen or are imminent and the President is of the opinion that the Police are inadequate to deal with such situation in that area, he may, by Order published in the Gazette, call out all or any of the members of all or any of the Armed Forces for the maintenance of public order in that area,” he said. Currently, the state of emergency has been imposed to protect the property of corrupt and thuggish politicians and the Rajapaksa family, claimed Tennakoon. “Surprisingly, neither the Government nor the Opposition care about the state of emergency. The Parties in the Parliament have forgotten the masses by writing love letters to each other for their power politics. The state of emergency is being used against gas and fuel shortages and the famine in this country,” he charged. “Both the Government and the Opposition must now fulfil their responsibilities in the Parliament. The role of the Opposition is to defeat the state of emergency in the Parliament. For that, all civil society organizations and citizens must work together to put pressure on the Government and the Opposition, which has forgotten its responsibilities.” The Government imposed a state of emergency on 6 May. According to Article 155(4)(ii) of the Constitution, the state of emergency must be presented to the Parliament within 10 days. Otherwise, the state of emergency will be automatically revoked within 14 days. President Rajapaksa had earlier declared a state of emergency on 1 April.  “That was to prevent the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna from splitting. It was removed on 5 April after it was determined that it could not be passed in Parliament.”  


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