President removes state of emergency as situation back to normal

President Maithripala Sirisena removed the state of emergency today as the situation in the country had returned to normal.

The President, who returned to Sri Lanka on Saturday night from a visit to Japan, said that he had revoked the state of emergency from today.

“Returned from a very successful tour of Japan, that brings many short and long terms benefits to us. Upon assessing the public safety situation, I instructed to revoke the State of Emergency,” the President tweeted.

The state of emergency was declared on March 6 after violent clashes broke out in Kandy. The violence saw Muslim owned property being attacked by Sinhalese mobs,

Under the state of emergency the Police and Armed Forces had been empowered to deal with criminal elements in society and urgently restore normalcy.

After declaring the state of emergency the President had instructed the Police to impartially, comprehensively and promptly deal with those engaged in criminal activities and those causing or attempting to cause ethnic and religious tensions, irrespective of their ethnic or religious identities and political affiliations. (Colombo Gazette)