Sri Lanka emergency

Press, 19 August 1981, Page 8

Sri Lanka emergency

NZPA-Reuter Colombo President Junius Jayewardene has declared a state of emergency in Sri Lanka in an effort to end sectarian violence in which at least seven people are reported to have, died in the past 10 days. The state of emergency, the second in two months, was proclaimed yesterday as the President invoked a public security act prescribing the death penalty for arson and looting. The tough emergency measures were enforced as disturbances continued unabated despite the presence of

troops in the capital and provincial towns. The Government . called out the troops last Wednesday and gave them powers to arrest, search and use force to quell the rioting. The island nation has been hit by violence between the majority Buddhist Sinhalese and minority Hindu Tamil communities. The latest violence has been confined mainly to scattered areas in the Sinhalesedominated south of the country, with the Tamils the main victims. Officials said the events of

the past 10 days were in retaliation for violence in June by Tamil extremists in the main Tamil region of Jaffna in the north.

President Jayewardene said Tamil extremists were not responsible for the latest violence, while a State Minister, Annandatissa de Alwis. has said there was evidence of a “foreign hand,” but he did not elaborate.

Moderate Tamils, some of whom say they have been treated as second-class citizens since independence in 1948, want a separate State in the north of the country.