|
According to a top presidential source the Parliament of Sri Lanka has been suspended by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse for a month. The reason behind this suspension is unknown. As the Parliament has been suspended, all the bills and parliamentary committees which were presented, are now null and void. After the Parliament commences, these bills need to be presented again while the committees will have to reconstituted.
Many opposition parties like the United National Party (UNP), the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Permanua (JVP) and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) has expressed their strong protests against this move by the President. Colombo's district parliamentarian Ravi Karunanayake said that the Parliament was shelved to unleash and cover up the malpractices at the elections that are coming up. Meanwhile, when asked, the government officials refused to say anything in this matter.
One of the sources, on condition of being anonymous said that the President will be opening the new session on June 5 by making a special statement in the Parliament. Notifications in gazettes have been issued announcing the suspension of the Parliament. Opposition United National Party (UNP) Member of Parliament John Amaratunga said that this suspension is actually a way for the government to prevent the opposition from raising issues of malpractices in the eastern elections.
Meanwhile, the eastern provincial elections are scheduled to take place on Saturday. It will be the first time in 20 years that eastern province will be holding elections. The opposition, however, raised an issue about the presence of a military group that continues to carry on weapons in the three districts, namely, Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Amparai.
