Sri Lanka's president announced Thursday that he was scrapping draconian emergency laws imposed nearly 30 years ago to deal with the armed Tamil separatist movement. "I am satisfied that there is no need to have the state of emergency any more," President Mahinda Rajapakse said in a speech to parliament.
The laws, which give security forces sweeping powers of arrest and detention, have been renewed on a monthly basis - with only brief breaks - ever since they were first imposed 28 years ago. The move comes as Sri Lanka faces growing pressure over its human rights record, particularly with reference to the Tamil conflict.
Rajapakse's announcement means the regulations will lapse at the end of August, but similarly tough powers remain available to authorities under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe welcomed the decision, but said it had come too long after the final military victory over the Tamil Tiger rebels in May 2009.
"For the past one year, we have been asking the government to end the state of emergency," he said. The government decision comes ahead of next month's United Nations Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva which is expected to discuss Sri Lanka's performance on human rights.
The United States has been leading international calls for a war crimes investigation into the island's crushing of the rebels. Sri Lanka has so far managed to stave off censure from UN bodies thanks to the support of strong allies China and Russia. But Asian neighbours, including India, have been nudging Colombo in recent months to remove restrictions on civil liberties in a bid to deflect Western criticism.