Thursday, January 19 2006 16:42 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Colombo: Sri Lankan parliament today (Jan 19, 2006) extended further by a month the state of emergency declared five months ago after the assassination of then Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, amid protests by Tamil legislators and a lull in violence in the restive regions.

The 225-member assembly was in session for just five minutes and approved the tough laws without going in for a debate or vote by division, officials said, adding the emergency, imposed shortly after the August 12 killing of Kadirgamar by a suspected Tiger sniper, gives sweeping powers to security forces.

Sri Lanka has renewed the emergency every month since the assassination. The LTTE rebels, who denied that they killed Kadirgamar, had asked the government to lift the state of emergency, saying it was adding pressure to an already tenuous ceasefire which peace broker Norway arranged and put in place in February, 2002.

Government spokesman Nimal Siripala de Silva accused the Tamil legislators of trying to disrupt the assembly and not using the opportunity to debate the issue and discuss alleged human rights violations.

Legislators from the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) kept up a protest for a third straight day, denouncing alleged military excesses in the northern and eastern regions where some 136 people have been killed in the past six weeks.

"The military action in civilian areas is excessive," TNA leader R Sampanthan told reporters here. "We are also not satisfied with the investigation into the killing of our MP Joseph Pararajasingham on Christmas day".

De Silva, who is also Health Minister, said the TNA should have made use of parliament to express their protest as well as highlight alleged abuses by the security forces so that the authorities could take action.

Also, De Silva said he was hopeful that Norwegian envoy Erik Solheim, who is expected here next week, will be able to end the deadlock in peace talks.

"We are very positive about the visit," he said, adding that the government will do everything within its power to ensure that peace talks resume as soon as possible.

He said the government also expected the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to be 'reasonable' and cooperate with efforts to jump start the peace process which remains on hold since April 2003. Military officials, meanwhile, reported a lull in violence in the island's embattled areas in the past two days with only a few grenade-throwing incidents taking place in the past 24 hours. A woman constable and three civilians were wounded in one attack in the east of the island, defence officials said.

Troops have already stepped up security in the north-eastern port district of Trincomalee after Norwegian-led truce monitors on Tuesday suspended their work saying it was too violent there.

However, the government said it expected the monitors to resume work soon.