S.Lankan President's Call for Troop Deployment During Local Elections Rejected

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, March 19, 2002

S.Lankan President's Call for Troop Deployment During Local Elections Rejected

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The Sri Lankan government has rejected the request of President Chandrika Kumaratunga to deploy armed forces to maintain law and order on Wednesday when local government elections are due, The Island newspaper said on Tuesday.

Kumaratunga has denounced as unfortunate and disappointing the government's denial of her request.

In a letter to Interior Minister John Amaratunga, Kumaratunga said that she had no faith in the police's capability to maintain law and order and act independently and impartially on election day.

She said that her People's Alliance and she herself did not believe that the police will be allowed to act independently by government ministers during the election.

According to the president's office, Amaratunga had told the inspector general of police that it would not be necessary at this time to call out the armed force.

Although Kumaratunga is the commander of the armed forces, she has no authority to order the forces to come out on election duty. A recent amendment to the constitution says that the inspector general of police must request the elections commissioner to deploy the armed forces on that particular day.

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