Sri Lanka lifts emergency laws after three decades

Sri Lankas president announced Thursday that draconian emergency laws imposed nearly 30 years ago to deal with the armed Tamil separatist movement were to be lifted.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.Rajapakses announcement means the regulations will lapse at the end of August.Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe welcomed the decision, but said the government could have ended emergency rule sooner after its final military victory over the Tamil Tiger rebels in May 2009.The rebels had spent four decades fighting for an independent homeland for the islands ethnic Tamil minority.Since 1983, the emergency laws have only been lifted on a few, brief occasions when the government held abortive peace talks with rebels.They had also been used by the authorities to censor and crack down on anti-government elements, including opposition activists.Thousands of suspects are still held under the emergency rules, and it was not immediately clear if they would be freed following Rajapakses announcement.