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Sri Lankan President Lifts State of Emergency

by Reuters

   COLOMBO, SRI LANKA --

   Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena said Sunday he had lifted a
   nationwide state of emergency imposed March 6 after Buddhist-Muslim
   clashes.

   "Upon assessing the public safety situation, I instructed to revoke the
   State of Emergency from midnight yesterday," Sirisena said on his
   Twitter feed.

   He declared a state of emergency to rein in the spread of communal
   violence after Buddhists and Muslims clashed in the Indian Ocean
   island's central district of Kandy.

   Two people were killed and hundreds of Muslim-owned properties and more
   than 20 mosques were damaged, media reported.

   Tension has been growing between the two communities over the past
   year, with some hard-line Buddhist groups accusing Muslims of forcing
   people to convert to Islam and vandalizing Buddhist archaeological
   sites.

   Some Buddhist nationalists have also protested against the presence in
   Sri Lanka of Muslim Rohingya asylum-seekers from mostly Buddhist
   Myanmar, where Buddhist nationalism has also been on the rise.