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The mystery of the still born emergency
The legal sacking of the three cabinet ministers in charge of Defence, Interior and Mass Communication came into force only on Friday -- four days after they received letters from President Chandrika Kumaratunga relieving them of their porfoilios, as misinformation and confusion about the issue of Gazettes marked the first days since the President triggered a constitutional crisis with the move.

Confusion whether President Kumaratunga had in fact declared a state of emergency following the sacking of these ministers continued till Friday when it was announced that no state of emergency was declared but only provisions of the Public Security Act were brought into force giving the President power to declare a curfew and the armed forces powers enjoyed by the police.

However, The Sunday Times learns that even this gazette notification No. 1313/15 dated 6 November was not issued following the sacking of the ministers, but is a gazette issued periodically and has been issued for the past several months in order to keep the armed forces in a state of 'Active Service' without actually having them deployed.

The Declaration of a State of Emergency scare spread like wildfire throughout the country and through international news agencies to most parts of the world. These news agencies showed video-footage of troops outside state media institutions and said that Sri Lanka was once again under Emergency rule.

The President's Office was partly to blame for this confusion. It issued a news release through the Foreign Office to heads of Sri Lankan missions overseas stating that the State of Emergency has been "rescinded" because the President had not signed the proclamation to legalise it.

The dictionary meaning of "rescind" is that a law or contract is no longer valid indicating that a state of emergency had been declared and was now withdrawn.
Legal sources, however, told The SundayTimes that the proclamation (signature of the President) is the first step in the process of the publication of the gazette. It is not usual for the gazette to be printed before such a proclamation.

Government Printer Neville Nanayakkara told The Sunday Times the gazette declaring a state of emergency had indeed been printed and after it was printed, a proof had been called for by the new Defence Ministry secretary. The Government Printer never got the proof back. He was only told not to proceed with the numbering of the gazette and not to issue it.

The newly appointed Defence Secretary, Cyril Herath, said certain drafts of the emergency regulations were sent to the Government Printer ready to print at any given moment. "This was a necessary step as the Emergency Regulations span up to 40 pages and the proof reading and other requirements could not be done in a short time if the necessity arose suddenly," he said.

The President's Office then added to the already existing confusion by informing the foreign missions through the Foreign Office that the state of emergency would only last a "few days".

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