Chandrika declares Emergency

But a presidential adviser said Kumaratunga would not end the 20-month truce with the Tamil Tigers, who seek a separate homeland for minority Tamils, despite her disagreement with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe over the peace process.

‘‘I am authorised by the President to tell you that the ceasefire agreement stands and will stand. There is no question about that,’’ Lakshman Kadirgamar told reporters.

An LTTE spokesman in northern Sri Lanka said he had no comment on the President’s moves but denied rumours that the main North-South highway that runs through rebel-controlled territory had been closed.

The President, who is elected separately from Wickremesinghe, sacked the Defence, interior and media ministers on Tuesday and suspended Parliament, raising questions about the future of the government and the direction of the peace bid.

That shock move was followed on Wednesday by the imposition of a state of emergency, which widens the powers of the President and military and includes bans on public assembly.

‘‘It has been gazetted,’’ military spokesman Colonel Sumedha Perera told Reuters when asked about the state of emergency.

Meanwhile, Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe played down the crisis promising to ‘‘sort it out’’ when he returns home on Friday. ‘‘This is not the first crisis I have had. When I go back, I’ll sort it out,’’ he told reporters at the White House after meeting with US President George W Bush.

The developments come just days after the LTTE released a proposal on power-sharing that the government said were a basis for fresh talks.

Kumaratunga’s party sharply criticised the proposals, but Kadirgamar said it was the President’s belief that the security situation was deteriorating that led to her actions.

He said a suspected LTTE ship carrying weapons had been spotted offshore last month and ‘‘brought to a head concerns about how the security situation is being handled’’.

The political crisis pushed the Sri Lankan stock market down 13 per cent on Wednesday in its biggest-ever fall as mounting uncertainty over the peace process cast doubts on whether the current economic boom would last. The market has been among the world’s strongest this year.

Kumaratunga’s actions sparked concern worldwide. ‘‘We are concerned that these events could have a negative effect on the peace process and talks with the LTTE, and we stand firmly behind the government of Sri Lanka in its search for peace after 20 years of bloody conflict,’’ US State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said. The view was echoed around Asia. (Reuters)