Three-judge committee to probe Kandy district violence

A three- member committee of retired judges to inquire into the incidents of Digana, Teldeniya and the outlying areas will be appointed after the return of President Maithripala Sirisena, Presidential Secretary Austin Fernando said.

He said the retired judges were yet to be selected. Mr Fernando said that during a briefing given to the diplomatic community regarding the situation they too were of the opinion that a probe should be carried out about the incident.

President Sirisena left for India yesterday and he will from there leave for Japan on an official visit.

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Meanwhile, for the first time since last Monday, a police curfew was not imposed for any part of the Kandy administrative district yesterday. A curfew imposed on Friday night was lifted at 5 a.m. yesterday. While a heavy security presence prevailed in the district, no major incidents had been reported, leading to the decision not to re-impose the curfew last night. Although the curfew in the Kandy district had been lifted, there will be no withdrawal of troops just yet, Military Spokesman Sumith Atapattu said. Troops deployed to maintain order under the State of Emergency would remain in Kandy to provide confidence to the people so that they could go about their day-to-day affairs without any fear of further violence, he said.

A decision on reducing troop numbers would be taken later after a security assessment, he added.

Kandy administrative district schools, which had remained closed since Tuesday, would be reopen tomorrow, Central Province Chief Minister Sarath Ekanayaka said.