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Sri Lanka inches towards military rule

Sri Lanka is said to be an ally of the West. What to make of the almost deafening silence from Western Governments in relation to the latest law just passed giving the President sweeping powers?

The BBC's reporter in Colombo reports:

"The office of the Sri Lankan president has just become significantly more powerful.

The constitutional amendments passed by MPs with a massive majority remove the limit on how many times the president can stand for election and boosts the powers of the head of state.

In the end, the already weakened main opposition party boycotted the debate and the vote. That gave the government a resounding victory in the chamber.

During the debate the defeated presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka - now a prisoner of the state but able to go to parliament as an elected MP - expressed the fear that the constitutional change might pave the way to a military coup."

Not to be forgotten in all of this is the shameful way in which Sri Lanka has treated its Tamil community - and continues to do so.

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