A Gazette Extraordinary calling upon the Armed Forces to maintain public order across the country was issued on Saturday (21) by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. The order was in effect from yesterday (22).
The said Gazette Notification No.2154/54 said “By Virtue of the powers vested in me by Section 12 of the Public Security Ordinance (Chapter 40), I, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, President, do by this order call out with effect from December 22, 2019, all the members of the Armed Forces specified in the First Schedule hereto, for the maintenance of public order in the areas specified in the Second Schedule hereto.”
Accordingly,the Sri Lanka Army, Navy and the Air Force have been called out for the maintenance of public order in the areas including the administrative districts of Colombo, Gampaha, Kalutara, Galle, Matara, Hambantota, Jaffna, Mannar, Mullaitivu, Batticaloa, Ampara, Trincomalee, Puttalam and the territorial water adjacent to such Districts and the administrative districts of Kandy, Matale, Nuwara Eliya, Kilinochchi, Vavuniya, Kurunegala, Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Badulla, Monaragala, Ratnapura and Kegalle.