Sri Lanka imposes laws to hold terror suspects

An official says Sri Lanka will continue to detain terror suspects and the defeated Tamil Tiger group will remain banned despite wartime state of emergency laws being lifted. The laws that have curbed civil and political liberties for most of the past 30 years lapsed on Tuesday. But Attorney General Mohan Peiris said Thursday that President Mahinda Rajapaksa has approved four regulations under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. He says these will allow the government to continue to hold people who have been arrested for alleged terror acts. He did not say how long they will be detained for. Tamil lawmakers say there are about 900 such detainees. The government defeated the separatist Tamil Tiger rebels more than two years ago.