COLOMBO, Aug. 18 (Xinhuanet) -- Sri Lanka's Parliament Thursday approved a state of emergency announced by President Chandrika Kumaratunga in the immediate aftermath of the slaying of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar last Friday.

    President Chandrika Kumaratunga last Saturday declared a state of emergency aimed at giving wide powers to the security forces to arrest and detain suspects involved in the murder of the foreign minister, a bitter rival of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

    Sri Lankan law requires the emergency to be approved in the assembly within 10 days of the presidential proclamation.

    Thursday's session was a special session of parliament convened by President Kumaratunga to approve the state of emergency.

    Parliamentary officials said the motion was approved with 124 voting for and 21 voting against.

    The only party to vote against was the Tamil Tiger proxy Tamil National Alliance (TNA).

    The LTTE has denied any involvement in the killing which the government has dismissed.

    The defense officials said this was the first time the state of emergency was declared in the country for well over three years.

    The main opposition United National Party (UNP) and other opposition parties voted with the government.

    But the UNP said their support was conditional that emergency regulations are used only to facilitate the investigations into Kadirgamar's killing and not to harass or curb opposition activities.

    The TNA parliamentarians argued that successive Sinhala majority governments had used emergency powers to deny Tamil minority its due rights and privileges. Enditem