Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels on Sunday demanded an end to the emergency rule imposed earlier this month after the country's foreign minister was assassinated, saying the move has put the island's cease-fire at "grave risk, AP reported. "A state of emergency and a cease-fire agreement are two situations that cannot prevail concurrently," the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam said in a commentary posted on its official Web site. "Proclamation of emergency therefore, has placed the CFA (cease-fire agreement) in grave risk," the rebels said. The government and the rebels signed the Norwegian-brokered truce in 2002 that stopped Sri Lanka's 19 years of civil war. The state of emergency was imposed by President Chandrika Kumaratunga shortly after the Aug. 12 assassination of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar. Government leaders accused the Tigers of carrying out the assassination, but the rebels deny it. --more 1512 Local Time 1212 GMT
