Sri Lanka parliament extends term of committee on ethnic issue for six more months

Sri Lanka's parliament has through a motion given its approval to extend the term of a Parliament Select Committee (PSC) that is formulating a political solution for the country's ethnic issue by a further six months.

The committee's term was earlier set to conclude on December 21, 2014, and has now been extended to May 12, 2015.

The PSC will continue with its meetings to recommend and report on political and constitutional measures to address the country's national problem as the work could not be completed in the given time as per Standing Order No.96, reports the Colombo Page web site.

The committee was set up in November 2011 and is headed by Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva. It has19 government members and is expected to comprise of 12 opposition members.

So far, the opposition parties UNP, TNA, JVP and ruling party ally JHU have boycotted proceedings of the committee.