Sri Lanka has to spend large sums of foreign exchange to import tear gas canisters if protest demonstrations continue in the country for a further period , said an economic analyst, adding that the price of a tear gas canister will be in the region of US$ 26.

The spending of hundreds of dollars to import gas canisters at the time of a severe dollar shortage in the country where its usable foreign rerved had slipped to $ 50 million to attack protesters was unbearable for the country.

Sri Lanka’s 22-million population has been facing acute shortages of food, fuel and medicines for months, bringing tens of thousands onto the streets to demand the resignation of Rajapaksa and other members of his powerful ruling family.

Sri Lankan politician Rehan Jayawickreme has claimed that chemical gas canisters used on Tamils during the armed conflict are now being used on anti-government protesters in Colombo.

In a series of tweets, Jayawickreme wrote that a “reliable source” had informed him that “the government is using chemical gas canisters” on protesters who have been demonstrating against the Rajapaksa regime for several weeks for their role in causing the economic crisis the island is currently facing.

Jayawickreme continued that “the particular canister that the regime is using not only causes damage to the eyes but also causes convulsion and palpitations.”

Police had fired CS gas on protesters, including university students, at Parliament Road last week for the second time to disperse protesters.

Last month Sri lanka police used minimum force of baton charging , throwing tear gas canisters and then shooting at civilians killing a protester recently.

Images surfacing on social media showed that N 500 – CS Gas Hand Grenade type tear gas had been thrown into the crowd at protesters who participated in protest near the parliamentary complex.

Children and journalists were among those affected by the tear gas fired or thrown during the protests at Parliament Road.

Manufacturers of CS tear gas say when the grenade is thrown after being removed of its safety pin it emits CS gas while twisting. Emission time is about 30 seconds. It consists of lever-type fuse, plastic shell and CS combustion, and it emits much great volume of CS gas than older versions.

CS gas (2-chlorobenzylidene malononitrile) is one of the most commonly used tear gases in the world.

Law enforcement agencies have found this agent invaluable when faced with combative suspects, for riot control, and for alleviating hostage and siege situations.

They use it to help control individuals or groups without the need for lethal force. The chemical was used for crowd control as early as the 1950s, but not until the mid-1960s did it come into common use in several countries.

In Britain there had been persistent concerns about the use of CS gas in the media, numerous complaints to the Police Complaints Authority, and an editorial in the Lancet that called for a moratorium on the use of CS tear gas.

Several foreign missions based in Colombo including the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and New Zealand have expressed their concerns on President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s decision to declare a State of Emergency in the country.

The European Union (EU) delegation in Sri Lanka said that State of emergency will certainly not help in solving the country’s difficulties and could have a counter productive effect.

“A month of peaceful demonstrations has shown how Sri Lankan citizens fully enjoy their right to freedom of expression in the oldest democracy in South Asia,” the EU tweeted.

UK High Commissioner Sarah Hulton in a Twitter message stated that, “A democratic and peaceful approach is essential to resolving the current challenges. Rights to peaceful protest and freedom of expression must be respected alongside all fundamental rights. Emergency laws restricting those rights work against democratic dialogue & solutions”.

Canadian High Commissioner David Mckinnon also expressing his concern tweeted that, “Over the past weeks, the demonstrations across Sri Lanka have overwhelmingly involved citizens enjoying their right to peaceful freedom of expression, and are a credit to the country’s democracy. It’s hard to understand why it is necessary, then, to declare a state of emergency.” 

New Zealand High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Michael Appleton also expressed concerns about the state of emergency, without a ‘clear rationale’ provided.

“Sri Lankans, whose recent protests have been overwhelmingly peaceful, deserve to have their voices heard. We encourage all to focus on solving Sri Lanka’s political & economic challenges.” he tweeted.

The State of Emergency was declared by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa with effect from midnight yesterday in Sri Lanka. The President’s office said that the President has taken this decision “due to the public emergency situation in Sri Lanka and in the interests of public security, the protection of public order and the maintenance of supplies and services essential to the life of the community.”

At the Lycee Mariam market in Kabul, known for its long row of stalls selling women’s clothing, news of the Taliban’s latest decree that women must wear a face veil had not yet filtered down by the afternoon. 

Some of those browsing the shops wore the all-encompassing blue burka that the Taliban enforced during their first stint in power in the 1990s. Others, however, had scarves covering their hair, but their faces uncovered. 

“Even when you go on pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia you don’t have to cover your face,” one pointed out. 

“Humans are born free, no-one has the right to talk about women’s clothes,” said Fatima, a fashionably dressed university student with sunglasses perched on her head. 

Afghanistan is a deeply conservative country, and many women do wear the burka, but in bigger cities it’s also common to see women wearing the simple headscarf. 

After taking power last August, the Taliban had held off issuing new laws on what women should wear – until Saturday.

At a press conference, the Ministry for the Prevention of Vice and Promotion of Virtue announced that all women would have to cover their face in public, and laid out an escalating set of punishments for anyone refusing to comply.

The punishment starts with a woman’s male guardian (normally father, brother or husband) being visited at home by Taliban officials. Then, if a woman’s appearance was still not deemed acceptable, her male relative would be summoned to see ministry officials, and after that he could even potentially be jailed for three days or sent to court. 

Akif Muhajir, spokesman for the ministry, told the BBC the order was based on the Quran and the life of the Prophet Muhammad. 

Other Muslims dispute the interpretation, but Akif Muhajir described the face covering as a “compulsory” part of the religion. Only 1% of Afghan women, he insisted, were not already complying with the group’s understanding of how they should dress. “This is not only the order of the Islamic Emirate,” he added, “but the order of Allah.” 

Most Muslims around the world do not consider covering the face to be a mandatory part of the religion, and, after seizing control of the country, the Taliban initially appeared to be adopting a more flexible attitude to governance. 

In recent weeks, however, they have been introducing more hardline measures, many of them governing women’s everyday lives – for example, assigning separate days for them to visit public parks to men, and barring them from undertaking longer distance journeys without a male guardian. 

Teenage girls have still not been allowed back to school in most of the country, and whilst women are working in some sectors such as healthcare and education, many others have been told not to return to their offices. 

Western diplomats have indicated that resuming development funding for the country – currently struggling with a dire economic crisis – is contingent on the Taliban’s treatment of women. 

When announcing this latest decree at the press conference, however, one cleric said the Taliban could never be pressured by the West into compromising on their beliefs.

Former President and Leader of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party Maithripala Sirisena says that the discussions held with the Bar Association of Sri Lanka regarding resolving the current political crisis were very successful.

The discussions focused on how to make the necessary amendments to the Constitution in relation to the current political situation in the country and the solutions to the economic crisis. Other institutions including the Bar Association and the Sri Lanka Chamber of Commerce are involved. Our discussion was very successful.

The hope is that we will continue to work together with all political parties and seek the views of organizations such as the Bar Association to resolve these issues. ”

Q. Have you talked about an all-party government now?

“Yes, we have suggested it.”

Q. What do you do when voting on a state of emergency?

“Sri Lanka Freedom Party opposes the imposition of the state of emergency. When a vote comes in Parliament, we vote completely against it. ”

Maithripala Sirisena was speaking to the media after a discussion with representatives of 11 independent parties, including the SLFP, in Parliament this morning (08) with several parties, including the Bar Association of Sri Lanka.