Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga will oppose...

Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga will oppose moves by the government to re-implement the death penalty in the island, The Sunday Times reported.
Presidential Spokesman Harim Peiris said that Kumaratunga believes the constitution of the country guarantees the right to life and thus the state has no right to execute anyone.
He added that many developed countries have scrapped the death penalty and President Kumaratunga felt it should also be scrapped in Sri Lanka.
The Prisons Department has already called for tenders to provide the required ropes to carry out the death penalty and an Indonesian company has offered to supply three ropes for prices as high as 100,000 rupees (1,040 US dollars) each.
The government of Kumaratunga's political rival, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, is currently preparing to reactivate the death penalty to curb the increasing rate of crime in the small Indian Ocean island that has a total population of some 19 million.