Mar 14, Colombo: A day after the European Parliament adopted a resolution on the situation in Sri Lanka calling for an immediate ceasefire, Sri Lanka yesterday said that EP has no binding effect on the country.

Sri Lanka Foreign Secretary Dr. Palitha Kohona told local media that "the European Parliament does not have the power to even bind its member states."

Claiming that the resolution called for a ceasefire with the goal of letting civilians leave LTTE areas and had also condemned the LTTE for holding civilians as human shields, Dr. Kohona said "This is clear. The EU all along has been calling for the civilians to be released by the LTTE."

The EP, the only directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union, Thursday said it adopted a resolution on the situation in Sri Lanka calling for an immediate ceasefire by the Sri Lankan army and the Liberation Tamil Tigers of Eelam (LTTE) in order to allow the civilian population to leave the combat zone.