Party leaders convened by speaker W J M Lokubandara agreed to hold the debate on Friday.

Proceedings of the house were continuously disrupted on Wednesday, Lankadeepa parliamentary correspondent, Dinith Karunaratne said.

Tamil National Alliance (TNA) members held an impromptu protest in the chamber carrying placards which said "no more killings".

The parliamentarians demanded an inquiry into the killing of Sivaram after being kidnapped from outside a Colombo restaurant late on Thursday evening.

This is the second time the parliament has consented to have a separate session to debate the assassination of a journalist.

The first was in 1990 when parliament called a special session to debate the appointment of a commission to probe the assassination of journalist, Richard de Soyza.