{"id":49206,"date":"2016-10-27T01:13:24","date_gmt":"2016-10-27T05:13:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=49206"},"modified":"2016-10-27T01:13:24","modified_gmt":"2016-10-27T05:13:24","slug":"sri-lankas-new-counter-terrorism-law-may-be-worse-than-the-prevention-of-terrorism-act-it-seeks-to-replace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=49206","title":{"rendered":"Sri Lanka’s New Counter-Terrorism Law May be Worse than the Prevention of Terrorism Act It Seeks to Replace"},"content":{"rendered":"

By<\/p>\n

Meera Srinivasan<\/strong><\/p>\n

Even as Sri Lanka drafts a new law to counter terrorism, human rights activists and lawyers here fear it might be worse than the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) they want repealed and replaced.<\/p>\n

One of the key demands around regime change in Sri Lanka in January 2015 \u2014 when former President Mahinda Rajapaksa was unseated \u2014was to repeal the PTA. \u201cAfter the new government came to power, all of us expected a shift, but now people are disappointed,\u201d says senior human rights lawyer K.S. Ratnavale. The government, he observes, was not willing to dismantle the security apparatus. \u201cThey seem unwilling to release political prisoners as well. They are about 160 now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The PTA was enacted in 1979, under President J.R. Jayawardene, primarily to crush the emerging armed struggle of Tamil youth protesting the state\u2019s apparently discriminatory policies. Modelled on South Africa\u2019s apartheid-era legislation and laws that the British used against Irish militancy, the PTA became a permanent law in 1982.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Call for repeal<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ever since Sri Lankan armed forces defeated the rebel Tigers in May 2009, bringing a nearly-three decade-long war to an end, civil society groups have been campaigning for repealing the PTA. \u201cThe government has eliminated the LTTE. Why do we still need the PTA?\u201d asks Mr. Ratnavale, who has appeared for many arrested under the Act.<\/p>\n

It was this question and mounting international criticism that pushed the government to consider a new law to replace the PTA with, but the draft of the proposed legislation has only reinforced old fears.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe preamble itself is worrying,\u201d says Mr. Ratnavale, pointing to a provision that calls for protection of other countries and areas from the \u201cscourge of terrorism\u201d. \u201cThis goes far beyond the legal framework. It means that it is left to political institutions to eradicate the scourge of terrorism.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\u2018Extremely troubling\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

An aspect of particular concern, according to lawyers, is with regard to confessions and the right to counsel. Lawyer and columnist Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena says it is extremely troubling that according to the draft policy framework, confessions made to police officers were admissible in the court of law. \u201cThis, despite overwhelming evidence that similar latitude under the PTA encouraged the brutal torture of detainees in the north and south, across all ethnicities,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n

According to human rights activist Ruki Fernando, the draft policy and legal framework of the counter-terror law, much like the PTA, have broad definitions that may infringe on free expression and human rights activism. \u201cLike the PTA, it [the new law] can serve as a licence for enforced disappearances and torture, taking away life-saving protections when it is most needed \u2014 within the first few hours and days of a person being arrested,\u201d says Mr. Fernando, who was in March 2014 arrested under the PTA and released on bail after two days of interrogation.<\/p>\n

Commenting on a section regarding \u201cnew offences\u201d, Ms. Jayawardena says \u201ccausing serious harm to the economy and environment\u201d is also swept up within the ambit of what constitutes a terrorist act. \u201cTaken in conjunction with the prohibition on \u2018illegally\u2019 or \u2018unlawfully\u2019 attempting to change policy, this may infringe constitutional rights and upturn decades of progressive judgements by the Supreme Court.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nUnpleasant memories<\/strong><\/p>\n

For hundreds of families in the north, the PTA evokes unpleasant memories. The Act was used indiscriminately during Sri Lanka\u2019s war years\u2014then the army would round up Tamil-majority villages in the north and arrest large groups of people using the Act, says Mr. Ratnavale. Some never returned.<\/p>\n

One of the few times that the Sri Lankan state evoked the Act in the south was during the second JVP insurrection from 1987-89, to arrest revolting Sinhalese youth.<\/p>\n

Political parties in opposition have periodically demanded the repeal of the PTA. In the post-war context, the Leftist nationalist JVP called for its abolition, to quell foreign interference in Sri Lanka\u2019s domestic matters, and the Tamil National Alliance \u2014 the main political grouping representing the island\u2019s northern Tamils \u2014 has also voiced concern over \u201cthe draconian law\u201d and the apparent influence that the security establishment has on the government.<\/p>\n

The draft of the new legislation is to be submitted to an oversight committee on National Security, government sources said. Concerns would also be presented to the committee which, in turn, would submit it to Parliament.<\/p>\n

However, lawyers like Mr. Ratnavale appear sceptical. \u201cThe government anticipates political opposition even to its economic policies. In the guise of tackling terrorism, it might use the [counter terrorism] law to curb all dissent.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nCourtesy:The Hindu<\/em><\/p>\n

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By Meera Srinivasan Even as Sri Lanka drafts a new law to counter terrorism, human rights activists and lawyers here fear it might be worse than the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) they want repealed and replaced. One of the key demands around regime change in Sri Lanka in January 2015 \u2014 when former President …<\/p>\n

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