Thursday Sep 19, 2024
Thursday Sep 19, 2024
Wednesday, 19 April 2023 00:57 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Prison Affairs and Constitutional Reforms Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe yesterday described the proposed Anti-Terrorism Bill as a progressive and people-centric Bill, whilst noting that the Government is open to discussing and making amendments.
Speaking to journalists he said that the final decision on the proposed Anti-Terrorism Bill will be decided upon the recommendations and guidelines of the Supreme Court.
The proposed Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), which will replace the archaic Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), has mounted strong criticism from locally and internationally.
However, Minister Wijeyadasa said it is a progressive and people-centric Bill, which has been drafted with the input of eminent lawyers to protect the citizens of the country.
He said the proposed Bill also removes several powers that have been vested with the Defence Minister who is a political authority under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.
“Under the proposed Bill we have vested the powers with Senior DIG of Police, but under the supervision of a Magistrate Judge to avoid any admission to confession and authority for detention. These measures were carefully thought out and drafted in favour of the people of the country. However, if the public still feels that they have no credibility on both authorities, we can retain the Defence Minister or Defence Ministry Secretary as it is. We are open to discussing any contentious clauses and amend accordingly,” he explained.
“The Bill has been proposed to safeguard the people of Sri Lanka and not in any way to empower the incumbent or future Governments,” he assured.
Both local and international critics and rights activists claimed the latest Bill is vague and could be used against anti-government protesters, media, and dissents.
“Although this Bill is to protect the people of the country, a group of them are trying to defend those criminals,” the Minister claimed.
Reacting to certain comments made by different local parties on the proposed Anti-Terrorism Bill, he said it was presented in Parliament during Yahapalana Government in 2018 and during that time there were no signs of ‘Aragalaya’ at that time.
“This Bill is definitely not to penalise people engaged in the Aragalaya as many claim it to be,” he quipped.
Reiterating that the Government is open to discussing any contentious clauses and amending them accordingly, Minister Wijeyadasa added that they have also granted additional time for all factions to challenge the Bill in the Supreme Court.
The Minister emphasised that the clauses in the proposed Bill have been included considering similar laws prevalent in other nations.
When asked if the Government will go against the international organisations to implement the proposed Anti-Terrorism Bill he said the Government has already discussed it with the US, UK, Germany, France, India and several others and had pointed out that Sri Lanka’s Bill had not exceeded the limits compared to the anti-terrorism laws implemented in those countries.
The European Union has demanded to repeal of the PTA due to its long period of detention and confession being used against suspects in return for renewing the GSP+ trade concession extended by the European Union (EU) for Sri Lanka under many administrations post-civil war, but none of the administrations adhered to it.
Asked if the Government has taken the EU recommendation into consideration in drafting the proposed Bill this time he said there was no such recommendation.
“We had a lengthy discussion with all those agencies before finalising this Bill which was presented to the Parliament in 2018. There are no significant changes, except for some small ones as this is also purely based on the provisions of that Bill. Therefore, I hope that they will take it as more beneficial to society,” he added.
