Sri Lanka delays presenting new Anti-Terror Bill in parliament amid opposition

Sri Lankas Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe on Thursday announced that the presentation of the new antiterrorism Bill that would replace a draconian counterterrorism law in parliament would be delayed further a day after a powerful body of lawyers said it would not hesitate to challenge any legislation that would undermine the rule of law and the liberty of the citizensThe new Anti Terrorism Act ATA will replace the much maligned Prevention of Terrorism Act PTA of 1979On April 1 Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena told reporters that the new counter terrorism law will be introduced later this month However the justice minister on Thursday said the bill would be delayed to either late April or early MaySri Lanka is replacing the PTA with a new legislation called the Anti Terrorism Act ATA after the former law was roundly condemned for its draconian nature where people were allowed to be detained without being charged for indefinite periods of timeSri Lanka faced international calls to repeal the PTA which was enacted in 1979 as a temporary measure to counter the rising Tamil separatist militancy President Ranil Wickremesinghe earlier said that the new ATA would be presented by JuneTodays announcement came as the lawyers body Bar Association of Sri Lanka on Wednesday asked for delaying its presentation claiming there had been no consultation of stake holders in preparing the draft billOn March 17 the new Anti Terrorism Act ATA of 97 pages was published in the government gazetteThe opposition and civil society groups objected to the new ATA saying it targets the civil society protests which took place mid last year over the then governments failure in handling the on going economic crisisAlso read Stalin urges Modi to get 16 arrested TN fishermen released from Sri LankaThe European Union since 2016 has been urging the government to repeal the PTA and bring in a new counter terrorism legislation in line with international standards The EU has linked its GSP export tariff concessions to Sri Lanka modifying its counter terrorism Act The main opposition leader Sajith Premadasa had slammed the bill as undemocratic and authoritarianThe opposition and rights group fear that anyone expressing democratic opposition to the government could be targeted using the ATA Sri Lanka which currently is reeling under its worst economic crisis has witnessed several activities that have threatened its national securityThe nation saw the end of Tamil insurgency in 2009 after the killing of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam leader Velupillai Prabhakaran A fresh security threat dented the countrys security after the Easter suicide attacks in 2019 that killed 290 peopleThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever