TNA to legally challenge new laws

SUNDAY, 04 SEPTEMBER 2011
The Tamil National Alliance decided to legally challenge the regulations imposed  under the Prevention of Terrorism Act on the principle that things done by the  government under the state of emergency could not be done under a different  legal regime, TNA MP M. A. Sumanthiran said today.

The government imposed these  regulations on August 30, 2011 to keep the ban on the LTTE and the Tamil  Rehabilitation Organisation intact and to take action against terrorist suspects  and surrendees in the context of emergency regulations being lifted. Mr.  Sumanthiran told the Daily Mirror that what the government did under the state  of emergency could not be done under a separate legal regime. “We will challenge  the new regulations in a court of law soon. First, we have to see the contents  of the new regulations,” he said.

The TNA MP said his party would oppose these  regulations and the proposed Emergency Consequential Provisional Bill to be  introduced in Parliament. Also, he said the government had failed to issue the  gazette notification announcing these regulations, and therefore, there was no  legal validity to them as of now. Responding to former Attorney General Mohan  Peiris who said these regulations had been in force once they were announced,  Mr. Sumanthiran said any law would be in force only after it was published. “It  is a basic fact expected to be known even by a law student,” he said. (Kelum  Bandara) 
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Sri Lanka’s integration task

Khaleej Times Online > EDITORIAL
 
5 September 2011Colombo has a critical choice to make. The government’s decision to hold on alleged terror suspects for time immemorial, irrespective of its earlier commitment that it wants to free them and rehabilitate, accordingly, is a setback of sorts.The newly promulgated regulations under the powerful Prevention of Terrorism Act are primarily meant to deny political space to the incarcerated Tamil suspects, and are widely seen as a ploy to further emergency provisions. The draconian laws that were there in force for the last three decades had curbed civil and political liberties and were prima facie justified as a tactic as the island-nation state was in a state of war with the Tamil Tigers. But this crisscross and maneuvering to keep the minority population under the thumb of stringent laws, especially Tamil detainees, will not go well with the spirit that President Mahinda Rajapakse had furthered by promising to accommodate the aggrieved sections of the society through a phased-out reconciliation strategy. Whatever may be the political and security-driven compulsions for Rajapakse any effort to corner the Tamils is bound to backfire.             Full Story»>