• Pledges constant surveillance of decision taken after a yr’s scrutiny, analysis, study by high-level comm.

Although several parties have criticised the lifting of the ban imposed on five Islamic organisations following the Easter Sunday terror attacks of 2019, the Government is not ready to reconsider its decision as of now, The Daily Morning learns.

The ban on the United Thowheeth Jama’ath (UTJ), the Ceylon Thowheeth Jama’ath (CTJ), the Sri Lanka Thowheeth Jama’ath (SLTJ), the All Ceylon Thowheeth Jama’ath (ACTJ), and the Jamiyathul Ansaari Sunnathul Mohomadiya (JSM) organisations were lifted by President Ranil Wickremesinghe in his capacity as the Minister of Defence.

However, the decision has seen opposition from several parties including the Catholic Church and certain Government Parliamentarians themselves.

In view of such criticisms, The Daily Morning queried State Minister of Defence Premitha Bandara Tennakoon as to whether the Government would reconsider its decision to lift the ban on the five said organisations, to which he said that there was no preparation to reconsider it as of now. “Intelligence services and other stakeholders got together and made this decision. We understand that there is some criticism, but, we have to understand that this was done following a lengthy process and that politicians were not involved in it. I even asked politicians not to be involved in this. Given these matters, we are not reconsidering the decision at the moment.”

He also said that the relevant agencies would continue to monitor the organisations’ activities. “Surveillance will always be there. If they do something wrong, and if something goes out of hand, we will definitely intervene again. However, this decision was taken after scrutinising, analysing, and studying everything. It was done by a highly competitive committee, and the process took more than a year.”

The decision to ban a total of 11 Islamic organisations, including the aforementioned five, was announced in a gazette notification signed by then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa under the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act, No. 48 of 1979 regulations, cited as the Prevention of Terrorism (Proscription of Extremist Organisations) Regulations, No. 2 of 2021. The banned organisations include the UTJ, the CTJ, the SLTJ, the ACTJ, the JSM, the Dharul Adhar @ Jamiul Aadhar, the Sri Lanka Islamic Student Movement, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, the al-Qaeda, Save the Pearls, and the Super Muslim.

As per a decision made at the National Security Council, the ban imposed on five of the said 11 organisations was lifted by President Wickremesinghe, and the move has seen criticism from several parties including the Catholic Church. An academic who studies the phenomenon of terrorism, Prof. Rohan Gunaratna, even called on the authorities to reconsider the decision, while former Public Security Minister and incumbent Government MP, Rear Admiral (Rtd.) Dr. Sarath Weerasekera said that the Government should at least closely monitor the organisations given that the ban has already been lifted.