• Mulls legal challenges post-P’ment tabling

The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), sitting in the Parliamentary Opposition at present, has decided to vote against the proposed new Anti-Terrorism Bill when it is tabled in Parliament for debate, The Daily Morning learned.

Speaking to The Daily Morning yesterday (18), SLFP Senior Vice President, Prof. Rohana Luxman Piyadasa said that the SLFP Parliamentarians have taken a unanimous decision to vote against the said Bill.

“The position of our Party is that this new Bill is against democratic governance. After carefully observing this draft, we have decided that this new Bill should not be passed in Parliament. We have also observed that this Bill violates the fundamental rights of citizens. Therefore, we do not support this as this Bill contains more serious provisions than the previous related legal amendments,” he said.

Prof. Piyadasa also said that they are currently discussing the legal steps that can be taken after the new Bill is tabled in Parliament. “After this draft is tabled in Parliament, we hope to challenge the legitimacy of this Bill before the Supreme Court. We are having discussions to take future action regarding this matter. However, I am very sure that the SLFP does not expect to support this new Bill at all,” he said.

Several media outlets had reported that the much criticised Bill will be taken up in Parliament on 25 April. The Bill is mooted by the Government as a replacement for the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act (PTA), which has been in effect since 1979.

According to Minister of Justice, President’s Counsel Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, the Bill which was postponed from its anticipated day of tabling in Parliament to the end of April, will now be tabled on 25 April.

The Bill, which has drawn criticism from many quarters, recently saw the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna call for the piece of legislation to be reviewed due its “undemocratic nature”.