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Proposed legal reforms to safeguard national security: Slow progression  

16 May 2021

By Yoshitha Perera       Two years after the Easter Sunday co-ordinated terror attack, three reports have been produced by three different committees and commissions pertaining to the inquiry into the incident. Based on the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) into the Easter Sunday attacks report and the Security Oversight Committee report, a ministerial subcommittee was appointed by the President to suggest the necessary recommendations and legal reforms.  The President had appointed the subcommittee on 19 February and it was headed by Minister Chamal Rajapaksa. The committee’s report was due before 15 March, but the committee took another two weeks to conduct further investigation. It had identified 78 recommendations.  According to a statement released by the Presidential Secretariat on 5 April, the report includes how those 78 recommendations are to be implemented and which departments or law-enforcement authorities are implementing them.  It was informed that the majority of the recommendations in the final report of the PCoI have been approved by the Ministerial Subcommittee.  However, responding to The Sunday Morning’s query, Minister of Justice Ali Sabry said that although he had not been involved in the Ministerial Subcommittee to suggest recommendations and legal reforms, based on the two reports produced by the PCoI into Easter Sunday attacks and the Security Oversight Committee, currently, different steps and measures are being taken by different government entities to implement legal reforms.   He said: “Mainly, the reforms will be implemented by the Education Ministry, Public Security Ministry, Defence Ministry, and some by the Justice Ministry.”  When asked about the proposed legal reforms by the Ministry based on the report, Minister Sabry said that although not relevant to the recommendations mentioned in the final report of these commissions and committees, the Ministry of Justice is currently in the process of drafting and implementing various new laws on different subjects.  “As an example, necessary steps have been already taken to amend the Muslim Marriage Law and currently, the Ministry is in the last stages of amending the law. The Cabinet Sub-Committee and Legal Draftsman are working together to prepare the final draft.”    On fake news     Minister Sabry further added that the Cabinet had approved the resolution tabled against the spreading of false information and fake news across social media platforms.    He said: “Currently an advisory committee has been appointed to assist the Legal Draftsman regarding the drafting of the laws for the proposed criminalisation of fake news.”  He added that regulating cyberspace and the spreading of fake news had been a long-standing legal reform and the Ministry is completing its process of drafting the laws immediately.  Meanwhile, attempts to contact Minister of Public Security Sarath Weerasekara to discuss the progress of the proposed legal reforms by his Ministry, based on the Ministerial Committee recommendations, proved futile.     On security and deradicalisation     However, speaking earlier to The Sunday Morning, Co-Cabinet Spokesman Minister Udaya Gammanpila said that as an initial step, the Cabinet has approved a proposed ban by the Public Security Ministry on 27 April on wearing full-face veils including burqas in public.  We were also informed that the Public Security Ministry had proposed to Cabinet to shut down more than 1,000 Madrasa schools.  Earlier, in a media conference, Public Security Minister Weerasekara said that the authorities would hereafter use the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) as a law to deal with religious extremism, with extensive powers to detain suspects for up to two years, in a bid towards deradicalisation.  According to the recommendations provided by the Security Oversight Committee report, Madrasa schools should be considered as special educational institutions and they must be run as educational institutions with trained Islamic moulavis.  It was also mentioned that a committee regulating Madrasa institutions should be established under the Department of Muslim Religious and Cultural Affairs. The proposal of establishing a Madrasa regulating committee has surfaced after the Easter Sunday terror attack and it would comprise 11 members.  As per the final report of the Security Oversight Committee, it has been reported that there has been an agreement within the Muslim society that the above-mentioned committee should comprise of officers of the Department of Muslim Affairs, acclaimed experts in Muslim society, and non-Muslim moderate experts, and that the committee should not be represented by the members of the All-Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama (ACJU).  Meanwhile, according to the recommendations provided with regard to Madrasa education by the PCoI into the Easter Sunday terror attacks, all Madrasas must be governed by an appropriate legal framework and regulated closely by a statutory authority.     All registered and unregistered Madrasas must be brought under the regulatory structure. A rationalisation scheme should be established considering the Muslim population in each district and a ratio should be developed considering the population or the entire Muslim population with respect to Madrasas, the commission’s final report recommended.  However, it is not evident whether the Public Security Ministry had proposed the above ban on 1,000 Madrasa schools to Cabinet after considering the recommendations based on the Oversight Committee report or the recommendations based on the PCoI into the Easter Sunday terror attacks report.    No educational reforms?   When The Sunday Morning inquired about whether any educational reforms were implemented by the Ministry of Education based on the Ministerial Committee recommendations on the two final reports produced by the PCoI into the Easter Sunday attacks and the Security Oversight Committee, Education Ministry Secretary Prof. Kapila Perera said that he was not aware of any such specific reforms. He said: “The reforms are handled by the State Ministry of Education Reforms and I have not been made aware of such specific reforms so far.” Meanwhile, sharing his views with The Sunday Morning, State Ministry of Education Reforms, Open Universities, and Distance Learning Promotion Secretary Dr. M. Upali Sedara said he too was not aware of such specific reforms.  He said: “Not in that sense, but we are making reforms considering educational equity for everybody in the country and we are giving priority to making reforms where people will learn values.” Attempts to contact Secretary of Defence Maj. Gen. (Retd.) Kamal Gunaratne to discuss the progress of the reforms that would take place based on the Ministerial Committee decisions formed on the two final reports provided by PCoI into Easter Sunday attacks and the Security Oversight Committee, proved futile.


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