TNA slams recommendation to not repeal PTA

22 Jul 2021

TNA slams recommendation to not repeal PTA

22 Jul 2021

BY Pamodi Waravita Highlighting that the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act, No. 48 of 1979 (PTA) has wreaked havoc over the years since its enactment, Illankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK) Parliamentarian of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Shanakiyan Rajaputhiran Rasamanickam yesterday (22) criticised the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) recommendation that the PTA need not be repealed. “The PTA has a four-decade history of being used as a tool for political victimisation and majoritarianism politics. That is why the call to repeal the PTA exists and that is why it must be repealed, especially considering the severe harm it has caused and continues to cause to individuals who are detained under it,” Rasamanickam told The Morning. In its interim report, which was handed over to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Wednesday (21), the PCoI for the Appraisal of the Findings of Previous Commissions and Committees on Human Rights and the Way Forward has highlighted that instead of being repealed, the PTA should be reformed in line with counter-terrorism laws in foreign countries such as the UK. However, Rasamanickam stressed that counter-terrorism laws must exist within international norms and practices, which the PTA does not fall under. The PCoI has made three recommendations pertaining to the Act in its interim report. With regard to Section 9 of the PTA, which currently allows the Defence Minister to extend the detention periods of a suspect without filing charges against them, the PCoI has proposed that indictments be filed against those detained for more than three months. However, when queried as to what would take place in the event the Attorney General does not find sufficient evidence to indict those detained under the PTA for more than three months, the President’s Media Division was not in a position to provide an explanation. The PCoI has also recommended that Section 11 of the PTA be amended so that those detained for over three months be confined to their own homes or residential areas, under special security. However, Section 11 of the existing Act already provides for the Minister to impose prohibitions or restrictions concerning a suspect’s movement outside their residence/s. Currently, Section 13 of the PTA allows the President to appoint an Advisory Board to advise the President and/or the Defence Minister. The PCoI has proposed that all ethnic groups in the country be represented in the said Advisory Board. The Commission – chaired by sitting Supreme Court Judge Justice A.H.M.D. Nawaz and including Inspector General of Police (Retd.) Chandra Fernando, District Secretary (Retd.) Nimal Abeysiri, and former Jaffna Mayor Yogeswari Patkunarajah – has been requested to hand over its final findings within six months. The said commission was appointed in February this year to inquire after the previous commissions and committees that were originally appointed to inquire into human rights-related matters. Many detainees under the PTA, prisoners’ rights groups, human rights activists, international human rights watchdogs, the United Nations, and the European Union, among others, have called for the amendment or repeal of the PTA. The PTA currently allows for the admissibility of confessions given to the Police that are alleged to have been extracted by the Police through the use of torture, and the prolonged arbitrary detention of suspects, which borders on punishment.

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TNA slams recommendation to not repeal PTA

TNA slams recommendation to not repeal PTA

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