Activists and Opposition members have questioned why the National People’s Power (NPP)-led Government has sought to ‘replace’ the ‘draconian’ Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) No.48 of 1979 instead of revoking it, as advocated by the NPP when the party was in the Opposition.
Despite the NPP’s manifesto terming the PTA as an “oppressive act” and pledging its abolition, in the Cabinet press briefing held on Tuesday (25 February), Cabinet Spokesperson Minister Nalinda Jayatissa said that until a new law was introduced to address national security, they would use the existing mechanisms, including the PTA.
“Whether we like it or not, we have to implement the existing law. If we are to wait until a new law is brought, then we don’t know how many more lives will be lost. We have appointed a committee to expedite a new law to address national security,” he said.
Jayatissa issued this comment in response to a question about why suspects in the murder of gang member Ganemulla Sanjeewa had been detained under the PTA. Their detentions are the latest in a series of reported detentions under the PTA since President Anura Kumara Dissanayake came into power in September 2024, including those suspected of involvement in a security threat in Arugam Bay.
Police Spokesperson Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Buddhika Manatunga confirmed to The Sunday Morning that the suspect who shot Sanjeewa and another individual related to the incident had been detained under the PTA. However, he was unable to immediately provide information on the number of PTA detentions and arrests in 2024 and 2025, instead asking for a written request for information.
The Sunday Morning did not receive a response to its letter at the time of publishing.
Addressing Parliament on 22 January, Justice and National Integration Minister Harshana Nanayakkara said that the PTA would be abolished and an anti-terror law adhering to international standards would be introduced.
Previous administrations have also attempted to draft new anti-terror legislation. The ‘Yahapalana’ Government’s Counter-Terrorism Bill sought to replace the PTA in 2018 while the Ranil Wickremesinghe Government’s Anti-Terrorism Bill sought to replace it in 2023.
The Cabinet decisions of 19 February show that a committee has been appointed to develop existing draft anti-terror legislation. When contacted, Rienzie Arsecularatne, PC, who heads the committee, declined to comment on the process, but said that he was not aware of the other committee members or a timeline for the process yet.
Multiple attempts to contact Justice Ministry Secretary Ayesha Jinasena, PC and Nanayakkara regarding the committee and its planned work proved futile.
Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) Commissioner Nimal G. Punchihewa raised concerns about the continued use of the PTA, noting its serious violations of fundamental rights. He told The Sunday Morning that a new law for national security must still be balanced with the protection of fundamental rights and questioned how the Government planned to do so.
‘Duplicitous’ stance
Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK) MP Shanakiyan Rasamanickam said the NPP-led Government had a “duplicitous stance” and was not keeping its election promises.
“The Government has used the PTA since coming into power. This is the same Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP)/NPP that followed us across the country to all 25 districts collecting signatures from the public, asking for the PTA to be repealed.
“At that time they also said there was no need to discuss a replacement for the law, but now the Minister is saying a new bill will be brought in,” said Rasamanickam, referencing the islandwide anti-PTA signature campaign the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) led in late 2022, which was also supported by the NPP.
Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP Rauff Hakeem also questioned why the Government was now calling for a replacement of the law, when it had previously pledged to revoke it, declaring that the Penal Code was sufficient.
“The very same Government and the very same President pledged to revoke the PTA, not to replace it. They were at the receiving end themselves; several of their members have had long incarcerations, so it is ironic that they are reading from the same script, having themselves been victims and experienced the draconian nature of it,” said Hakeem.
He added that prison reforms would not address the fundamental issue that was the existence of this “draconian law”.
“We have to see an end to it. There have been several public statements by the President himself to do away with it. This is the irony of fate. They are caving in to the convenience of the bureaucracy. Vested interests around our own system will want this legislation in the law books so they can continue to abuse people’s fundamental rights,” said Hakeem.
Erosion of democracy
Activist and Attorney-at-Law Swasthika Arulingam noted that when anti-terror legislation had been drafted by the previous administration, members of the NPP themselves had adopted the position that there was no need for an anti-terror law.
“Dr. Harini Amarasuriya, Bimal Rathnayake, and Lakmali Hemachandra have been vocally against anti-terror laws. Now that they are in Government and have come to power, the first thing they did was use this PTA to arrest suspects involved in the so-called security threat.
“That’s the problem with anti-terror laws – we don’t know what the threat is, we are supposed to believe there is one, and be fine with any kind of arrests that happen under it. That’s the rationale of using the PTA.”
Accordingly, Arulingam said that if the Government was now saying there was a need for an anti-terror law, it must then justify its reasons. “Were they lying to the people when they were in the Opposition? They have a duty to explain to us what in our society warrants a broad and sweeping anti-terror law like the PTA.”
“What is the loophole in the law which warrants an anti-terror law? No government has ever explained this. If the PTA were to leave the statute book tomorrow, what is the security threat that they won’t be able to counter without the PTA?” questioned Arulingam.
She highlighted that other laws, including the Penal Code and the Public Security Ordinance, existed to deal with emergency situations, but previous governments and the present one had created a false sense of fear in the minds of the people.
“The PTA is supposed to prevent terrorism, but it was used to arrest whoever the Government wanted to arrest.”
Highlighting that any kind of anti-terror law extended emergency conditions indefinitely, she said that such architecture eroded democracy.
“You can’t have democracy with the State constantly threatening to frame people as terrorists. The issue with this Government is that it knows all this, as its members were the ones making all these arguments,” she said.
International commitments
In March 2022, then Justice Minister Ali Sabry, PC told Parliament there was a “de facto moratorium” on the use of the PTA, unless with regard to those directly involved in terrorism.
Prof. G.L. Peiris, who served as Foreign Minister in the same Cabinet, said the same to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). This was under pressure from the European Union (EU), which was reviewing Sri Lanka’s international conventions under the GSP+ scheme.
Hakeem noted that the promise of a moratorium on the use of the PTA had already been made in Geneva by the Sri Lankan State.
Rasamanickam too questioned why Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath had made no mention of the PTA during his address to the 58th session of the UNHRC last week.
International standards
Meanwhile, Arulingam also commented on the argument that all countries had anti-terror laws, justifying Sri Lanka’s need for the same.
“The EU has many more resources to deal with arrests under anti-terror laws, so they would treat their detainees in a relatively more humane manner. We don’t have the infrastructure to deal with mass-scale arrests.
“Moreover, the comparison to international standards is no longer valid because of what happened in Gaza and other parts of the world. International law has done nothing to protect anyone, including from state terror,” she said.
Impact on minorities
Addressing Parliament on 22 January, All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC) MP Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam highlighted that one of the biggest issues faced by the Tamil people was the “godforsaken” PTA.
“It is a law that the JVP itself, which I might not agree with on several policy issues, condemns because it was a victim of it. What was said at the time of elections and before was that the PTA would be repealed.
“However, after the elections ended, this Government backtracked very quickly within the first week and stated that it would have to monitor the implementation of the act, because as long as the implementation and application of the act was monitored and looked at carefully, then no faults would be committed.
“Nevertheless, faults have been committed. During the memorialisation of the Tamils, there were arrests under the PTA. Subsequently, perhaps because of certain policy decisions taken, the Police went before courts and then withdrew the PTA charges in the ‘B’ reports,” Ponnambalam said, referring to the memorialisation events in the north and east last November.
Meanwhile, addressing Parliament on Friday (28), President Dissanayake said their stance remained the same – to abolish the PTA. However, he added that a new legal framework would be brought in to address organised crime and extremism.
“The normal law is for normal situations. Organised crime goes beyond normal situations, which is why we need a new law.
“We are people who raised black flags against the PTA when it was first introduced in 1978. We haven’t changed our policy. However, if there are threats due to extremism and organised crime that cannot be dealt with using the normal law, then we need a new law.”