The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) warned Sri Lanka's new anti-terror act which was intended to replace the widely criticised Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) "may even by worse than the PTA".
Describing the new act as "old wine in a new bottle", the TNA spokesperson, M A Sumanthiran warned it would likely include indefinite detention and the acceptance of confessions told to police officers at time of arrest.
He told the New Indian Express on Sunday, “It may even be worse than the PTA going by the influence of the Security Establishment on government’s thinking on these matters."
“The Law Commission in its report to the government on replacing the PTA had apparently given suggestions which would have put the new law in line with international best practices. But I hear that the government consulted the Security Establishment and rejected the commission’s suggestions," Mr Sumanthiran said.
“When I raised this issue in parliament in October 4, neither the Justice Minister nor any other minister reacted, though the Justice Minister reacted to my remarks on the amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code,” he added.
“This despite my warning the government that Sri Lanka will not get the European Union’s trade concessions under the General System of Preferences if it violates the UN Human Rights Commission’s resolution of October 1, 2015 which had clearly said that PTA has to be replaced with a law in tune with international best practices."
