No fundamental change to new Anti-Terrorism Bill: Minister

• It was prepared after studying such laws in the US, UK, Germany, and India 
• TNA has  already raised objections to the provisions of the new bill

By Kelum Bandara   

In the face of criticism against the new Anti-Terrorism  Bill, Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe said the government would  not bring about any fundamental changes to the current version.  The bill, already announced in the gazette notification, is  to be presented in Parliament for debate and enactment. This is to be  enacted by repealing the Prevention of Terrorism Act, which was invoked  mainly in dealing with LTTE terrorism.  
After the war was over, the government came under pressure  from sections of the international community, including the United  Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to repeal the PTA to be replaced  with a new law that conforms to international standards in countering  terrorism.   

The parties such as the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) have  already raised objections to the provisions of the new bill. However,  Minister Rajapakshe said the bill was worked after studying counter-terrorism laws of the countries such as the United States, India, the  United Kingdom and Germany.  

“They are even more rigorous than ours. Therefore, we won’t  make any major change to the current version. There may be minor  changes,” he said.