Danger lurks

Monday 10th April, 2023

Justice Minister Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe has taken a swipe at the opponents of the proposed Anti-Terrorism Bill (ATB). Anyone who does not intend to engage in terrorism need not worry about the ATB, he has said, implying that the critics of the proposed anti-terror laws have a proclivity for terror, hence their protests. His snide remark could be considered an instance of ad hominem, which is to attack a person instead of addressing his or her argument or position.

The Justice Minister’s line of reasoning reminds us of a fable; a deer hares off through the jungle, and a curious elephant asks why it is running. The deer says goats are being arrested. Puzzled, the elephant tries to reason; it points out that the deer should not panic because it is only goats that are facing arrest. “Given the legal system here, it will take at least 20 years for a deer to prove that it is not a goat,” the deer pants. The elephant also starts running!

It is only natural that the people who are as perspicacious and foresighted as the deer in the above-mentioned fable have realised the danger that the ATB poses to society and reacted. According to the proposed anti-terror law, the police can arbitrarily make an innocent person languish in remand prison, and it will take at least three months for the victim to prove his or her innocence. Even a brief stay in a Sri Lankan remand prison is as bad as a jail term. This is an unnerving proposition for anyone. Is it that the government thinks the fear of being held in a hellhole for months on end is the key to preventing the people from staging another uprising and trade unions from opposing the economic reforms, especially the divestiture of state institutions, prescribed by the IMF?

What we are badly in need of, at this juncture, is not an anti-terror law as such but a robust legal mechanism to eliminate corruption, the abuse of power, waste and the theft of public wealth; corrupt politicians and their cronies have inflicted far worse damage on the country’s economy than terrorists. The leaders of the incumbent dispensation, who are wrapping themselves in the flag, and bellowing patriotic rhetoric, and their holier-than-thou Opposition counterparts have ruined the economy over the years—something that even LTTE leader Prabhakaran failed to achieve. Rohana Wijeweera and his JVP also went all out to destroy the economy by unleashing terror, but without success. Zahran Hashim and other National Thowheed Jamath terrorists snuffed out about 270 lives and left hundreds of others injured by bombing churches and hotels, but the economy did not collapse. Those terrorists are now pushing up daisies, and the need is for the pseudo-patriots at the levers of power to be dealt with for their crimes.

All those who are concerned about the wellbeing of Sri Lanka’s democracy have taken exception to the ATB, and with reason. The Bar Association of Sri Lanka, the Human Rights Watch, the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, the Federation of University Teachers’ Associations, and the International Commission of Jurists are among them. Interestingly, only some outfits representing private bus owners and trishaw operators are supporting the ATB! What’s the world coming to when a government becomes so politically bankrupt that it has to depend on those who stand condemned for indiscipline and road terror, as it were, to defend a vital Bill?

The government has obviously got cold feet. Otherwise, it would not have deferred the postponement of the ATB to Parliament. But that could be a tactical retreat. Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa has argued that the government will never withdraw the ATB, for it needs tougher laws to overcome resistance from trade unions, the Opposition and civil society organisations to its economic reform programme.

The anti-riot behemoth, complete with an ‘iron-bar’ brigade as well as the strong-arm tactics the government employed to break the recent CPC (Ceylon Petroleum Corporation) strike is a foretaste of what is to come. How dangerous the situation will be if the ATB becomes law is not difficult to imagine.

There is no gainsaying that the country needs strong anti-terrorism laws to protect national security and ensure the safety of its citizens, but this is a task that must not be left entirely to a beleaguered government which has no intention of letting go of power; it should be carried out with the concurrence of all stakeholders.