TNA to legally challenge new laws

4 September 2011 05:30 pm

The Tamil National Alliance decided to legally challenge the regulations imposed  under the Prevention of Terrorism Act on the principle that things done by the  government under the state of emergency could not be done under a different  legal regime, TNA MP M. A. Sumanthiran said today.

The government imposed these  regulations on August 30, 2011 to keep the ban on the LTTE and the Tamil  Rehabilitation Organisation intact and to take action against terrorist suspects  and surrendees in the context of emergency regulations being lifted. Mr.  Sumanthiran told the Daily Mirror that what the government did under the state  of emergency could not be done under a separate legal regime. “We will challenge  the new regulations in a court of law soon. First, we have to see the contents  of the new regulations,” he said.

The TNA MP said his party would oppose these  regulations and the proposed Emergency Consequential Provisional Bill to be  introduced in Parliament. Also, he said the government had failed to issue the  gazette notification announcing these regulations, and therefore, there was no  legal validity to them as of now. Responding to former Attorney General Mohan  Peiris who said these regulations had been in force once they were announced,  Mr. Sumanthiran said any law would be in force only after it was published. “It  is a basic fact expected to be known even by a law student,” he said. (Kelum  Bandara)