AKD has no mandate to enact a new anti-terror law except to repeal PTA - NSC

The National Shoora Council (NSC) has urged President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to honour his election pledge and repeal the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act (PTA) without replacing it with a new Anti-Terrorism law, as no such mandate was sought from the people in the ruling party’s manifesto.

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The NSC has also pointed out in its letter to President Dissanayake that over a dozen new laws had been enacted during the last 25 years with wider powers being vested in the executive and the police. The Muslim civil society has also said that 16 years have elapsed since terrorism was wiped out and that today there is no sign of any terrorism in the country.

The following is the full text of the NSC letter to the President: “The National Shoora Council (NSC) is a consultative body of premier Muslim organisations in Sri Lanka with a national reach and includes citizens of repute. The NSC was established in 2013 following a series of Islamophobic attacks on the Muslim community from 2012 onwards and which led to several devastating anti-Muslim riots in the country.