The Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) will be repealed by the beginning of September 2025 and will be replaced with new legislation to ensure national security, pending a final committee report as promised by the National People’s Power (NPP) policy statement and not because of any external pressures to do so.
Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism Minister Vijitha Herath said this while addressing the Parliament yesterday during the adjournment debate on the Human Rights issues faced by Tamils and Muslims in the North and East since independence.
The Minister said that the Gazette notification in this regard will be issued from September 2025.
Minister Herath said that within a short period after assuming power, the Government appointed a committee under President’s Counsel Rienzie Arsakularatne to study and make recommendations on the PTA.
He said that this committee has convened on multiple occasions and has started making relevant amendments to the PTA which will be completed by the end of August and soon after the committee report is submitted, a Gazette notification on abolishing the PTA will be issued in the beginning of September.
The Minister pointed out that National unity in Sri Lanka among the Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim, Burgher and Malay communities is the most vital factor to build the economy of the country as they are all the citizens of this country and children of one mother.
“We must all join together as one nation and one people to restore and develop this country and our Government has commenced its work based on this stance. A clear message was conveyed after the Presidential Election in 2024 by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake that the entire Lankan people are ready to hold hands with the new President and the present Government and move forward on a new journey which is why the people in the North and East, Muslim, Malay, Tamil people in the country for the first time in its history gave a massive mandate due to the trust.
For the first time in history, the highest number of votes from the people in the North and East and the Estate sector was received by one single political party the National People’s Power (NPP) to build national unity and through national reconciliation to take the economy of this country into a strong position. The Government has placed a firm foundation in building the economy of the country having identified this strong mandate given by the people of the entire country.
The Government is working to develop the country based on its three-prong policies of eradicating poverty of the people, digitalizing the systems and making Sri Lanka clean. The war situations arose from time to time in the country, especially in the North due to the instability, inequality and unfairness of the country’s economy. The uproars arose in the North against these reasons which extended into a war. The NPP Government has understood this foundational reason why the people in the North and East rose up against the then governments and are working towards addressing them to bring healing and national reconciliation among the people affected in the North and East, Estate sector and the rest of the country.
Our Government has been able to establish true democracy that all nationalities living in the country wanted within a very short period of time. The Government is taking all decisions based on the Constitution to ensure the protection of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Sri Lanka without going under any external influences.
All elections that could not be held before due to the prevention by the Delimitation Report will be conducted according to the Constitution after clearing these legal obstacles by our Government in order to protect the democratic right of the people. A new Constitution addressing the needs of all nationalities living in the country is on its way of being created which will be passed by our Government after a referendum held as all the previous Constitutions in the countries were passed without the participation and approval of the people in this country and were forced upon them.
We have taken many steps to protect the human rights of all the people in the country. We have no interest in violating a person’s human rights based on their religion or nationality. Our Government has a five-year national reconciliation plan in place that we will implement that has been already approved by the Cabinet of Ministers with the support of the United Nations to bring reconciliation among the people in the North, East, South and West.
“We don’t need the intervention of other countries to have accountability in running the country democratically. The Judicial system has been made totally independent to take accountable decisions without political influence. There’s no political influence taking place for the Sri Lanka Police to conduct its services free and fair as our Government has made the Police independent in making decisions which is why the ex-IGP who was fully corrupt was able to be removed without any political intervention to restore public security in the country. We have established an accountable process within a local mechanism that is trustworthy and acceptable by the international community that has surfaced and combats all criminal activities including controversial murders of prominent figures in the country, bribery and corruption, Easter Sunday bomb attacks that had been hidden by the previous regimes.”
“We are also working towards implementing women’s rights across the entire country based on the United Nations Conventions to protect their human rights,” the Minister added.