New counter-terrorism law to replace PTA - PM

Prime Minister of Sri Lanka Ranil Wickremesinghe says the country is cleaning up its act when it comes to human rights abuses.

Wickremesinghe, who is on a three-day visit to New Zealand, had formal talks with Prime Minister John Key at Government House in Auckland today.

Amnesty International had pressured Key to discuss human rights with Wickremesinghe during the talks, pointing out that Sir Lankan security forces have been implicated in tens of thousands of disappearances.

Executive director of Amnesty New Zealand Grant Bayldon said he wants Key to push for Sri Lanka to repeal its Prevention of Terrorism Act which “is basically a license to abduct and torture people.”

“It also needs a law to make disappearances illegal, and it needs to work much harder to investigate those disappearances,” Bayldon said.

Today, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe said the Sri Lankan government is going through most of the things it has promised to achieve, including setting up a missing persons office.

“I think by next week the first draft of the counter-terrorism law, which will be placed in the Prevention of Terrorism Act, will be available for discussion,” he said.

Prime Minister Wickremesinghe hopes by next March all these things will be behind Sri Lanka. He said it’s a quite open society these days, where fear is no longer a factor.

Animal rights group SAFE also wants John Key to reject Sri Lanka’s offer of another elephant to join the breeding programme at Auckland Zoo.

Source: Newstalk ZB

-Agencies