"The materialist world outlook not only opens a wide window on the whole universe, but it also strengthens the will. It is also the only thing that makes contemporary man a man"- Leon Trotsky [Attention to Theory].
Monday, October 29, 2018
Wednesday, October 17, 2018
Sri Lanka's crisis-ridden government tables police-state laws
By Sanjaya Wilson Jayasekera
The government of Sri Lanka last week tabled in the parliament its long proposed Counter Terrorism Bill(CTB) through its whip minister Thilak Marapana. The law, claiming to repeal the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act(PTA), which has been used by successive governments for four decades against political opponents and the working class, is intended to consolidate a police state.
The new CTB followed two drafts previously proposed, once two years back and then in May last year[Articles on 31.10.2016 & 12.06.2017].
The bill, once passed as law, will avail the police draconian powers of investigation in arresting, questioning and detaining persons on charges of the offences of terrorism, giving room to torture in police custody. Sri Lanka police is notorious for torture and extra-judicial killings of suspects while in their custody.
None of the hundred sections in the bill does define the most important word in it, "terrorism", giving room for uncertainty, unpredictability and subjectivity of the law, in breach of established principles of bourgeois law. Instead, the draft law defines several acts to be offences under it. Given the possibility of broader interpretations that could be given to these descriptions of the acts, many areas of political and civil activity would be covered under these offences.
The provisions of the draft law will stand above all other written law. All regulations made under PTA will be as valid and effective under the new law.
The bill provides that a person would be guilty of the offence of terrorism if he commits several enumerated acts with the intention of,
• intimidating a population;
• wrongfully or unlawfully compelling the government of Sri Lanka, or any other government, or an international organization, to do or to abstain from doing any act;
• preventing any such government from functioning; or
• causing harm to the territorial integrity or sovereignty of Sri Lanka or any other sovereign country.
The acts enumerated to constitute the offence of terrorism include acts,
• causing serious damage to property, including public or private property, any place of public use, a State or Governmental facility, any public or private transportation system or any infrastructure facility or environment;
• causing serious obstruction or damage to essential services or supplies;
• causing obstruction or damage to, or interference with, any electronic or automated or computerized system or network or cyber environment of domains assigned to, or websites registered with such domains assigned to Sri Lanka;
• causing obstruction or damage to, or interference with any critical infrastructure or logistic facility associated with any essential service or supply;
• causing obstruction or damage to, or interference with any electronic, analog, digital or other wire-linked or wireless transmission system including signal transmission and any other frequency based transmission system.
This bill also provides for several other acts to constitute offences associated with terrorism if committed "with the intention of, or having the knowledge of, or having reasonable grounds to believe that such conduct has the effect of, adversely affecting the territorial integrity, national security and defence of Sri Lanka or, intimidating or terrorizing a civilian population."
Each of these 'intentions' and "acts" could be interpreted to mean and include any political activity considered inimical to the ruling circles, any industrial action by the working people including in telecommunications sector and any mass protest against the counter-revolutionary measures of the government.
One other offence under the draft law is abetting to commit the offence of terrorism, which includes the act of "gathering confidential information, for the purpose of supplying such information to a person who commits an offence under this Act". This is a provision that could be easily used against witch-hunting media and journalists.
A person found guilty of an offence under the draft law could face life imprisonment or imprisonment up to twenty years and to a fine up to one million rupees.
The powers of arrest without warrant is vested with the police and -contrary to the general criminal procedure- also with armed forces. The draft law provides, "any police officer, an officer or member of the armed forces or a coast guard officer, may arrest without a warrant" any person who he has "reasonable grounds to believe" has committed or been concerned in committing an offence.
Once arrested, a person could be detained by the police for forty eight hours prior to being produced before a magistrate. The past experience under the PTA shows that the draft law's requirement to inform the Human Rights Commission about every such arrest and detention will not stand as bar to police brutality while under their custody.
A Deputy Inspector General(IGP) of police could issue a detention order, even without the approval of any magistrate, to detain a person up to two weeks. This is a provision that gives wider powers to the police, while under PTA only the minister could issue a detention order.
Once a person arrested under a detention order is produced before a judge, he has no option but give judicial recognition to the detention order. Where the police requires the detention of the person extended, after the expiry of the two weeks, the police have to submit a "confidential report" to the magistrate to obtain approval for such continued detention. The suspect person or his lawyer could only obtain as much information as needed to object to such extension and not to the complete report, which the magistrate is bound to keep confidential. Cumulatively, the period of detention under an order of an IGP could extend to two months for the purpose of investigation.
At the expiry of the detention which could extend to eight weeks, the suspect person could be sent to remand prison upon an order of the magistrate. Such person could then be interrogated and kept in remand for up to six months before commencing criminal proceedings in courts. This period of six months could also be extended by the high court on an application of the Attorney General. During this period, bail is only available from the high courts, under unspecified "exceptional circumstances".
The government of President Maithripla Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe is smothered in deep economic and political crisis. These circumstances, under which these repressive laws are required by the ruling classes, is of immense political significance.
The government is pressurized by International Monetary Fund (IMF) to impose fiscal and monetary consolidation and reduce the budget deficit, allocating a larger portion of the tax revenue to pay foreign debts. Sri Lanka will have to pay $4 billion per year until 2022 just to meet its current external debt liabilities. High military expenditure, the deceleration of rupee in relation to the dollar, continued monthly fuel price hikes, rising prices of essential consumer items and wage stagnation have all driven to declining living standards and social conditions. Government's next austerity budget is soon to be presented to the parliament.
Domestically, the Sirisena-Wickremasinghe government is threatened with an existential crisis due to largely growing public discontent and mass struggles against its austerity policies and pro-foreign-investment privatization progrmmes. In reality, the government is afraid of future broad mass uprisings and not of any threat of a terrorist outfit. It is also confronted by the surge of a right-wing opposition led by former president Mahinda Rajapakshe for power.
Moreover, internationally, the government is forced into the political maelstrom of American imperialism, which has under the administration of Donald Trump laid the foundations for an aggressive trade war with China and actively engaged in military provocations against Beijing for the control of the Asia-Pacific region, that may possibly lead to a global war.
Under these conditions, the ruling elite is well aware that, in the coming period, it will have to deal with a rising tide of militant class struggles against its sever cuts and ruthless austerity measures. CTB, intended to intimidate and terrorize any political opposition, once passed into law, will be a ready weapon aimed against the working class.
The government of Sri Lanka last week tabled in the parliament its long proposed Counter Terrorism Bill(CTB) through its whip minister Thilak Marapana. The law, claiming to repeal the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act(PTA), which has been used by successive governments for four decades against political opponents and the working class, is intended to consolidate a police state.
The new CTB followed two drafts previously proposed, once two years back and then in May last year[Articles on 31.10.2016 & 12.06.2017].
The bill, once passed as law, will avail the police draconian powers of investigation in arresting, questioning and detaining persons on charges of the offences of terrorism, giving room to torture in police custody. Sri Lanka police is notorious for torture and extra-judicial killings of suspects while in their custody.
None of the hundred sections in the bill does define the most important word in it, "terrorism", giving room for uncertainty, unpredictability and subjectivity of the law, in breach of established principles of bourgeois law. Instead, the draft law defines several acts to be offences under it. Given the possibility of broader interpretations that could be given to these descriptions of the acts, many areas of political and civil activity would be covered under these offences.
The provisions of the draft law will stand above all other written law. All regulations made under PTA will be as valid and effective under the new law.
The bill provides that a person would be guilty of the offence of terrorism if he commits several enumerated acts with the intention of,
• intimidating a population;
• wrongfully or unlawfully compelling the government of Sri Lanka, or any other government, or an international organization, to do or to abstain from doing any act;
• preventing any such government from functioning; or
• causing harm to the territorial integrity or sovereignty of Sri Lanka or any other sovereign country.
The acts enumerated to constitute the offence of terrorism include acts,
• causing serious damage to property, including public or private property, any place of public use, a State or Governmental facility, any public or private transportation system or any infrastructure facility or environment;
• causing serious obstruction or damage to essential services or supplies;
• causing obstruction or damage to, or interference with, any electronic or automated or computerized system or network or cyber environment of domains assigned to, or websites registered with such domains assigned to Sri Lanka;
• causing obstruction or damage to, or interference with any critical infrastructure or logistic facility associated with any essential service or supply;
• causing obstruction or damage to, or interference with any electronic, analog, digital or other wire-linked or wireless transmission system including signal transmission and any other frequency based transmission system.
This bill also provides for several other acts to constitute offences associated with terrorism if committed "with the intention of, or having the knowledge of, or having reasonable grounds to believe that such conduct has the effect of, adversely affecting the territorial integrity, national security and defence of Sri Lanka or, intimidating or terrorizing a civilian population."
Each of these 'intentions' and "acts" could be interpreted to mean and include any political activity considered inimical to the ruling circles, any industrial action by the working people including in telecommunications sector and any mass protest against the counter-revolutionary measures of the government.
One other offence under the draft law is abetting to commit the offence of terrorism, which includes the act of "gathering confidential information, for the purpose of supplying such information to a person who commits an offence under this Act". This is a provision that could be easily used against witch-hunting media and journalists.
A person found guilty of an offence under the draft law could face life imprisonment or imprisonment up to twenty years and to a fine up to one million rupees.
The powers of arrest without warrant is vested with the police and -contrary to the general criminal procedure- also with armed forces. The draft law provides, "any police officer, an officer or member of the armed forces or a coast guard officer, may arrest without a warrant" any person who he has "reasonable grounds to believe" has committed or been concerned in committing an offence.
Once arrested, a person could be detained by the police for forty eight hours prior to being produced before a magistrate. The past experience under the PTA shows that the draft law's requirement to inform the Human Rights Commission about every such arrest and detention will not stand as bar to police brutality while under their custody.
A Deputy Inspector General(IGP) of police could issue a detention order, even without the approval of any magistrate, to detain a person up to two weeks. This is a provision that gives wider powers to the police, while under PTA only the minister could issue a detention order.
Once a person arrested under a detention order is produced before a judge, he has no option but give judicial recognition to the detention order. Where the police requires the detention of the person extended, after the expiry of the two weeks, the police have to submit a "confidential report" to the magistrate to obtain approval for such continued detention. The suspect person or his lawyer could only obtain as much information as needed to object to such extension and not to the complete report, which the magistrate is bound to keep confidential. Cumulatively, the period of detention under an order of an IGP could extend to two months for the purpose of investigation.
At the expiry of the detention which could extend to eight weeks, the suspect person could be sent to remand prison upon an order of the magistrate. Such person could then be interrogated and kept in remand for up to six months before commencing criminal proceedings in courts. This period of six months could also be extended by the high court on an application of the Attorney General. During this period, bail is only available from the high courts, under unspecified "exceptional circumstances".
The government of President Maithripla Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe is smothered in deep economic and political crisis. These circumstances, under which these repressive laws are required by the ruling classes, is of immense political significance.
The government is pressurized by International Monetary Fund (IMF) to impose fiscal and monetary consolidation and reduce the budget deficit, allocating a larger portion of the tax revenue to pay foreign debts. Sri Lanka will have to pay $4 billion per year until 2022 just to meet its current external debt liabilities. High military expenditure, the deceleration of rupee in relation to the dollar, continued monthly fuel price hikes, rising prices of essential consumer items and wage stagnation have all driven to declining living standards and social conditions. Government's next austerity budget is soon to be presented to the parliament.
Domestically, the Sirisena-Wickremasinghe government is threatened with an existential crisis due to largely growing public discontent and mass struggles against its austerity policies and pro-foreign-investment privatization progrmmes. In reality, the government is afraid of future broad mass uprisings and not of any threat of a terrorist outfit. It is also confronted by the surge of a right-wing opposition led by former president Mahinda Rajapakshe for power.
Moreover, internationally, the government is forced into the political maelstrom of American imperialism, which has under the administration of Donald Trump laid the foundations for an aggressive trade war with China and actively engaged in military provocations against Beijing for the control of the Asia-Pacific region, that may possibly lead to a global war.
Under these conditions, the ruling elite is well aware that, in the coming period, it will have to deal with a rising tide of militant class struggles against its sever cuts and ruthless austerity measures. CTB, intended to intimidate and terrorize any political opposition, once passed into law, will be a ready weapon aimed against the working class.
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