LAWS -- THE USE, AND DISUSE

It is the job of the authorities to repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act if they want to, but the civilian discourse on the matter has seen a new lease of life with recent events. Various organizations styling themselves as ‘civil society’ and ‘non-governmental’ are agitating for the abrogation -- that should be repeal we wager -- of this law that is a legacy of terrorism.

But as somebody had quipped recently during the course of a discussion on the subject, try saying ‘bomb’ in any airport in the United States. The simple articulation of the word ‘BOMB’ at a passenger terminal sans any ulterior motive or a background narrative attached, would get a man behind bars in the U.S, and that is virtually a certainty.

This is the reaction at the operational level, but what of the laws per se with regard to terrorism in the U.S? Homeland Security legislation keeps getting tighter despite the so called civil liberties issues. Then there are the new laws that deal with wire-tapping, and the authority to kill U.S citizens if they are deemed enemy combatants.

The Boston attacks would make things more complicated for ordinary people in what is anyway a rather strictly regulated Police State – the U.S. But yet, it has to be remembered that before Boston there had been no significant attack on U.S soil after 9/11 which took place a good half a decade back.

Notwithstanding, there was and continues to be eternal vigilance, at the cost of considerable incursions into the guarantees of civil liberties such as those that exist. These types of measures are normal in countries that are recovering from terrorism, unless the leadership and the people are ardently suicidal.

In Sri Lanka, it has to be remembered that what had been considered draconian had been phased out gradually. The Emergency had to go. Before the Emergency was legally phased out, the civil society lobbyists stridently opined that the government was making use of this extraordinary piece of legislation for petty political advantage.

But the government proved its bona fides even though there was hardly a blip in the news radar that so much as recorded the event. The PTA will one day go the same way – and nobody will sing hymns on the day of its demise, which is good.

But, it isn’t for this newspaper or for the layman to decide exactly when to say goodbye to the PTA. The defense authorities would have to make an informed decision on that but they will bear in mind the stringent laws in place in the U.S for instance, that makes it impossible for people to say the word ‘bomb’ for a lark in any airport lounge, for instance.

That’s because terrorism is no funny business. There are laws that also go into disuse, but eventually, it is better if laws that are not necessary are legally excised from the law books. For example, there is a law in this country that is supposed to criminalize homosexuality which is a legacy of the British who now prescribe an agenda of liberalism, freedom and good governance to anybody who cares to listen. But no homosexuals have been prosecuted in Sri Lanka, though the law continues to be in our statute books.

Nobody, least of all civil society, bothers, as it is taken for granted that this law is not used to demonize or harass individuals. The PTA has by and large not been used after the war, and though the opposition is in a fit of apoplexy, the gentleman who was arrested recently, at least according to what the Prime Minister said in parliament, was not taken in under the PTA.

Even if he was, the fact remains that hardly anybody has been arrested under the PTA after the war, and in the recent case, the gentleman was released no sooner than he was arrested. As usual therefore, the recent brouhaha about the PTA is much ado really about nothing, and probably a source of noise for the NGOs which of course helps in attracting money as project grants. The PTA will go in time, but for the moment, ordinary people are not losing any sleepless nights thinking about it -- and for very good reason.