The Tamil National Alliance decided to legally challenge the regulations imposed under the Prevention of Terrorism Act on the principle that things done by the government under the state of emergency could not be done under a different legal regime, TNA MP M. A. Sumanthiran said today.

The government imposed these regulations on August 30, 2011 to keep the ban on the LTTE and the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation intact and to take action against terrorist suspects and surrendees in the context of emergency regulations being lifted. Mr. Sumanthiran told the Daily Mirror that what the government did under the state of emergency could not be done under a separate legal regime. “We will challenge the new regulations in a court of law soon. First, we have to see the contents of the new regulations,” he said.

The TNA MP said his party would oppose these regulations and the proposed Emergency Consequential Provisional Bill to be introduced in Parliament. Also, he said the government had failed to issue the gazette notification announcing these regulations, and therefore, there was no legal validity to them as of now. Responding to former Attorney General Mohan Peiris who said these regulations had been in force once they were announced, Mr. Sumanthiran said any law would be in force only after it was published. “It is a basic fact expected to be known even by a law student,” he said. (Kelum Bandara