Sri Lanka, March 4 -- Is the government genuinely committed to replacing the much-criticized Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) which has been in place for 45 years with a more progressive law? This question gains pertinence in the backdrop of the Anti-Terrorism Bill (ATB) which has already been presented to Parliament by the current government, and the Counter Terrorism Bill (CTB) introduced by the Yahapalanaya government in1916, provisions of both of which are more draconian than the PTA.

It is this exponential draconianism that has one questioning the government's genuineness about repealing the PTA. Because with the alternate being equally or far more severe and eliciting the expected opposition, there is a strong likelihood of the go...