Rehabilitation Bill does not target Aragalaya activists - Wijeyadasa

COLOMBO (News 1st) - Sri Lanka's Justice Minister Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe said that the  Bureau of Rehabilitation Bill was not drafted aiming at those who took part in the Aragalaya or the People's Struggle.

"Some people are of the view that the government is trying to fix the people who were engaged in the Aragalaya and to punish them by introducing this law. There is no such thing," he told reporters on Thursday (13).

The Minister said the 'Bureau of Rehabilitation Bill had been drafted long ago' soon after the conclusion of the conflict in the North and East, as the government had undertaken to rehabilitate a large number of persons who were involved in some violence.

He said there was no legal framework to rehabilitate those during the immediate post-conflict era, and as a result, the government successively considered introducing a legal framework within which such persons could be rehabilitated. 

"This rehabilitation process is in operation. We have several rehabilitation centers. The main one is in Kandakadu," he added.

The Minister said that once the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka concludes with the applications filed challenging the Bureau of Rehabilitation Bill, the determination would be forwarded to the speaker who would be announcing it to Parliament.

"Since there is a phobia about the bill, and a lot of concerns have been expressed by these people, I have decided that before we take it up for debate in parliament, we will go through a consultative process. We will start a dialogue. Anybody concerned about the bill can come and discuss it," announced Justice Minister Rajapakshe.

This was initially intended to rehabilitate the LTTE carders who had surrendered and they did. But later on, that was expanded to drug addicts. After the Easter Sunday Attack in 2019, officials have considered people who have gone astray or have been misguided, youngsters also could be brought within the scope of this act. If they can be corrected and rehabilitated, that will be beneficial to themselves as well as to society. And that is why we have brought it, elaborated the minister.