Law, Prevention, and Promoting a Sinhala National Identity in Sri Lanka

• In Event: Law, Disinformation, and Majoritarianism in South Asia

Abstract

Referred to as Sri Lanka's "legal black hole" by various human rights groups, the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) has gained momentum since the 2019 Easter Day attacks. Implemented in 1979 as a "temporary" measure, PTA was introduced to control rising militancy by both Tamil and Marxist–Leninist communist groups, like the JVP. Containing many clauses that are against international legal norms, it made torture and arbitrary detention possible, under the guise of being used for "national security" and "terrorist threat," usually based on disinformation and rumors. However, since the end of the war in 2009, it has repeatedly been used to target government opponents and members of minority communities, with similar claims as before. Since the summer of 2022, several have been arrested under the PTA for participating in the nationwide protests against the ongoing economic crises, sparking the debate about the PTA and the nature of its practice again. In this paper, I look at how the Prevention of Terrorism Act allows the majoritarian Sri Lankan government to institutionalize violence against Muslim and Tamil minorities and protesters and opposition figures. To elicit an underlying pattern of legal use, this paper puts out a socio-legal analysis of the media and political rhetoric surrounding PTA cases. Based on textual and discourse analysis as well as semi-structured interviews, I contend that PTA has been utilized in post-war Sri Lanka to build a narrative of the nation-state and national interests, frequently placed against the individual liberties of ethno-religious minorities. My argument is based on textual and discourse analysis as well as semi-structured interviews. I also argue, often based on disinformation, rumors, and smear campaigns, that the act is critical in building a binding Sinhala national identity while also enabling Sinhala-Buddhist nationalism to be used as a political instrument that can subversively monitor and discipline citizens.

Author

• Prateek Srivastava, University of Cincinnati