The Prevention of Foreign Terrorist Fighters Bill received the approval of the Sectoral Oversight Committee on Economic Development and International Relations.

The Bill was considered and approved when the Sectoral Oversight Committee met in Parliament under the chairmanship of Member of Parliament Lakmali Hemachandra, according to the Department of Communication of Parliament.

The Bill has been presented to give effect to United Nations Security Council Resolution 2178, adopted on 24 September 2014, which addresses the prevention and suppression of the threat posed by foreign terrorist fighters, and to provide for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

The Bill was presented to Parliament for its First Reading on 20 October by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism.

Officials explained to the Committee that legal action could be instituted in Sri Lanka under this Act in cases where an offence has been committed within or outside Sri Lanka by a Sri Lankan citizen or a citizen of another country, provided that the act in question also constitutes an offence under the law of the relevant country.

Officials further informed the Committee that engaging in terrorist activities, planning or preparing such activities, participating in them, as well as providing or receiving terrorist training, have been defined as offences under the proposed Act, it said.

The officials also emphasized that these legal provisions had not been introduced on an ethnic basis or with the intention of targeting Sri Lankans residing overseas.

Following an extensive discussion, the Committee approved the Bill. However, Member of Parliament Sivagnanam Shritharan, a member of the Committee, expressed his opposition to the Bill.

Members of Parliament Suranga Rathnayake, Thilina Samarakoon, Wijesiri Basnayake and Sivagnanam Shritharan, among others, attended the Committee meeting. Government officials representing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism, the Ministry of Defence, the Attorney General’s Department and the Legal Draftsman’s Department were also present.