By Rathindra Kuruwita 

The newly gazetted anti-terrorism act can make protesting against the International Monetary Fund (IMF) a terrorist offense, JVP-led NPP MP Dr Harini Amarasuriya said in Colombo last week.The government is panicking because it can’t implement the agreement signed with the IMF due to practical constraints, Dr Amarasuriya said.She said that the government, a few months ago, told professionals, that personal taxes imposed on them would be reduced during the first IMF review.

“The IMF team is here but there are no concessions to professionals. In fact, the government is panicking because it has not fulfilled what it promised the IMF. And most of these recommendations can’t be enforced due to practical constraints,” she said.

Dr Amarasuriya said the economic crisis has worsened and that within months an election has to be held.

“The government will lose the election if there is a level playing field. They have to win using intimidation,” she said.

The MP said regazetted anti-terrorism bill contained vague and broad definitions. “When the bill was brought up first in April 2023, the main criticism of it was that its definition of terrorism was too broad. The act proposes to shift some offenses that are currently punishable under the penal code, into the category of terrorist offenses. The new version of the bill will make protesting against the IMF a terrorist offence,” she said.

Sharing information about the IMF can be considered a terrorist offense, she said. This bill severely restricts the freedom of expression of unions, civil society and media, Dr Amarasuriya said.

She said that most MPs in the government seem to hate people and believe that the people have caused them a great injustice.

“The people have rejected them and they can’t stand it. The 2022 uprising has shaken their hold on the people. A smart government would look at what led to protests in 2022 and what led to the attacks on politicians. Instead, they are driven by a primordial hate. They want to hurt and punish people,” she said.

Dr Amarasuriya said that people are increasingly realizing the danger of domestic debt restructuring.

“However, they haven’t really grasped what will happen to their EPF. The government is bombarded with issues and people who are desperate to survive today have less time to think about collecting their EPF, which will happen in a few years. No other country has only subjected pension funds to domestic debt restructuring,” she said.

There are 14 countries that have restructured domestic debt along with external debt. Out of the 14 countries, 12 have not touched funds like EPF. Only Grenada and Ghana have restructured these funds, she said. These two countries too have restructured loans taken from other domestic lenders.

“Sri Lanka is the only country that has exclusively used funds like EPF that are there for the welfare of the workers,” she said.