The Presidential Secretariat has not been able to issue the relevant Gazette notification to ban the National Thawheed Jammath (NTJ) and Jamathei Millathu Ibraheem (JMI) of Sri Lanka, despite the ban being imposed on the instructions of President Maithripala Sirisena, the Sunday Observer learns.
President Sirisena, using the power vested upon him, under Emergency Regulations No. 01 of 2019, took steps to ban NTJ and JMI of Sri Lanka on April 27, the two organisations linked to the Easter Sunday attack as disclosed by State Intelligence.
A top official at the Presidential Secretariat told the Sunday Observer yesterday that, the President’s office was still waiting for the Attorney General’s Department to send the drafted Gazette. “We have sent all necessary documents to the AG’s department and we understand that a few changes are to be made. I think they will send the Gazette document soon and we will be able to issue the Gazette early this week” he said.
Contrary to those comments, a high level official at the AG’s department denied that the Gazette draft was still in their possession.
“We received the relevant request from the Presidential Secretariat and we sent the final draft to the Presidential Secretariat,” the official said. As identified by State Intelligence, the Easter Sunday attack which brought death to 258 people and injured over 500, had been commissioned by the NTJ, a local Islamic extremist group. However, a few days after the attack, ISIS terrorists took responsibility for the brutal killings.
The Government took steps to ban the aforementioned organisations, following requests made by various civic groups including Muslim community organisations.
The ban is supposed to freeze all activities and properties of both organisations.