AN old law is being resurrected. Why? It is a question that the government must answer.

On Friday, the law minister quietly introduced a bill in the National Assembly to give military and civil armed forces the power to ‘pre-emptively’ detain any individual facing terrorism charges for a period of up to three months. The bill, which proposes several amendments to the Anti-Terrorism Act, was quickly referred to the relevant committee by the deputy Speaker without any discussion of its salient features. It aims to resurrect several amendments to Clause 11EEEE of the ATA which had lapsed in 2016.

Specifically, the bill seeks power for the authorities to detain any individual for up to three months if they........

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