Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian M A Sumanthiran said Sri Lankan president Ranil Wickremesinghe did not have the authority to declare parts of the Colombo as High Security Zones under the country's Official Secret Act.
"A president without a people's mandate is trying to implement non-existent laws to suppress public dissent," Sumanthiran told reporters in Jaffna.
High Security Zones have been deployed by the state for years to seize and occupy vast swathes of land across the North-East. Many such areas remain under military occupation.
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