Sri Lanka, Oct. 22 -- The Supreme Court on Tuesday started considering 22 petitions challenging the "Protection of the State from Terrorism" Bill, which was recently tabled in Parliament.

This is one of three repressive bills published in the gazette by the government within a week, starting from September 30. The three bills are: The Protection of the State from Terrorism Bill (PSTB), the Prevention of Foreign Terrorist Fighters Bill and the Prevention of Organised Crime Bill.

The PSTB was published on September 22 and presented in Parliament on October 6, and the other two were published on September 30.

We call them repressive bills solely because they have been introduced with the specific intent of suppressing certain forces tha...