A/HRC/43/19 26. The High Commissioner regrets that the Government declined to include the national anthem in the Tamil language during the official Independence Day celebrations on 4 February 2020, despite the preceding years’ practice of singing it in two languages as a significant gesture towards reconciliation. 27. In the wake of the attacks of April 2019, the Government did not finalize or proceed with the counter-terrorism bill that had been drafted to replace the Prevention of Terrorism Act.10 On 4 January 2020, it announced that it would be withdrawn. The Act has continued to be used, and was used as the basis for the arrest of individuals believed to be linked to the organizations responsible for the attacks. As of January 2020, more than 200 individuals were in detention and under judicial custody under the Act, including in relation to the attacks of April 2019. 28. Following the April attacks, the former President declared a state of emergency that was extended three times until 22 August 2019. Emergency powers were granted to the armed forces to search and arrest, which curtailed freedom of movement and of peaceful assembly and some fair trial guarantees. Extraordinary deployment of the armed forces in law enforcement operations continued after the lapse of the state of emergency and was still in effect at the time of writing. 29. Certain emergency regulations adopted following the terrorist attacks were perceived as targeting specific ethno-religious communities, in particular the prohibition of full-face covering for security reasons, including full-face motorbike helmets but also some traditional Muslim female dresses such as the burka or niqab. 11 This measure led to a rise in intolerance towards those observing religious dress codes, especially Muslim women in public institutions such as hospitals and schools and on public transport. 12 30. The terrorist attacks were followed by a backlash against religious minorities, particularly the Muslim community, with serious incidents reported in several places. In Negombo, a Catholic-majority town and target of one of the bomb explosions, refugees and asylum seekers from Pakistan and Afghanistan, including Ahmadis, Christians and Shia Muslims, were forced to leave their residences owing to pressure from landlords, neighbours and mobs, and took shelter in the police station and in religious centres until they were relocated. In May 2019, organized mobs conducted attacks against mosques and Muslim-owned shops in several locations in the districts of Puttalam and Kurunegala, causing widespread destruction of property and killing one person in Kottaramulla. These inter-ethnic tensions were fuelled notably by militant nationalist and extremist Buddhist religious groups that had been implicated in deadly anti-Muslim riots in Aluthgama in 2014 and in Ampara and Kandy districts in 2018, and dozens of fuel bomb attacks in 2017 (A/HRC/40/23, para. 58).13 31. On 27 May 2019, a group of special procedures sent a joint communication to the Government on the violence targeting religious minorities and the precarious living and security conditions of refugees and asylum seekers belonging to religious minorities. 14 At the end of his visit to Sri Lanka in August 2019, the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief highlighted the long-standing traditions of religious harmony and coexistence in Sri Lanka, expressing concern that tolerance and sustainable peace were at 10 11 12 13 14 6 The Supreme Court delivered its determination on the constitutionality of the bill and the observations of the Court were shared with Parliament and published on 14 November 2018 (available at www.parliament.lk/uploads/bills/gbills/scdet/6123.pdf). See http://documents.gov.lk/files/egz/2019/4/2121-01_E.pdf. See www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=24918&LangID=E. See also the communications sent to the Government of Sri Lanka on these incidents over the years by various special rapporteurs, dated 26 June 2014 (available at https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/ TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile?gId=16811), 13 June 2017 (available at https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile?gId=23155) and 27 March 2018 (available at https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublic CommunicationFile?gId=23715). See the communication dated 27 May 2019 (available at https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResults Base/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile?gId=24617). The Government sent two responses, dated 29 May 2019 (available at https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadFile? gId=34716) and 31 July 2019 (available at https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/ DownLoadFile?gId=34809).