CAT/C/LKA/CO/3-4 confinement. The Committee expresses its concern that 475 new cases of enforced disappearance were transmitted by the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances to the State party under its urgent procedure during the period 2006-2010, and the claims that military, police, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and paramilitary groups are the alleged perpetrators. It is also concerned at reports suggesting that the sweeping powers granted under anti-terrorist legislation contributed to the large number of new disappearances (arts. 2, 11, 12, 13 and 16). The State party should: (a) Take all the necessary measures to ensure that enforced disappearance is established as an offence in its domestic law; (b) Ensure that the cases of enforced disappearances are thoroughly and effectively investigated, that suspects are prosecuted and those found guilty punished with sanctions proportionate to the gravity of their crimes; (c) Ensure that the any individual who has suffered harm as the direct result of an enforced disappearance has access to information about the fate of the disappeared person, as well as to fair and adequate compensation; (d) Adopt measures to clarify the outstanding cases of enforced disappearances and comply with the request to visit by the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (A/HRC/16/48, para. 450). The Committee furthermore calls upon the State party to consider ratifying the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. Anti-terrorism measures 10. While noting the State party’s decision to lift the long-standing state of emergency on 31 August 2011, the Committee expresses concern that 24 hours before it ended new regulations were decreed under the Prevention of Terrorism Act No. 48 of 1979 (PTA). The Committee is concerned about the sweeping nature of these PTA regulations, which unduly restrict legal safeguards for persons suspected or charged with a terrorist or related crime, as pointed out by the Human Rights Committee and the Special Rapporteur on the question of torture. The Committee notes that the President continued to invoke Section 12 of the Public Security Ordinance (Chapter 40) to allow the armed forces to retain policing powers in all 25 districts (Presidential Order of 6 August 2011).1 In this connection, the Committee notes with concern that with the lapsing of the state of emergency, the limited safeguards contained in Emergency (Miscellaneous Provisions and Powers) Regulation, No. 1 of 2005, which applied when arrests were made by armed forces, apparently are no longer in effect under the new PTA regulations (e.g. a person arrested by a member of the armed forces had to be handed over to the police within 24 hours) (arts. 2 and 16). The State party should ensure the respect for fundamental legal safeguards and take all necessary measures to ensure that its legislative, administrative and other antiterrorism measures are compatible with the provisions of the Convention, especially with article 2, paragraph 2. Coerced confessions 11. While noting the clarification given by the State party in respect of the inadmissibility of evidence obtained through torture under the Evidence Ordinance Act 1985, the Committee remains concerned about the fact that the PTA allows all confessions obtained by police at or above the rank of Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) to be admissible (sect. 16) placing the burden of proof on the accused that a confession was obtained under duress (sect. 17(2)). The Committee is also concerned at reports that in most 4