SL’s future needs communal harmony: PM

 Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe presenting Samurdhi membership to a new recipient in Amapara yesterday while Primary Industries and Social Empowerment Minister Daya Gamage looks on – Pic by Pradeep Pathirana 

• Says new frameworks and laws needed to counter global terror 
• But reforms should work to promote communal harmony 
• Insists Zahran’s terror network and NTJ wiped out
• Outlines need for broader cooperation on security and intelligence gathering  

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday said the Government has been able to defeat local ISIS followers and the National Thowheed Jama’ath (NTJ) organisation, but a new framework, including updated laws, still need to be developed to counter global terror in the future.

Speaking at the event to award 6000 new people membership in the Samurdhi program in Ampara, the Prime Minister insisted that Sri Lanka will have find ways to counter global terror networks by formulating a new framework, and restructuring the legal system to effectively meet new security challenges.    

“Today, we have already cleared out the ISIS followers in Sri Lanka, the NTJ has also been defeated, and we only have to work accordingly to prevent the growth of ISIS terrorism in the future, but this includes gathering citizens in harmony to go ahead in this journey. We shouldn’t repeat the mistake that we made in 1983, we shouldn’t corner any of the communities in the country,” he said. 

He said that all of Zahran’s followers are either dead or in jail, and that NTJ has no power, since it has already been defeated. He said that everyone involved in the terror attacks that were left alive were either under arrest, or have security forces after them. 

He noted that although the NTJ was defeated, it was not pragmatic to believe no terror attacks would happen in the future, because even though one of the minor terrorist groups was defeated, another group could be easily created. “They don’t have political objectives, their only intention is to kill. We have to be prepared to deal with this system,” he said, while stressing on the fact that there was not enough laws in the country to fully counter global terrorism. 

He said that Sri Lanka should learn from countries which have stronger laws, such as bans on going abroad to countries such as Syria, and arresting those who support terrorism, extremism, and violence. “We need to get the rules that apply to the situation of the country approved as soon as possible. We have allowed the Attorney General and the Minister of Justice to carry on the processes to get these rules approved, and they will do that,” he said. 

Wickremesinghe added that law alone was not enough. “We have to create a new framework, and we need united institutions that exchange information, but we need databases and we lack those. We need more forces with special skills to assist in clearing out terrorism, and we need to have all information on people who cross our boundaries. We also need information from intelligence agencies,” he explained. 

The Prime Minister pointed out most of the public tip-offs came from members of the Muslim community. “It is important. We shouldn’t let Muslims slide into extremism. They help us a lot, it was the Muslim Ministers who have requested us to implement regulations on madrasas. We are trying to bring these laws to unite the country,” he added.