Political leadership extremely important when fighting terrorism: British State Minister for Security

The British Minister of State for Security and Economic Crime Ben Wallace said that political leadership is extremely important to fight against terrorism with international connections. He said this when he called on President Maithripala Sirisena yesterday at the President’s Official Residence in Colombo.

Stating that the recent attacks by Islamist terrorists are a part of the international terror campaign of the Islamic State (IS), Rt. Wallace emphasised the imperative need for cooperation among the intelligence services all over the world to combat this menace.

While praising the President for the steps taken, including the current successful operations to manage the situation, he referred to the political leadership displayed by President Sirisena to eliminate terrorism and said he was confident that “as President, you will be able to deliver that”. 

President Sirisena thanked Queen Elizabeth, Prime Minister Therese May, and the Government of the United Kingdom for the condolences and support extended at this time of difficulty. He also thanked the Minister for sending intelligence experts to assist Sri Lankan intelligence services.

Minister Wallace said that Islamist terrorists always adopt new strategies for the acts of terrorism every time, and it is important for intelligence services in every country to share information with each other in this global effort to combat terrorism.

The British Minister, who was an ex-military intelligence officer before joining politics, said that his country was totally concentrating on IRA terrorists, when suddenly Al Qaeda attacks took place in London and Manchester. “Now we have set up the Joint Terrorism Analysing Centre to analyse all the intelligence reports from different investigating agencies to ensure every report is given due attention to avoid security lapses,” he said. The Minister said UK could assist Sri Lanka in setting up a similar central body to analyse intelligence reports.

UK Office for Security and Counter Terrorism Director General Tom Burn, Deputy High Commissioner Tom Hurd, Private Secretary to the British Minister Siddhartha Wickramasinghe, and Additional Secretary to the President Esala Weerakoon were also present on this occasion.