Prime Minister calls on SAARC countries to join together to combat terrorism and organized crimes

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday called on the South Asian countries to join hands together to combat cross border terrorism and organized crimes.

Speaking at the Inaugural Session of the eighth meeting of the SAARC Ministers of Law and Order (Interior/ Home Affairs) in Colombo the Prime Minister said that proposing suggestions in preventing terrorism and organized crime in the post-terrorism period is a challenge both to the governments and societies.

Pointing out that Pakistan, India and a number of other countries are still under the pressure of terrorism which plays its role through cyber-attacks, internet crimes and other nontraditional ways, the Premier stressed that they should be determined to rise together collectively and regional wise against terrorism.

The Prime Minister said that Sri Lanka has fortunately brought an end to the arm conflict and routed out terrorism, but terrorism has started raising its head in different forms.

“We find that merely bringing an arms conflict to an end cannot uproot the means of terrorism,” he said.

He stressed that terrorist activities should not be permitted to raise its head in whatever form. Solutions should be found to these issue through suitable strategies.

“We have to be committed not to allow or tolerate any acts of terrorism, to condemn and to take effective actions in the case of terrorism in our region,” the Premier emphasized.

He said the other major problem is the narcotics. “Drugs and terrorism have connections,” he stressed.

“Our region is abundant with illicit drug producers, drug suppliers and drug addicts. Thus, merely enforcing the laws against the scourge of drugs would not be sufficient to curb the illegal drug trade in our part of the world,” he said.

The Premier said law enforcement actions alone are not enough to deal with the problem, but the treatment, counseling, rehabilitation, and the awareness programs are needed to effectively curb the drug menace.

He pointed out that many of the SAARC countries are depending on tourism, which paves the way for the drug trafficking, money laundering and human trafficking.

The Sri Lankan Prime Minister said that to curb these crimes new legal enactments are necessary and called on all the countries in the region to join hands against terrorism and the narcotics racket. He added that this would pave the way to reach the region’s development goals.

Pix by Ruwan Walpola