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There is still a threat: Gota
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Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said that the possible re-emergence of the LTTE is one of the biggest challenges faced by the country in the post conflict period and that the military has identified the threat and steps have been taken to make Sri Lanka’s intelligence services stronger and establish camps in strategic locations.
“LTTE front organisations can encourage and facilitate ex LTTE cadres and those who escaped from the military during the war and pave way for a re-emergence. Those who did not surrender are probably following the ideology of the LTTE. Even though 11,000 of them were rehabilitated there must be cadres who are not 100 per cent rehabilitated,” he said.
“We cannot forget everything just because we defeated them militarily. Still the threat is there. There are lots of enemies in the international front taking active steps to derail the path the government is taking to achieve economic development,” he said speaking at a lecture on the topic, ‘Future Challenges of National Security in Sri Lanka’ organised by the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute and ANCL.
“That is why we still maintain a strong military and that is why a considerable portion of the budget is given to the military. Still it is only two and a half years after defeating the LTTE militarily,” he added.
He charged that certain groups for political means charge that the country is heading towards militarisation. Presently day to day law and order is maintained by the police. “To establish a camp anywhere in Sri Lanka is a decision and concern of the country as it is a sovereign state,” he noted.
“Currently the front organisations of the LTTE and their supporters are taking internal problems of Sri Lanka to the international level,” he said.
The Defence Secretary also noted that the country will have to face the geopolitical situation due to the strategic location the country.
“Organisations such as Global Tamil Forum and British Tamil Forum pressurise the international community and western governments to put more pressure on Sri Lanka by all means. They want the international community to look negatively at Sri Lanka and that is how the pressure is taken on us,” he said.
The Defence Secretary charged that these LTTE front organisations are closely associated with the international media and that is how they spread the message just like they did by airing the video footages through Channel-4. These organisations also run schools by the name of Thamil Cholai which gives education to about 15,000 students. (Supun Dias)
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