US report highlights MR’s counter terrorism failures
by Dhaneshi Yatawara
The 2015 Country Report issued by the US State Department highlighted
counter-terrorism failures of the previous government, Foreign Minister
Mangala Samaraweera said.
At a media briefing, Samaraweera dismissed Opposition accusations of
Sri Lanka’s security being vulnerable and threats by Liberation Tigers
continue to persist.
The ‘Country Report on Terrorism and Patterns of Global Terrorism
2015’by the US Department of State, took into consideration, events and
issues of the year 2014.
Minister Samaraweera told journalists that Opposition Leader Nimal
Siripala de Silva had made accusations about increased vulnerabilities
since the new government took office whereas the report looked into
incidents in 2014, when Mahinda Rajapaksa’s administration was in
office.
“The report pointed at counter-terrorism errors of the previous
government,” the Minister added.
Minister Samaraweera said that the island’s security was intact and
this report was no indication of a rising threat of the LTTE or other
armed groups. “It is a slogan of the Abhayaramaya faction of the Sri
Lanka Freedom party, for the forthcoming poll, as they have no other
issues to talk of,” he said.
He said it was important to note that the US report had recorded
similar failures in counter terror activities in 2012 and 2013. ‘All
these indicate that there had been a failure in countering terrorism,”
he said. |