The international seminar, ‘Defeating Terrorism - The Sri Lanka Experience’ - to shares Sri Lanka’s experience on military victory to defeat the LTTE will begin today in Colombo.
The three-day seminar, first of its kind to be held in Sri Lanka is to be attended by over 300 delegates, including defence chiefs, commanders, several world-renowned experts, professionals, academics and senior military officials.
Over 42 countries are to take part in the seminar, which will beheld under the guidance of Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa. The deliberations will focus on a variety of themes such as ‘Global Terrorism’, ‘Terrorist Trends’, ‘Predominance of both Political and Military Efforts’, ‘Reconciliation’, ‘Threats to National and International Security Concerns’, ‘Nation Building’, ‘Resettlement’, ‘Effective Counter Mechanism’, ‘Prevention of Resurgence of Violence’, ‘Re-evaluation of Traditional Approaches’, etc.
Sri Lanka Army during these sessions will elaborate how it conducted the Humanitarian Operation with all those field Commanders at hand. In specific sessions, they will serve as panelists to respond to any queries or clarifications.
The sessions would contribute to broaden understanding and exchange of knowledge among delegates with relevance to the Sri Lankan perspective, being the first country in the 21st century to have defeated terrorism in the world. The speakers will elaborate on lessons learnt and reasons that led to the military success.
Among those slated to address the sessions where several working groups are expected to present separate papers include Prof G.L Peiris, Minister of External Affairs, Secretary to President, Mr Lalith Weerathunga, Secretary Defence, Mr Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Central Bank Governor Dr Ajith Nivard Cabraal, in addition to other resource personnel. The keynote address during the inaugural session is to be delivered by Mr Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Secretary Defence.
The seminar is to review how the Sri Lankan approach transcended beyond the traditional approach and succeeded in defeating the LTTE with learning from years of fighting an insurgency.
Defenec Secretary Rajapaksa will ve the Chief Guest. The Sri Lankan delegates, composed of war veterans including resource personnel of the Navy and Air Force will enumerate all other contributory factors in its fight against terrorism and the final march to victory.