Security measures in place for festive season

By Lionel Yodhasinghe

With the new laws introduced on Monday, the security forces and the police would take every possible action to make Colombo city a safer place for the people to move freely ahead of the festive season, Defence authorities told the Sunday Observer yesterday.

This would help day to day activities as the law and order is maintained to ensure the free movement of people in the metropolis during the Christmas and New Year season, the sources said.

A special operation mechanism which has combined the three forces and the police in the city introduced on the directive of Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa after the terrorist attack on former Pakistani High Commissioner three months ago and this special unit commanded by Overall Operational Commander Major General Lawrence Fernando has been directed to run this operation to prevent terrorism particularly in the Colombo city and in the Western Province in general.

The attempt on Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa's life was only the second major incident which took place after the attack on the former High Commissioner.

The presence of the security forces and police in the night on city streets has checked vehicle robberies and other burglaries in the city to a great extent.

People should not entertain unfounded fears of such security measures as this would not hinder the people's day to day activities, the sources said.

Major General Fernando called upon the public to bear any inconvenience due to the operations of the special security measures and asked them to cooperate with the security forces as such constant checks would benefit the people to save their lives as well as prevent damage to their property.

"Preventing terrorism is imperative in the city as terrorists could target vital economic points and sensitive locations to destabilise normalcy and our main aim is to prevent terrorist attacks on key installations. The forces cannot do this without the cooperation of the people and such collective responsibility would help ease the situation", Major General Fernando said.

He also said that the new regulations are in keeping with international Conventions and other legally binding international legal instruments relating to the prevention and suppression of terrorism to which Sri Lanka is a party to, including in particular the United Nations Security Council Resolution No. 1373 of 2001 adopted on September 28, 2001, under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, wherein it is obligatory to take meaningful measures to prevent and suppress terrorism.

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