SAARC should combat terrorism more forcefully - Rambukwella

by Ananth PALAKIDNAR

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In the wake of Mumbai coming under the terror attack, Minister of Foreign Employment Promotion and Welfare and Defence spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella has called for greater cooperation among the South Asian countries to combat terrorism more forcefully than in the past.

Commenting on the Mumbai mayhem in his capacity as the Defence spokesperson Minister Rambukwella told the Sunday Observer that it was the SAARC nations that have been badly hit by terrorism in the world. “Sri Lanka has been fighting against terrorism for the past thirty years.

Our country suffered terribly due to terrorism and we are still continuing with our struggle against this menace. A month ago the Marriot Hotel in Islamabad came under attack with several people losing their lives. Now the city of Mumbai has been attacked with scores of innocent civilians losing their lives and the city remained under the grip of terrorists for almost three days.

The new addition to SAARC, Afghanistan also experienced the adverse effects of terrorism in recent months. Therefore, terrorism remains a common problem to the SAARC countries and the Mumbai disaster has emphasised the need of South Asian nations and the international community at large to join hands to combat terrorism,” Rambukwella said. He said that whenever the leaders of SAARC meet they reiterate their commitment towards fighting terrorism. However, the terrorists are now trying to take the upper hand by establishing links with one another and crossing borders to carry out their attacks.

The SAARC nations must act more forcefully than ever before to thrash terrorism. Instead of being self-centred we have to think regionally to overcome terrorism and the Mumbai mayhem will bring all forces against terrorism together in the future I believe,” the Minister said.