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.