(COLOMBO, LANKAPUVATH) – Sri Lanka Army Commander Lieutenant General Mahesh Senanayake today assured that the security forces on a priority basis have taken all necessary steps ensure security for all schools and urged the parents to send their children to schools.
“I emphasize that since members of the Armed Forces and the Police on priority basis have taken all necessary steps to ensure security arrangements for all schools, parents should now send their children to schools without resorting to irrational fears,” the Army Commander said in a special statement.
He said following the terrorist attack on churches and hotels that killed 258 people and its impact on 21 April 2019, normalcy and day-to-day life of the society was badly crippled and the Police and the Armed Forces with dedicated commitment provided security to all the places to ensure security and normalcy in the country.
The commander said the Army and sister services are fully and confidently assisting law enforcement authorities to apprehend the culprits of the suicide attacks and go ahead with necessary searches and investigations.
“Those operations are effectively advancing now with a marked progress as at now,” he added.
A satisfactory level of attendance of employees at private and state sector has been reported in the recent few days as a result of intensified security arrangements in place, prompting day-today-life to reach full normalcy as seen in the past few weeks.
The Army Commander noted that however, irrespective of all security measures in place for students to attend schools when the second school reopened, many parents trusting unconfirmed stories, various rumors and gossip were reluctant to send in their children to schools.
He said that although several violent acts from some areas were reported after the terrorist attack, members of the Armed Forces and the Police have been able to apprehend many of them and bring them to justice after bringing those violent acts under control.
In order to avoid any recurrence of such violent acts, Armed Forces and the Police have now jointly launched a program.
Lieutenant General Senanayake pointed out that during the past two days of Vesak, a security network was in effect covering all Buddhist places of worship and all Vesak programs ended successfully without any untoward incident or breach of peace whatsoever across the island as a result.
“The Army as the ‘Rata Rakina Jaathiya’ assures you that all precautionary security measures for protection of all citizens and property of this country have been now put in place as a force always on vigil and requests from parents again to let all students who are the strength of our future generation to resume their school attendance without any fear or suspicion as their security has now been prioritized.”
The Commander of Army also urged everyone in the country to cooperate with the armed forces to carry out their security duties effectively.
