(COLOMBO, LANKAPUVATH) –Sri Lanka Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe stressing that the activities of the IS and the National Thowheed Jamath organization led by Zahran Hashim have been completely wiped out by now, said steps must be taken to ensure such terrorist organizations do not raise its head again in the country.
The Premier said the country should proceed with reconciliation among the people while restructuring the existing methods to ensure that these terrorist activities will not recur in the country.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe made these comments at the national function held at Ampara Municipal Council grounds on May 30, 2019 to provide Samurdhi benefits for 600,000 families.
The Premier said mistakes did in 1983 should not be repeated and no community in the country should be sidelined.
The Prime Minister said on the same day of the bomb attack, he met with the security forces and discussed the situation. The security forces promptly began the work and a large number of information was collected on the same day.
He asserted that all members of Zahran Hashim’s group , National Thowheed Jama’ath (NTJ) have either died, been killed or captured and added that also, those who had links with the organization have also been arrested, while several others are to be arrested.
However, he cautioned that the terrorism may not be ended even if the whole NTJ is eliminated. “This is not done by a large organization such as the LTTE. When one group eliminated, another group can be formed. They have no political purpose. Their purpose is to kill and die. Even two people can carry out an attack.”
The Premier said therefore, new laws should be introduced to deal with any possible threats from such terrorist organizations as existing laws are not adequate.
“There is a need for bringing new laws to face this kind of terrorism. And we need to restructure the present system. In the past, the structure was created to face LTTE terrorism. Today a new structure has to be put in place to eliminate ISIS terrorism.”
Primary Industries and Social Empowerment Minister Daya Gamage, Deputy Minister of Petroleum Resources Development Anoma Gamage, Primary Industries and Social Empowering Minister of State Ali Saheer Moulana, Deputy Minister Of Health Faizal Cassim, Parliamentarians MIM Mansoor, Bandulalal Bandarigoda, Mohamed Ismail and many other politicians, security officials and state officials participated.
