British Minister of State for Security and Economic Crime, Ben Wallace said the political leadership is extremely important to fight against terrorism with international connections.
He said this when he called on President Maithripala Sirisena at the President’s official residence in Colombo yesterday.
Stating that recent attacks by Islamist terrorists is part of the international terror campaign of the Islamist State (IS), Wallace emphasised the imperative need for cooperation among intelligence services all over the world to combat this menace.
While praising the President for the steps taken including the current successful operations to manage the situation, he referred to the political leadership displayed by President Sirisena to eliminate terrorism and said, he was confident that, “As President you will be able to deliver that”.
President Sirisena thanked the Queen, Prime Minister Therese May and the UK government for the condolences and support extended at this time. He thanked the Minister for sending intelligence experts to assist Sri Lankan intelligence services.
Minister Wallace said that Islam terrorists always adapt new strategies for the acts of terrorism every time and it is important for intelligence services in every country to share information with each other in this global effort to combat terrorism.
Wallace said that his country had set up the Joint Terrorism Analysing Centre to analyse all the intelligence reports from different investigating agencies to ensure every report is given due attention to avoid security lapses, he said. The Minister said UK could assist Sri Lanka to set up a similar central body to analyse intelligence reports.
Director General of UK Office for Security and Counter Terrorism, Tom Burn, Deputy High Commissioner Tom Hurd and Private Secretary to British Minister, Siddhartha Wickremesinghe and Additional Secretary to the President, Esala Weerakoon were also present.
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