(UTV|COLOMBO) – The British Minister of State for Security and Economic Crime, Ben Wallace stated that the political leadership is extremely important to fight against terrorism with international connections.
He made this remarks when called on President Maithripala Sirisena on Friday (03) at the President’s Official Residence in Colombo.
Stating that recent attacks by terrorists is a part of the international terror campaign of the Islamist State (IS), Wallace emphasised the imperative need for cooperation among the 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 Queen Elizabeth, Prime Minister Therese May and the Government of the United Kingdom (UK) for the condolences and support extended at this time of difficulty. He thanked the Minister for sending Intelligence Experts to assist Sri Lankan intelligent services.
Wallace stressed that 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.
The British Minister, who is a former Military Intelligence Officer before joining politics, said that his country was totally concentrating on IRA terrorists, when suddenly Al-Qaeda attacks took place in London and Manchester. “Now we have 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, adding that the Minister said the UK could assist Sri Lanka to set up a similar central body to analyse intelligence reports.
The Director General of UK Office for Security and Counter Terrorism, Tom Burn, the Deputy High Commissioner Tom Hurd, and the Private Secretary to British Minister, Siddhartha Wickremasinghe, and the Additional Secretary to the President, Esala Weerakoon were also present on this occasion.
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