Friday, 26th September 2014
Public Administration Minister WDJ Seneviratne has, on behalf of Sri Lanka, proposed a series of measures to counter maritime piracy in the SAARC region.
The proposals were made at the sixth meeting of SAARC ministers of Interior/Home Affairs in Kathmandu, Nepal last Friday (19).
Minister Seneviratne said that the SAARC region would never be able to tackle the situation unless an extensive intelligence gathering network was set up. Nothing could be as important as having a mechanism to share information among member states, he pointed out. "It is our fervent wish that this mechanism became operational soon."
Commenting on the threat of terrorism, Minister Seneviratne said: "Sri Lanka has established SAARC Terrorist Offences Monitoring Desk (STOMD) and SAARC Drug Offences Monitoring Desk (SDOMD) in Colombo with the financial assistance of the Indian Government.
"Human trafficking is yet another threat which is flourishing in our region. It needs to be dealt with. After the conclusion of the conflict we are now engaged in curbing trafficking of narcotics.".
"Several key developments in the region have also created new challenges which warrant even greater coordination and calibration of efforts by the member states. We the SAARC member states can engage ourselves more actively to cripple the mobility of terrorists and criminals. Mobility is an essential requirement for the capability development and operations of global and regional terrorists groups. By enhancing border control security, intelligent networking and preventing the opportunities, the member states will be in a position to restrict movements, interactions, networking among terrorists and criminals.
"Towards this end my government is thankful to the SAARC in general and particularly wishes to appreciate the efforts made by the member nations in introducing the subject matter on Maritime security in the SAARC for a concept accepted by all member nations. Sri Lanka being an island nation is conscious of the threats posed by the growing incidents of maritime piracy in the Indian ocean and have fully enforced the proposals discussed, on information sharing, enhancing maritime domain awareness, strengthening national legal framework and establishment of effective intelligence network, among others in the SAARC region as effective to counter the menace."
From: http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=110930
