Sri Lanka Cabinet clears move for new intelligence services law

Sri Lankan Cabinet on Wednesday decided to draft a new law to strengthen the country's intelligence services, according to a senior minister, months after the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks.

The National Intelligence Act would give priority to the national security and ensure that the intelligence personnel would not be under any danger in the future, government's spokesperson and minister, Bandula Gunawardena said.

The government's move to strengthen its intelligence services comes months after a string of suicide attacks, struck churches and luxury hotels frequented by foreigners in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday on April 21 last year, killing 258 people, including Indians and shattering a decade of peace in the island nation since the end of the brutal civil war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

"The intelligence services are a key component of the state. They were made to suffer during the last government," Gunawardena said.

He alleged the work of intelligence agencies got restricted during the previous government.

"Work of intelligence agencies have been restricted because of lack of legal provisions to empower them. The objective of introducing the National Intelligence Act is to prevent these shortcomings," a statement issued by the government after the Cabinet meeting said.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in his election campaign pledged that the state intelligence services would be strengthened if he is voted to power.

Since being elected with a clear majority in the November 16 polls, Rajapaksa had revamped the state intelligence by appointing Brigadier Suresh Sallay, a former Militaryman, to head it.

His entire campaign was based on how the previous regime of under President Maithripala Sirisena and former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had neglected national security, leading to a massive intelligence failure in averting the Eastern Sunday attacks.