'Sri Lanka still face potential threat from terrorism'

Sri Lanka has said that in addition to the threat of terrorism, it also faces a potential threat from remnants of terror groups like the LTTE that were involved in previous insurgencies in the country.
"Some of these groups are trying to reorganise within Sri Lanka and mobilise people to once again take up their extreme left wing causes. There is information that some of these groups have started to establish ties to LTTE-linked agents to create further problems in Sri Lanka," Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has said.
"Some of their activities include radicalising students and encouraging them to take to the streets in various protests. Though such activities are still in their early stages, they pose another serious national security concern that must remain a consideration," he added.

He also expressed concern over attempts by local Muslim groups to link up with global Islamic terrorist organizations, the Ministry website noted.
"Since the LTTE's defeat, some of these groups have begun to engage in activities that stem far beyond self-protection. There is information that some of these groups have even tried to link up with global Islamic terrorist organizations. This is a situation that requires careful monitoring," he said.
Outlining the action to ensure internal security in the country he said," the national identity system has been significantly improved from the previous manual, paper-based system under which criminal and terrorist elements could very easily obtain forged identity cards".

"This enabled terrorists to easily carry out suicide bombings," he added.

"Similarly, the problem of people coming into Sri Lanka and staying illegally under false pretenses will be addressed through the introduction of a proper border control system in which biometric information will be incorporated into the passport and international standards used for identity verification," he said.
He also said that during the period of the war, it was not only the Sinhalese and Tamil communities that were affected by the terrorist separatism of the LTTE, but also the Muslims.
"After the LTTE started engaging in ethnic cleansing in the North in the early 1980s, it expelled the Sinhalese community from Jaffna and soon after turned its attention to the Muslims," the Defence secretary said.

"Several massacres were carried out at mosques in the east and the LTTE expelled more than 75,000 Muslim residents from the North in October 1990. This was followed by further brutal attacks on Muslims in vulnerable villages near LTTE dominated territory," he added.
During the LTTE campaign, Muslims also started to organise for their own protection against the LTTE, he said.