{"id":96402,"date":"2019-12-13T16:59:46","date_gmt":"2019-12-13T23:59:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=96402"},"modified":"2019-12-13T16:59:46","modified_gmt":"2019-12-13T23:59:46","slug":"prime-ministers-message-to-the-armed-forces-of-sri-lanka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/12\/13\/prime-ministers-message-to-the-armed-forces-of-sri-lanka\/","title":{"rendered":"Prime Minister\u2019s message to the armed forces of Sri Lanka"},"content":{"rendered":"

MEDIA RELEASE Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa<\/em><\/span>
<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n

(Text of\nthe speech delivered by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa as the Chief Guest at\nthe graduation ceremony of the Defence Services Command and Staff College on 13\nDecember 2019.)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Venerable\nmembers of the Maha Sangha, clergymen of other faiths, Hon. Ministers and\nMembers of Parliament, Secretary of Defence, Chief of Defence Staff, Commanders\nof the Army, Navy and Air force, officers and members of the armed forces of\nSri Lanka, graduates of the Defence Services Command and Staff College, and\ndistinguished guests,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was\nhappy to accept this invitation to be the chief guest at the graduation\nceremony of the Defence Services Command and Staff College. This the first time\nI will be formally addressing members of the armed forces after being appointed\nPrime Minister following the presidential election of November 16. It was my\nsingular privilege to have been the Commander in Chief of the Sri Lankan armed\nforces at the time of its greatest achievement in defeating LTTE terrorism ten\nyears ago. This is an achievement that will lie to the credit of the Sri Lankan\narmed forces not only locally but internationally as well, for decades to come.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\nachieved this victory at a time when the entire world was floundering without\nbeing able to prevail conclusively over terrorism. The Sri Lankan achievement\nwas thus a beacon of light to the entire world and not just to Sri Lanka. It\nshould be remembered that the LTTE was officially designated as the deadliest\nterrorist organization in the world in January 2008 by the FBI, even in a\nsituation where they did not pose a direct threat to the USA. Organisations\nlike Al Qaeda which did pose a direct threat to the USA were ranked lower than\nthe LTTE by the Americans. That in itself gives a measure of the terrorist\norganization that we were faced with. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet we\ndefeated this terrorist organisation conclusively in 2009. Until we actually\ndefeated them, very few people thought that was possible. Some foreign\nofficials and representatives who met me at that time, told me not to try to do\nthe impossible. The lesson that we all have to learn from our own past is that\nnothing will be possible unless you have confidence in yourself and are willing\nto take risks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After I\ntook office as President in 2005, I appointed the best person I knew for the\njob, to the position of defence secretary and on his recommendations, appointed\nother suitable officers and put in place the military machine that won the war.\nToday that Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa is your President and\nCommander in Chief elected by the people with an overwhelming mandate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We once\nagain assume leadership of this nation at a time when our national sovereignty\nand national security is under threat. With just days to go to the tenth\nanniversary of the victory against the LTTE, we had the Easter Sunday suicide\nbombings carried out by an extremist Islamic organization. In comparison to\nmost countries in Asia we are a small island nation. But nothing seems to\nhappen here on a small scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the\nlate 1980s Sri Lanka was the most intense scene of conflict in the world, with\nviolent uprisings in the north as well as the south. Then we had the world\u2019s\ndeadliest terrorists with the capacity to carry out full scale ground\noperations and attacks by sea and air as well. This year we had the Easter\nSunday bombings which was the deadliest terrorist attack on civilian targets to\ntake place anywhere in Asia. Even though this is a small country, the\nchallenges that we have had to face are not small at all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have\nto take serious note of the fact that while there were no Indians among the\n2008 Mumbai attackers, all the Easter Sunday suicide bombers were Sri Lankans.\nThis is a threat that will have to be contained not only for Sri Lanka\u2019s sake\nbut for the well-being of all other nations in the region. This year, India\nwent on alert on at least two occasions due to information that Islamic\nterrorists from Sri Lanka were trying to enter India by boat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we\ndon\u2019t get on top of the situation, all neighbouring countries including India,\nthe Maldives, Bangladesh, and even countries further off like Myanmar, Thailand\nand Malaysia will be under threat. So this new terrorist threat will have to be\ncontained by whatever means necessary. Countries in our immediate neighbourhood\nand beyond are well aware of the danger and we can expect their fullest\ncooperation in this regard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike\nthe war against the LTTE which required ground, sea and air operations, this\nnew threat at this stage requires mainly intelligence operations. Unfortunately\nover the past five years, the intelligence services were rendered completely\ninoperative. Members of the intelligence services were persecuted, harassed,\nand jailed by the previous government on false charges. It was not just the\nintelligence services that had to face this situation. The entire high command\nof the armed forces during the war against the LTTE was brought before the\npolice with a great deal of media publicity to answer to all kinds of\nallegations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The war\ntime defence secretary, two chiefs of defence staff, two army commanders, four\ncommanders of the navy, two air force commanders, the Chief of National\nIntelligence and very senior officers of the army, police, STF and navy were\namong those who were humiliated in this manner. Some were even taken to courts\nand remanded for periods ranging from a few weeks to over one year. The idea\nwas to create the impression in the minds of Sri Lankans and the international\ncommunity that our armed forces were not war heroes but thieves and murderers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No\ngovernment of any country in the world has humiliated its own armed forces in\nthis manner. The armed forces are the protectors of the nation. The change of\ngovernment of January 2015 was almost as if a hostile foreign force had invaded\nand taken over Sri Lanka. A comprehensive programme was launched to harass and\ndemoralize the armed forces, to intimidate the Maha Sangha and to cow the\nmajority community into submission and to obtain through dirty politics what\ncould not be obtained through nearly four decades of civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of\nyou are aware of the manner in which the previous government went to the UN\nHuman Rights Council in Geneva and co-sponsored a resolution against Sri Lanka,\npledging among other things to institute war crimes trials against members of\nthe armed forces with the participation of foreign judges and prosecutors. That\nwas done by a Sri Lankan government elected by the people. Today, the people of\nthis country have elected a President with an overwhelming mandate, to rectify\nthe injustices of the past five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I take\nthis opportunity to pledge before the armed forces of Sri Lanka that the\nhumiliation and injustices that they were subject to over the past five years\nwill be rectified and restitution provided where necessary. Initiatives will be\ntaken at the international level to restore to our armed forces, the respect\nand dignity they deserve. We all know that there are various agendas at the\ninternational level operational with regard to our armed forces. There are\ninstances where certain foreign parties objected to promotions made within our\narmed forces. No sovereign country will allow such foreign interference in the\ninternal affairs of its armed forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have\nbeen elected to power to safeguard the national sovereignty and national\nsecurity of Sri Lanka and we will do whatever it takes to achieve that\nobjective. Overcoming the challenge that we were confronted with in the form of\nthe LTTE required military hardware and pitched battles with a terrorist army.\nThe new situation that we are faced with requires intelligence operations,\ncooperation with international intelligence agencies and certain strategic\nforeign policy initiatives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We, the\npolitical authorities will provide the armed forces of Sri Lanka with the\nleadership to achieve the objective of ensuring the national security of a\nsovereign Sri Lanka. That is our pledge to the armed forces and the people of\nSri Lanka. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wish\nall those graduating from the Defence Services Command and Staff College this\nyear, every success in your future services to this nation. You must all bear\nin mind your responsibilities as members of an illustrious military organization\nthat did what was thought impossible and amazed the entire world. There are\nseveral officers from friendly countries among those graduating and I wish you\ntoo, every success in your services to your respective nations.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank\nyou.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MEDIA RELEASE Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa (Text of the speech delivered by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa as the Chief Guest at the graduation ceremony of the Defence Services Command and Staff College on 13 December 2019.) Venerable members of the Maha Sangha, clergymen of other faiths, Hon. Ministers and Members of Parliament, Secretary of Defence, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[125,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-96402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mahinda-rajapaksa","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96402\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}