Friday’s execution-style killing of two police officers in Battcaloa that shocked the country calls into question the extent to which the national security in the country has deteriorated over the last three years, the government top brass yesterday conceded.
The officers were shot dead while manning a checkpoint in the former war zone. Their hands were tightened behind their backs and their weapons seized.
Minister Dullas Alahapperuma said, the incident will not be taken in lighter vein by the government.
Meanwhile, a high level investigation is underway to hunt down the criminals.
Minister Dullas Alahapperuma said, “this is the result of the former government’s failure to address the problems related to national security then and there when they occurred.”
“Not only that, the former UNP regime were in the habit of politicizing the issues,”he said.
“The Aava group issue is a good example. When this criminal gang surfaced from Jaffna, the ministers of former government said that Aava is a gang cooked up by Gotabhaya Rajapaksa for political mileage.”
“They said there is no such a gang and that the Joint Opposition members were spreading rumours. The UNP ministers told the country that there were no such security threats,” he said.
“They also dismissed a request from the then Army Commander to control the situation,” he said.
“The former government had also taken steps to remove the names of some LTTE sympathisers from terrorism blacklists, he pointed out during a talk show on a national TV channel.
“The former government allowed leaders of those LTTE sympathizer organisations to come into the country,” he said.
“The UNP-led government offered their full support to these groups. They even went on to direct the media not to report incidents in the North,” he reflected.
“One must not forget that the former government had taken steps towards paralyzing the country’s intelligence service. Many security intelligence officers were put in prison during their time,” he added.
“It may not happen overnight, but we will bring the situation under control,” the minister stressed.
The minister also extended his condolences to the families affected by the deaths of two Police officers.