In an exclusive interview with the Daily News, he spoke of the efforts taken by the government in tackling the Coronavirus pandemic and also of the arduous task of rebuilding the intelligence services of the country and bringing it under one umbrella and the challenges he has to face in carrying out his tasks.
He also highlighted the important task the media plays in all matters concerning the country and urged the media to report responsibly and without prejudice, and with the country’s best interest at heart.
Following are excerpts of the interview with Defence Secretary Maj. Gen. Kamal Gunaratne.
Q. How are you addressing the present pandemic situation?
A. This I feel is the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic where the first was the Chinese lady who was affected and then the tour guide and later, the Navy cluster.
The second wave was when the prison inmate was detected and thereafter the Kandakadu and related rehabilitation centres’ cluster. Now it is the third wave. So far, we managed to contain the first and second waves effectively.
Until this lady was discovered from the Brandix group, for almost 70 days there was no community spread reported. Due to the lack of responsibility of certain officials of that particular company the third wave has gone this far. The moment the workers reported obvious symptoms they should have handled it better. As a result of the irresponsible behaviour of the manager and the doctor in that company, the company’s reputation has been tarnished.
This reputed company is one of the leading private enterprises which bring in millions upon millions of foreign exchange to Sri Lanka and they are doing a great service and the company cannot be held responsible.
However, what has happened is a thing of the past, but we must now look into what needs to be done to handle this situation. When the Coronavirus was spreading around the world, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa ensured the mechanism was set to deal with the situation.
The President used his initiative and started the mechanism way before the pandemic hit the country and the military was ready, the Health Department was ready, police and the government officials including Government Agents (GA) and Grama Sevaka Niladharis were all ready.
Everyone got together and the Task Force was placed under the leadership of the Army Commander and the situation was brought under control. Even when the Navy cluster was detected, we were ready to handle the situation. During the first outbreak, there were just around 11 deaths and when the second wave hit the country, we were ready to handle it.
Q. With so many cases being reported in many areas, is a lock down on the cards?
A. Well, basically we don’t want to lock down the country. When one area is found and we find that it is spreading, then we will lock down that particular area. For example, when this started we had to lock down three areas in the Gampaha police division.
If the situation gets worse, we will lock down the affected areas, though reluctantly. As we regard the safety and security of the people as the most important factor, the decisions on whether a lock down is required would be taken as a last resort.
Even the President does not want to lock down the country. Currently though there is no requirement to do so. But if the situation worsens and people are affected like we see in certain countries and many deaths are reported, then we will take that decision at that time.
So far, we are not in that situation, but let’s wait and see how the virus behaves. The virus is running a race and we have to identify its course and we should overtake the virus and reach that area and take necessary steps to prevent its impact by evacuating the whole area into quarantine centres or lock down the area. This is a race and contact tracing is very important and people being truthful is also vital. If so, we have nothing to worry and we can handle this situation.
Q. It is a known fact that there were obvious lapses in security during the previous government. Have you ensured that these shortcomings have been rectified?
A. I am confident as I am not a defence secretary who has come from the administrative service or any other place. I am a military officer. During the Good Governance regime, there were five Defence Secretaries. Of them Gen. Kottegoda was a very experienced and knowledgeable man, but by the time he came in and shut the stable the horse had already bolted.
It is a well-known fact that the position of Defence Secretary is the most important position as if a country’s national security is in danger that country cannot progress. For investors to come in with confidence and invest in our country, national security must be ensured. Without national security, no investor will want to come and invest and without investment there is no progress and this will affect the country’s economy.
If the people think that their lives are in danger they will not perform at their best as they would be living in fear. Hence, to address all these issues, you need to have a person with experience and knowledge as the Defence Secretary.
Perhaps one might think I am overestimating myself, but I consider myself to be a man who has a wealth of experience in this field. I was a soldier for over 35 years and with the wealth of experience, knowledge and the research and brainstorming we have done, we can sense what might happen. Being soldiers, we can sense and feel what could happen. If any government considers national security as the primary goal above all others that government should ensure that there is a proper intelligence network.
Q. There are allegations that the previous regime weakened and destabilised the intelligence networks. What have you done to strengthen the intelligence networks?
A. The President too held the position as the Defence Secretary previously and with his wealth of experience, he advised me to gather all the intelligence bodies as soon as I assumed office, and that is exactly what I did.
When I assumed office, I found that all the intelligence services were at each other’s backs and not in good terms. During the previous government, military intelligence in particular was completely destroyed. I am not pointing fingers, but it was a sad state of affairs as I know how hard it was to build military intelligence to that level of professionalism. A lot of hard work was put into it by military personnel with the professional advice and guidance by military intelligence professionals from many other countries.
With all that hard work, military intelligence was built to a very high standard and it was proven for example by the arrival of KP under military intervention and also the targeted hit on Tamil Chelvam. The pilot executed a precision attack but it was possible because of the precise information presented by the military intelligence units.
Unfortunately, it was sad to see the previous government unleashing the CID and other state intelligence bodies on the military intelligence and other professionals who had done so much for the country. They were taken into custody, disgraced and put behind bars. Some military intelligence officers were made to spend around three months at the CID and then remanded. When these things happened the morale of these units hit rock bottom. It was a nosedive from being at the top right to the bottom.
We have to do our job of ensuring national security not just seriously, but religiously. There is a big difference between seriously and religiously. Seriously you do your job, but when you do your job religiously, it means you go beyond what your job requires.
Q. Were you aware that with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s victory you would be made the Defence Secretary?
A. No, I was not aware. But if I was aware then I would have done my homework better and prepared for the job much better. It was a sudden appointment and I was handed over my appointment letter and the next day I took over duties. However, I knew what I had to do and my number one priority was to revamp the military intelligence services. Thereafter, I took steps to bring all of the country’s intelligence services under one umbrella under the Defence Ministry.
Prior to that, I had several rounds of discussions with the police and military and other relevant experts such as Prof. Rohan Gunaratne (an international defence and terrorism expert) and used their inputs. As the man who is responsible to create conditions for the people to live in peace and harmony, I managed to re-establish the friendship, brotherhood and comradeship among these intelligence units to ensure these services work at their highest level.
Q. Are you confident that terrorism has been eradicated from Sri Lanka and there is no further threat?
A. Unfortunately, certain elements of the Tamil diaspora are willing to spend any amount of money and there were so many development even after the war. In 2009, we eradicated terrorism and reduced it to just an ideology. We successfully eradicated terrorism but unfortunately could not rid the country of separatism. As the separatist ideology still exists among some corrupt politicians who ruined the lives of innocent Tamil civilians of this country. They are still trying, but we have handled it.
The second point is extremism. It is unfortunate that the Easter Sunday attacks happened and they are a big eye opener for everyone. Now we have taken control and as the Defence Secretary, I assure you that now there is no room for such extremist groups to carry out any attacks such as the Easter Sunday attacks. I give that assurance to the people. However, I request people to be vigilant and if anything unusual is noticed, please notify the authorities. That does not mean everything is fine, we still have a lot to do and we cannot be complacent.
Q. Recently, over a comment made by you at a particular function, you came under criticism claiming you had praised MP Rishad Bathiudeen. What really happened?
A. I attended a function at the Vavuniya Kachcheri auditorium and having praised the former GA Mrs. P.S.M. Charles for her support back then, I only mentioned that Bathiudeen was the Resettlement Minister at the time. A certain TV channel misinterpreted my comment where I spoke of the military and removed parts of my speech and coined them together in an attempt to discredit me. People were really appreciating what I had been doing all this time, but due to the actions of this particular TV channel which misinterpreted my comments with ulterior motives, all the hard work I had done was turned upside down and people started slinging mud at me.
I have been threatened by the underworld, but I have worked with total commitment. A certain group destroyed that good name and all the hard work done by me was forgotten in an instant. But, that’s alright as this is a democratic country and they have the freedom to criticise me and voice their opinion. That does not mean that I will stop all that I was doing and call it quits. In fact, I am more determined and will do a better job.
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