Sri Lanka bats for safety of civilians

Citing the importance of the waterways around Sri Lanka, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Tuesday argued for a greater naval role for safety of civilian traffic. Addressing a counter-terror conference here over video link from Colombo, Mr. Wickremesinghe said more terror attacks were likely to target the maritime sector in the future.

“Non-state actors targeting logistics and infrastructure sector will become a nightmare in the future. Complexities of maritime security require navies to rethink their role,” the Prime Minister said during his address at the leadership section of the annual counter-terror conference by the India Foundation.

The connector

Indicating at Sri Lanka’s role in ensuring global maritime security, Mr. Wickremesinghe said the Indian Ocean region was the connector between the energy sources of the Gulf region and energy consumers of Asia. In this context, he lauded the March 5-7 conference of the Indian Ocean Region in Jakarta where the Ministers also adopted the “IORA Declaration on Preventing and Countering Terrorism and Violent Extremism.”