By Dasun Edirisinghe
Army security provided to former Defence Secretary Lt. Col. (Retd.) Gotabhaya Rajapaksa too would be removed in stages according to the government’s policy decision to hand over the VIP security to the police commandos, the Defence Ministry said yesterday.
Addressing the media at the Government Information Department, Defence Secretary Karunasena Hettiarachchi said the Police Special Task Force would ensure and take responsibility for the former Defence Secretary’s security without any lapse.
Answering a query by The Island, he said, at present 50 Army commandos were deployed in the security detail of Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, who was the Defence Secretary 2005-2015. The government forces crushed the LTTE terrorists under Rajapaksa stewardship.
The government also removed the army security from former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was the commander-in-chief when the war was prosecuted to a successful conclusion, recently on same grounds. His army commandos were replaced with STF personnel coming under the police.
“We will not remove Army security from former President at once and it will be implemented in two stages,” Hettiarachchi said, adding they had already removed 50 commandos from 103 military security contingent of former President Rajapaksa.
The Defence Secretary said once the STF contingent settled in, the remaining 53 soldiers would be removed from former President’s security squad. “It is a process that takes some time.”
Hettiarachchi said likewise they would not remove all 50 soldiers from former Defence Secretary’s security contingent and it, too, would be replaced in stages after all commandos were removed from his brother, the former President.
The providing STF security to VIPs was handled by a committee appointed by the Ministry of Law and Order and the committee consists of experts, he said.
Asked whether some non-governmental organisations such as Anti Corruption Front (ACF) had accused the government of failing to withdraw either soldiers or army vehicles from the former President’s security squad though it announced that they would be replaced with STF personnel few weeks back, Hettiarachchi said it was a process and they would not remove all army personnel all at once.
“We will not leave any room for lapses to occur in the security of former President or Defence Secretary and removing of army security will be done in stages while attaching STF gradually,” Hettiarachchi said, adding that they had no personal grudges against them and they worked according to the government’s policy decisions.
Additional Secretary (Admin) of the Ministry Sarath Chandrasiri Vithana, Chief of Defence Staff Air Chief Marshal Kolitha Gunathilake, Chief of Staff of Sri Lanka Navy Rear Admiral Sirimevan Ranasinghe and Military Spokesman Brigadier Jayanath Jayaweera were also present at the media conference.
Courtesy:The Island