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One week on from the deadliest terror attacks perpetrated in the country since the end of the civil war, Officials at Sri Lanka Tourism discussed measures taken to ensure the safety and security of tourists and outlines strategic plans to rebuild tourism stakeholder confidence to ensure the vital recovery of the tourism industry that supports one in 10 families in Sri Lanka.

"The Sri Lanka tourism industry stands united with the rest of the world against terrorism; as we mourn this horrific tragedy, we must move forward with our enduring Sri Lankan resilience to restore the worlds faith in our beautiful island home and our hospitality which is the heart of the Sri Lankan way of life", Sri Lanka Tourism said.

"Sri Lankan’s are among the most warm and nurturing people on earth, when guests arrive on our shore’s they become family," noted Kishu Gomes, Chairman Sri Lanka Tourism. 

"And when family is hurt the entire community comes together to protect, nurture, mourn and grieve and heal together…this is our way and it has been our way from the beginning of time," Gomes said.

Gomes explained that it is important to review emergency response protocol in the immediate aftermath of the attacks; 

"Sri Lanka Tourism was focused on organizing our response in emergency care and assistance, providing access to clear and accurate information and working with all national and local law enforcement agencies and foreign missions to ensure the safety and security of tourists. In the immediate aftermath of the attack’s we rolled out our emergency response protocol; trained teams were deployed to the affected hotels, all hospitals and the airport to ensure that all tourists directly affected by the attacks received the all the care, attention and assistance they needed."Tourists already in country and those scheduled to arrive in the hours and days following the attacks were also an immediate priority. In addition to the help desks at hotels, airports and tourist information centers Sri Lanka Tourism set up an emergency hotline to ensure tourists and their loved ones back home had access to accurate information and the entire suite of emergency services; updated information continues to be issued via local and global media, social media, and foreign missions on a regular basis.

‘Addressing security issues is a prerequisite for the revival of tourism and we continue working closely with all relevant authorities to support all foreign nationals in the country. Sri Lankan police and Tri forces are working tirelessly to ensure the safety and security of all tourists currently in Sri Lanka. This is absolutely our first priority’ said Gomes.

Custodians of a key industry

With one in every ten Sri Lankan families depending on tourism for their livelihood both directly and indirectly, Sri Lanka Tourism is focused on ensuring that the right groundwork is laid to drive an effective and efficient recovery for this critical industry.

‘We cannot allow ourselves to become paralyzed by fear, nearly half a million families across the island depend on us for their daily living; the impact on our economy must be mitigated. We are working to regain the confidence of global travelers and operators by demonstrating that Sri Lanka’s response to the incident is effective while reassuring future tourists that all appropriate steps are being taken by the Sri Lanka Government to prevent any future incidents and ensure the continued safety and security tourists within the country’ said Gomes.

Several high-level cross industry working sessions that included both the public and private sector stakeholders have been conducted with the objective of outlining the strategic framework of the recovery strategy accompanied by a phased out action plan with the clear objective of minimizing the financial impact of cancellations and to maintain and rebuild the country brand and manage the long term impact of this tragic incident.

A task force is in place and having worked diligently over the course of the last week we are confident that a clear and actionable process is in place, resources allocated and global expertise procured to support the industry in its recovery.

Demonstrating resilience

We are grateful and humbled by the resilience and generosity of all the tourists who have chosen to continue with their holiday in Sri Lanka and we are privileged to continue to welcome hundreds of new tourists every day since the attack. We must ensure wider global tourism communities have renewed confidence in our destination by persevering and so to this end all planned promotion activity will continue to ensure that our critical tourism industry is protected.

Sri Lanka Tourism will continue with its presence ATM in Dubai from 28th April to 1st May 2019. The Sri Lanka delegation will begin on day one of the event by observing two minutes silence in honor of the innocent victims and a book of condolence placed at the Sri Lanka pavilion for visitors to sign and write messages of sympathy to the victims and their families. Our purpose throughout this event is very clear - Sri Lanka will not be beaten by terror. We will take this opportunity to demonstrate to the global media, tour operators, airlines and the world that Sri Lanka is committed to security.

Similarly, Sri Lanka Tourism will address the tourism community at the prestigious 5th UNWTO World Forum on Gastronomy Tourism in San Sabastian, Spain from 1-2nd of May, where the focus this year is on job creation and entrepreneurship as a means to advance tourism´s contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In this regard, Sri Lanka Tourism will seek means to create favorable frameworks to stimulate jobs and entrepreneurship along the gastronomy tourism value chain as well as develop knowledge on more relevant skills for gastronomy tourism.

Sri Lanka Convention Bureau will also be present at IMEX in Frankfurt from the 21st to the 23rd of May. IMEX is a worldwide Exhibition for Incentive Travel, Meetings and Events, incorporating Meetings made in Germany. The show is patronized by nearly 160 countries representing national and regional tourist offices, major hotel groups, airlines, destination management companies, service providers, trade associations and more. Over 3962 hosted buyers from more than 86 world markets visit IMEX. The MICE sector is a major growth driver for the Sri Lanka market.

The only tourism and travel fair in Sri Lanka, Sancharaka Udawa, will be held on 7 and 8 June. This unique exhibition, now in its ninth edition is open to all businesses within the local tourism ecosystem and is organised by Sri Lanka Association of Tour Operators (SLAITO) in collaboration with the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB). The main objective of the exhibition is to create a platform for small and medium service providers in the industry to network and build vital links with tour operators and enter the wider tourism industry.

The 14th edition of The Lanka Challenge which flagged off on the 20th of April successfully concluded on the 27th of April at Suriya Resort Waikkaka. This event was organized by Large Minority in association with Connaissance de Ceylan and sponsored by the Ministry of Tourism and SriLankan Airlines. This unique rally saw 53 International participants ride in 20 tuk tuks across a 1000km route that track through Sri Lanka. The participants came from Britain, Australia, Germany, New Zealand, Singapore, Ireland, Denmark and Switzerland, and give the world a wonderfully immersive experience of our island’s natural beauty, authentic charm and welcoming spirit.

The Criminal Investigating Department (CID) is taking necessary measures to freeze the assets of the terrorists who were involved in the Easter Sunday attacks, Police spokesperson SP Ruwan Gunesekera said.

He further said that the Police is compiling a list of assets belonging to these terrorists in line with the Convention on the Suppression of Terrorist Finance Act and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. 

Police yesterday released the identities of the nine suicide bombers involved in the attacks. 

Shangri-La Hotel bpmbers were identified as Mohamed Cassim Mohamed Zahran, a resident of Mohideen Church Road in Kattankudy and Mohamed Ibrahim Mohamed Ilham Ahmed, a resident of Mahawila Gardens, Baseline Road in Dematagoda.

The Kingsbury Hotel attacker was named as Mohamad Assam Mohammad Mubarak, a resident of Colombo 12. 

Mohamed Ibrahim Mohamed Insaf Ahmed, who was a resident of Mahawila Gardens, Baseline Road Dematagoda, blew himself up at the Cinnamon Grand in Colombo.

Terrorist involved in the St. Sebastian's Church bombing in Katuwapitiya, Negombo was identified as Atchchi Muhammadu Muhammadu Hasthun, a resident of Walachchenei.

The suicide bomber who carried out the attack on the St. Anthony's Church in Kochchikade, Kotahena had been identified as Alawdeen Ahmed Muath, a resident of Central Road in Mattakkulya. 

The Zion Church bomber was named as Mohammad Nazar Mohammad Azad, a resident of Kattankudy.

Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera called on SAARC nations to collaborate and coordinate efforts to eradicate global terrorism.

"The threat of terrorism in one of our countries is no doubt a threat to the entire region. It is therefore in all of our interest to collaborate and coordinate our efforts and measures to eradicate global terrorism. I am confident that if we work together, we will succeed in bringing peace, stability and prosperity to the entire SAARC region,” Samaraweera said.

The Minister made these remarks at the SAARC Finance Ministers Meeting held on the on the sidelines of the 52nd Annual Meeting of the Asian Development Bank in Nadi, Fiji today. 

Sri Lanka pledges support to mitigate climate change

The Minister met with Ciarán Cannon, Ireland's Minister for International Trade and pledged Sri Lanka's support for the Ireland Trust Fund for Building Climate Change and Disaster Resilience in Small Island Developing States (SIDS). 

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of Ireland signed agreements on May 01 establishing the Trust Fund which committed to an initial 6-year program of funding of €12 million ($13.4 million) for the period 2019 to 2024. 

The overall objective of the fund is to increase the preparedness and resilience of SIDS to disasters caused by natural hazards and to the impact of climate change. The expected outcome of the fund is an increased number of investments in climate change and disaster resilience.

Dubai court is set to announce the verdict with regard to the deportation of drug kingpin Makandure Madush.

Counsels appearing on behalf of Madush filed a petition requesting the court to stop his reptariation to Sri Lanka as he was under death threats.

Dubai Police raided a party organised by Madush where thirty one individuals including notorious drug runner Kanjipani Imran, popular singer Amal Perera and his son Nadeemal Perera were arrested on February 05th.

UAE has deported thrity individuals already with the exception of Makandure Madush.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said yesterday that all countries should share information with each other to effectively face the threat of global terrorism.

“We need the support of international intelligence agencies to deal with global terrorism,” the Prime Minister said. He said the country requires cutting edge technology to deal with this issue." The Premier made these remarks while addressing civil society activists on the current situation in the country at Temple Trees yesterday (01).

The Prime Minister said the Security Forces have succeeded in apprehending those who were involved in the attacks while stressing the importance of taking steps to prevent a recurrence of these type tragic incidents.

Prime Minister Wickremesinghe said that all parties should get together to bring normalcy to the country following the Easter Sunday attacks that killed over 250 people.

“Our Security Forces and the Police took swift action to unravel key information in connection with the attacks by April 21st evening (Sunday) and much more information will be unearthed in connection with these attacks in the future.

He said he discussed about the situation with the President who was in Singapore, following the attacks.

He believed that religious activities at mosques will resume by next Friday. He also believed that the Masses at Catholic churches will also be held from next Sunday.

Prime Minister Wickremesinghe said the Education Minister has taken steps to start the next school term by May 6.

The Premier was confident that the tourism industry will recover by August or September after foreign countries lift the travel advisories issued on Sri Lanka following the deadly attacks.

“We faced the scourge of terrorism for over three decades. Now we are facing the challenge of global terrorism, a new form of terrorism,” the Prime Minister said.

The whole world is at risk and should be vigilant with having all security precautions amid global expansion of the ISIS, following the threat imposed by its leader Abū Bakr al-Baghdadi yesterday (30), Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe stressed publicly last evening.

The Prime Minister made these comments in a special statement issued last evening. 

“Abū Bakr al-Baghdadi said his organization is ready to attack any city in the world at any moment. This is a threat to the entire world.

Therefore, all countries in the world should see that their defence forces are on alert,” he said.

Mr. Wickremesinghe added that investigations on the statement made by the ISIS leader will be carried out. Abū Bakr al-Baghdadi claimed that the attacks in Sri Lanka were in retaliation to the capture of the land which was previously held by them. The last portion of land held by the ISIS was taken over by US-led Kurdhish fighters recently. 

“This is why I concentrated on ensuring people’s security rather than spending time debating with others on the Easter Sunday attacks,” the Prime Minister said.

He further said that many arrests have been made in connection to the attacks and arms are being recovered thanks to the ability of defence units and intelligence units. 

“We will arrest the rest who were involved in bomb attacks,” he assured in his statement.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe also assured the security of the people during Vesak seasons, saying, "Focus should be made on those who are trying to get political mileage out of the present situation and also on the media which is helping them. The intention of these forces is to create an inter religious clash before the Vesak festival. One wonders as to what religion media people are following."

He added that Buddhist Monks will also play a role in assuring the safety of the people during the seasons. 

This is a time where all political parties shall come forward unbiased and sparing differences as one, and every citizen of the country should support the defence units to ensure the safety of this country, he remarked.

Marking the first visit by any high-level United Nations (UN) official to Sri Lanka since the heinous terrorist attacks on Easter Sunday that targeted three Catholic Churches and three hotels, Miguel Moratinos, on behalf of the UN Secretary General and in his capacity as the High Representative for the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) visited Sri Lanka on April 30.

Moratinos visited Sri Lanka to pay his respects to the people and the Sri Lankan government, and express the support of the United Nations for the government’s efforts in its fight against terrorism and violent extremism.

During his one-day visit, the High Representative met with the political leadership, religious leaders, representatives of the civil society. In his meeting with President Maithripala Sirisena, the High Representative conveyed to the President the condolences and solidarity of the UN Secretary-General and his personal deepest sympathies.

“You are not alone”, Moratinos said to the President Sirisena. On his part, President Sirisena expressed his gratitude and appreciation for the visit and support of the High-Representative.
The plight of refugees

The High-Representative re-iterated that the UN stands ready to support those efforts to help in restoring harmony, unity and social cohesion and in this context, drew the President’s attention towards the urgent need to find an agreeable long-term solution to the problem of the asylum seekers and refugees in Sri Lanka to ensure their safety and well-being.

Many asylum seekers and refugees who have been temporarily placed in Sri Lanka have sought shelter at police stations after they were reportedly evicted by landlords under pressure from local communities who have turned their backs on them, local media reported.

It is also reported that some groups of migrants have been forced to return to mosques while others have either fled their homes under duress and threats, or been unable to leave their houses for fear of being attacked, according to media reports.

In this context, it is both timely and imperative to look into the refugee issue that has suddenly gained traction in local media as well as in social media platforms.

UNHCR in Sri Lanka

The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has been operating in Sri Lanka since 1987. As per the mandate of UNHCR, it is bound to provide international protection and humanitarian assistance to refugees, asylum seekers and IDPs.

An asylum-seeker is someone who says he or she is a refugee, but whose claim has not yet been definitively evaluated. A refugee is someone “who owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to, or owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country”.

Under its mandate, UNHCR decides which asylum-seekers in Sri Lanka qualify for international protection and should be granted refugee status.

Sri Lanka is not a State Party to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. State Parties to the Convention are required to provide “most favoured” or “national treatment” to refugees under various sectors in providing humanitarian facilities (i.e. housing, education, social security etc.).

However, Sri Lanka has signed an Agreement with the UNHCR on 7th December 2005, during the Rajapaksa administration, facilitating UNHCR (within its mandate) to carry out its international protection and humanitarian functions in Sri Lanka.

The status of the asylum seekers and refugees in Sri Lanka

The UNHCR shares a Monthly Report on ‘Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Sri Lanka” with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and other relevant line Ministries. The Report contains interalia, a list of detailed information and statistics on all refugees and asylum seekers in the country as at the end of each respective month.

Whenever the UNHCR Country office registers Asylum Seekers, their information is conveyed to the Controller General of the Department of Immigration and Emigration with copies to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, upon receiving the copies of such notifications, shares the same with the Ministry of Defence and Department of Law and Order (previously it used to share with the Ministry of Defence and with the Ministry of Law & Order). UNHCR, as per requirements, requests GOSL to inform UNHCR of any objections to the Asylum claims submitted by applicants, within 15 days of receiving notification from UNHCR.

In addition, the UN Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, from time to time, convene stakeholder meetings between the relevant authorities/officials from the Department of Immigration and Emigration and UNHCR and other departments as required, to discuss issues that require attention.

Foreign Ministry sources added that in July 2017, a meeting was facilitated between the Department of Immigration and Emigration and UNHCR in order to develop a digital database of asylum seekers and refugees, where UNHCR agreed to provide necessary technical assistance, and to share the digital database they already use.

Islamic terrorism myth?

A common misconception, especially with the flawed view of Islam in some Western circles is to link terrorism and religion with damaging terms such as "Islamic terrorism." Such cowardly and inhumane perpetrators of violence and terror should not be used to tarnish any religion. Often overlooked is the fact that the biggest victims of terror attacks are Muslim themselves.

Quite simply, terror has no religion.

The government in is possession of information that corroborates Gotabaya Rajapaksa's involvement with organisations such the National Thowheeth Jama'ath (NTJ) and Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), Health Minister Dr Rajitha Senaratne said at a press briefing held yesterday.
 
Senaratne added that the latest information they received was about the murder in Batticaloa where two police constables were killed while on duty. He noted that it was four Army officers who directed the operation with the use of intelligence information and it has been revealed that they are linked to Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
 
The Minister said 26 officers were paid by the intelligence and salaries were also paid to NTJ members. The Minister noted that the suicide bomber Abdul Razeek was the secretary of the organisation and that he was paid as an officer of army intelligence.
 
 “This is the Thowheeth Jama'ath organisation and this was the picture the organisation has taken with the former president. The one on top is our very own patriot Udaya Gammanpila. 

There are photographs with Wimal Weerawansa too. So these are the extremists with them. A minister at the time, Hizbullah and Dullas Alahapperuma signed an agreement to build a sharia university in Batticaloa. But now they say that the university should be closed. But who signed it? They signed it," Senaratne said.

The British High Commission (BHC) in Colombo yesterday reiterated that the British Government is firmly determined to fight the scourge of terrorism in the United Kingdom and help others to fight it on theirs.

The High Commission’s statement came in the wake of newspaper reports suggesting Colombo Archbishop Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith might have questioned the UK’s commitment to fight against terrorism.The statement said the UK reconfirmed the UK’s readiness to support Sri Lanka during a conversation between Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and British Prime Minister Theresa May.

“The British High Commission is issuing this statement following reports in several newspapers on May 1 that suggest that Archbishop of Colombo, His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, might have questioned UK’s commitment to the fight against terrorism.

“The British Government has consistently made clear its unreserved determination to fight the scourge of terrorism on the United Kingdom’s own soil, and to help others to fight it on theirs. It has also made very clear its view that the international community must remain firm in its determination to counter and defeat poisonous ideologies that lie behind terrorist attacks around the world," the statement said.

With establishment of the Overall Operations Command (OOC) on Monday (29) evening, security operations, being conducted by all Army, Navy, Air Force troops and Police areas within the Western Province and Puttalam District came under the OOC for operational purposes, as additional troops with sister services and the Police in the past 24 hours intensified their emergency search and clear operations under the command of the OOC, commanded by Major General Sathyapriya Liyanage, Overall Operational Commander who is also the Commander Security Forces - West, Army Media Unit said.
 
Rear Admiral W.A.S.S Perera of the Navy, Air Vice Marshal W.L.R.P Rodrigo of the Air Force and Superintendent of Police L.K.D Anil Priyantha function as Coordinating Officers of Navy, Air Force and the Police in the OOC respectively with the OOC coming under the purview of the Chief of Defence Staff.
 
In the past 24 hours, those troops and Policemen enforced road blocks, mobile patrols and conducted search operations in the general areas of Colombo, Matara, Dickwella, Bandarawela and several other areas.
 
Meanwhile, as violence-hit part of the eastern region has returned to near normalcy and the general public reinforcing their full confidence in the Army, Major General Aruna Jayasekara Tuesday (30) visited several major areas in the East and supervised the status quo.
 
In Batticaloa, Thannamunai, security provided by the Army enabled St Joseph’s Church to go ahead with its annual feast and divine Pooja as planned with hundreds of devotees attending it. More than 800 devotees and 125 Catholic priests were present at this feast. Bishop of Batticaloa Rt Rev Joseph Ponniah and Bishop of Trincomalee Diocese had brief exchange of views with the visiting Major General Jayasekara and commended the Army for its ongoing security arrangements as well as the security provided to the Church feast amid existing threats.

Similarly, Army troops prioritized the provision of security to the South Eastern University in Oluvil, Ampara, the main seat of learning in the East. Likewise, Major General Jayasekara in the past 24 hours had separate meetings with Buddhist, Catholic and Islamic religious dignitaries in Batticaloa, Ampara, Polonnaruwa and Trincomalee and discussed measures that could be applied to maintain law and order and apprehend suspicious violent elements in specific areas.

In addition, Security Forces strengthened their searches in Kalmunai, Nintavur, Saindamaradu, Samanthurai, Kaththankudy, Nappatthumunai, Potuvil, Batticaloa and Ampara areas and handed over several suspects to the Police in respective areas, including 1 suspect with ISIS literature, swords and knives. 

"At the time this report was posted, Security Forces are still continuing their operations in the Eastern region," the Army Media Unit said.

The Sri Lanka government said that maximum security will be provided for schools which are scheduled to be re-opened on Monday (May 6).

The Tri-forces and Police have been vested with providing adequate protection to schools while several measures have been taken to ensure the security of the students, the government said. 

As part of the security measures, vehicles will not be allowed to be parked in the vicinity of schools after the schools reopen. Any vehicles that are found parked in such locations will be removed by the Police to a safe location and subjected to strict security checking.

Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL) called on all stakeholders including the public to focus attention on resolving systemic deficiencies which allowed for the Easter Sunday attacks to be carried out.

TISL Executive Director Asoka Obeyesekere said, “the revelation that certain tiers of the country’s security apparatus were aware of intelligence reports regarding an impending attack, raise many questions regarding the information sharing protocols of state agencies and the manner in which such information is acted on by the political leadership”.

It has been TISL’s long standing position that there is a need for greater information sharing across all state agencies. Obeyesekere added, “the current culture of secrecy which has been reinforced by legislative provisions and the establishment code, continues to foster an environment where public institutions are operating within their own silos, with limited common purpose. Through experience we have seen this resulting in examples of two competing agencies investigating the same issues, with a reluctance to share information, thereby clearly working against the public interest”.

TISL also highlighted the role that corruption can play in eroding national security, particularly on issues of procurement. On several occasions in the past, Sri Lanka’s national security has been exposed as a result of allegedly fraudulent procurement and tender practices in addition to allegations of serious conflicts of interest.

“The recent lapses in information sharing, illustrate the devastating consequences of a closed state. Striving for a more open state, which communicates internally and with a shared purpose is essential. This requires reforming civil service procedures to bring them in line with 21st century practices. If lessons are to be learnt from these tragic events, the political and bureaucratic leadership must drive these much needed reforms,” Obeyesekere said.