Is national security returning to centre stage of politics?

By Vishvanath

The JVP-led NPP government is having more than its fair share of problems. Now, it has a potential national security issue to contend with. Cabinet Spokesman and Minister Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa, addressing the weekly post-Cabinet media briefing on Tuesday (March 04), confirmed a media report that the activities of an Islamic extremist group operating in the Eastern Province had caused some concern to the government. He said the police and the security forces remained vigilant.

What made Minister Jayatissa say so was a question a journalist raised about a report published by The Sunday Times of March 02, quoting Minister of Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs Ananda Wijeyapala that the State Intelligence Service (SIS) and the military intelligence had received information about the above-mentioned extremist group engaged in indoctrinating its followers in the eastern town of Kalmunai.

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, addressing the parliament on Friday (Feb. 28) revealed that four arrests had been made in the Eastern Province following intelligence reports warning of possible terror attacks on popular tourist destinations in that part of the country, late last year. Several countries, including the US and the UK, issued travel advisories warning of possible terrorist attacks, but withdrew them after the government had assured them that all precautions had been taken to meet any eventuality. Travel restrictions imposed by the western governments have the potential to impact Sri Lanka’s tourism industry in the same way as real terror attacks, for they discourage high-spending western tourists from visiting this country.

Reports of Islamic extremism in the Eastern Province evoke Sri Lankans’ dreadful memories of the 2019 Easter Sunday terrorist bombings, which killed more than 275 people, including foreigners, left more than 500 others injured, and crippled Sri Lanka’s tourism. Those incidents led to a steep drop in tourist arrivals and dealt a devastating blow to the economy.

Sri Lanka’s tourism sector was recovering from the devastating impact of the Easter Sunday terror attacks when the Covid-19 pandemic erupted, warranting lockdowns, which brought tourists arrivals to zero, again depriving the country of more than USD 4.3 billion, going by the revenue from tourism in 2018. If not for those terror attacks, there would have been an increase in tourism revenue in 2019, and perhaps it would have helped cushion the blow from the pandemic-related lockdowns, etc., to a considerable extent.

So, it was only natural that the adverse travel advisories in respect of possible terror attacks in the East last year jolted the government into acting swiftly to neutralize the potential threat and prevent national security from becoming a decisive factor in the general election in November 2024. Perhaps, the SLPP, which prefers to campaign on a national security platform, owing to its leaders’ involvement in defeating the LTTE, could not capitalize on potential threats to national security because it was hugely unpopular at that time and its government had collapsed. The NPP was the flavor of the season; it had won the presidency and was on course for victory in the general election.

However, the situation is somewhat different today. The NPP government has not been able to live up to its electoral platform and is drawing heavy criticism for that. Its popularity has shown signs of decline. The 2025 budget was expected to give a big fillip to its popularity, but it has come in for criticism. State workers, especially, doctors, nurses and teachers are up in arms, claiming that although the government had announced pay hikes for them, their salaries have decreased in effect. The Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) declared a token strike early this week, but put it off at the eleventh hour following a discussion with Health Minister Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa, who asked for time to look into their grievances. Farmers are protesting. They are of the view that the budget has not addressed their problems. The proposed service export tax (15%) has turned the tech-savvy youth against the government, which received their support in the last two elections. Against this backdrop, there is the possibility of the Opposition being able to secure a bridgehead in electoral politics or even opening a new front against the government by using crucial issues such as warnings of threats to national security.

National security is not the NPP’s long suit. The NPP’s ascent to power was possible because of its good governance and anti-corruption agenda, and above all public resentment at the SLPP, under whose watch the economy went into a tailspin and corruption thrived; the UNP could not bounce back due to its honeymoon with the SLPP, and the SJB, was considered a conjoined twin of the UNP. There were no threats to national security, real or perceived, during the SLPP government, and that stood the NPP in good stead.

The news about Islamic extremism raising its head again in the Eastern Province has come amidst an Opposition campaign against drastic changes the government has introduced to the state intelligence agencies. The SLPP has flayed the government for removing the war-time top spook, Maj. Gen. Suresh Sally, as the Director of the State Intelligence Service. He was replaced with DIG Dhammika Kumara. Pivithuru Hela Urumaya leader and former Minister Udaya Gammanpila has claimed that the government is planning to promote a relatively junior army officer, a Colonel, as the Head of the Directorate of Military Intelligence, overlooking capable senior officers. Gammanpila is of the view that the government has handpicked the Colonel because he is related to an NPP stalwart, according to a report published in The Island. The government has also abolished the post of the Chief of Defense Staff.

Now that the Opposition has taken up the issue of changes in the intelligence sector, it is very likely to flog the reported threat of Islamic extremism in the Eastern Province, which was the cradle of the National Thowheed Jamath terrorism, to make political mileage. It is already making the most of the government’s unsuccessful battle against organized crime, which has been on the rise during the past several months.

Serious security lapses that led to the recent killing of an underworld kingpin, Ganemulle Sanjeewa, inside a courtroom in Colombo, are being held against the government. It is therefore surprising that Public Security Minister Wijeyapala spoke about an intelligence report about Islamic extremism re-emerging in the Eastern Province, with only a few weeks go to for the Local Government elections, where the government will have to maintain its performance at the Nov. 2024 level or improve it, if it is to prevent its political rivals from making a breakthrough on the electoral front.