The Ministry of Defence through electronic and print media announced that all firearms and ammunition issued to civilians for personal protection must be returned to the government by 21 November 2024 for a quantitative review.

In response to the notice, about 85% of the licensees have returned their firearms.  Furthermore, the licensees were informed to submit appeals to the Ministry of Defence before October 30, 2024 explaining the requirement if they wish to retain their firearms. The licensees who have submitted appeals were informed to submit relevant documents along with their firearms to the Ministry of Defence for inspection and review.

The Ministry of Defence decided to issue only one firearm per person for personal protection and it will be issued after considering intelligence reports.

The review of all appeals for firearms and firearm inspections will be completed on January 20, 2025 and licensees are requested to submit their firearms for inspection before that date.

Furthermore, it has been observed that a significant amount of firearms and ammunition have been issued by the Sri Lanka Army and the Police in the past. Therefore, the Ministry of Defence has instructed that these firearms and ammunition be returned to the government before December 31, 2024.

Accordingly, the licenses are informed to follow the directives and hand over these firearms and ammunition to the nearest police stations.
It is also informed that legal action will be taken against licensees who fail to return their firearms for inspection before the stipulated date under the Firearm Ordinance No. 33 of 1916.

In line with this decision taken by the Ministry of Defence to ensure a safe society by minimizing the use and misuse of firearms in the civil society and by implementing proper regulation, the licensees are informed to return all licensed firearms that have not been returned and submitted for inspection, before January 20, 2025.

It is also emphasized that legal action will be taken against those who fail to do so.

Following talks with AKD

… decision on moratorium on foreign research vessels pending

By Shamindra Ferdinando

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has disclosed a bilateral consensus on what he called ‘Security Cooperation Agreement’ with Sri Lanka following discussions he had with President Anura Kumara Dissanayake.According to the English translation of Premier Modi’s statement originally made in Hindi at the joint media briefing held on Dec 16, the proposed agreement would be finalised soon.

The statement quoted Premier Modi as having said that they were in full agreement their security interests were interconnected. “We have decided to quickly finalise the Security Cooperation Agreement. We have also agreed to cooperate on hydrography,” the BJP leader was quoted as having said.

However, according to Indo-Lanka joint statement titled ‘Fostering Partnerships for a Shared Future’ that was also issued on the same day, the two leaders agreed to look into the possibility of finalising a framework agreement on defence cooperation.

Defence hadn’t been separately included in the joint statement that was issued following former President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s visit to New Delhi in July last year.

The proposed ‘Security Cooperation Agreement’ had been comprehensively dealt under ‘Strategic & Defence Cooperation’ with the leaders declaring readiness to advance maritime and security collaboration.

During President Dissanayake’s recent state visit to India, New Delhi had obviously again raised objections to Chinese research vessels visiting Sri Lankan ports. Indian Foreign

Secretary Vikram Misri dealt with this issue during a special media briefing held the day after the issuance of a joint statement.

Keshav Padmanabhan of The Print asked the Foreign Secretary whether berthing of research vessels at Sri Lankan ports had been taken up with President Dissanayake. Padmanabhan also wanted to know whether Sri Lanka has extended its moratorium on such visits by another year.

President Wickremesinghe declared a moratorium on research ship visits in 2024.

The transcript of the Foreign Secretary’s briefing quoted Misri as having said “With regard to the issue related to the berthing of research vessels, etc., our understanding is that the Sri Lankan government is looking at this issue.

There are a number of considerations that they need to take into account. We did highlight from our perspective the role that India could play in a number of activities related to Maritime Security, Maritime Research, etc.

As I mentioned in my earlier remarks as well, we pointed to the importance and the sensitivity of our security interests in this area. President Dissanayake was very upfront in saying that he would ensure that nothing was done by using Sri Lankan territory that might impact India’s security. So, we will continue to engage with the government of Sri Lanka on all these issues and we are confident that issues of importance such as these will continue to be given due care by the government of Sri Lanka.”

National People’s Power (NPP) government is yet to indicate its position on Wickremesinghe moratorium on ships. Wickremesinghe made the announcement following intense US and Indian pressure over Chinese ship visits to Hambantota and Colombo harbours. However, the then Foreign Minister Ali Sabry declared during an official visit to Tokyo that the moratorium would end at the end of this year.

Foreign Secretary Misri is on record as having told the New Delhi briefing that there had been a session of restricted talks between President Dissanayake and Premier Modi at the Hyderabad House before delegation-level talks.

President Dissanayake told the joint media briefing that they carried out a comprehensive review of the current status of Indo-Lanka relations and exchanged views on the ways and means of further strengthening bilateral cooperation in areas of mutual interest in the future.

Although there had been no mention of a Security Cooperation Agreement, President Dissanayake said that they exchanged views on cooperation in the fields of defence and security, power and energy, training and capacity building, education, agriculture and social security.

China and Sri Lanka have expressed willingness to jointly advance a high-quality development of Belt and Road. This decision had been announced during meetings held here between Sri Lankan leaders and a senior Chinese political advisor, Xinhua reported yesterday (19).

According to the Chinese news agency President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya met Qin Boyong, Vice Chairperson of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, executive vice chairperson of the Central Committee of the China National Democratic Construction Association, on Wednesday and Tuesday, respectively.

Qin said China was willing to deepen the high-quality development of Belt and Road with Sri Lanka, and practical cooperation under the strategic guidance of the heads of state of the two countries, to push forward their strategic cooperative partnership featuring sincere mutual assistance and a lasting friendship.

The Sri Lankan leaders thanked China for its assistance to the economic and social development of the country, saying that the new government will firmly adhere to the one-China principle and is willing to maintain high-level exchanges with China, jointly build the Belt and Road with high quality and deepen cooperation in various fields.

Qin, whose delegation visited Sri Lanka from Monday to Thursday, also met new Speaker Jagath Wickramaratne.