By Rathindra Kuruwita

Given how important the support from the minorities was for the previous government, the defence establishment had to be very careful when dealing with rising Islamic extremism and radicalisation, former Defence Secretary Karunasena Hettiarchchi on Thursday informed the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) investigating the Easter Sunday attacks.

Hettiarchchi said that State Intelligence Service (SIS) had identified rising Islamic extremism and radicalisation as serious issues by 2016 and steps had been taken to infiltrate and monitor those organisations. The SIS identified a large number of radicals that could pose a serious threat, and the Counter Terrorism Act (CTA), which was proposed by the previous government, was an attempt to bring in laws that could deal with extremists.

“A lot of legal experts examined the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and told us that they could not apprehend people under the PTA for radicalisation. But those people posed a serious threat and until laws were changed we took steps to work with moulavis, parents and other community leaders to advice people who had embraced extremism.”

Between late 2016 and early 2017,  Hettiarchchi met a large number of Muslim political and religious leaders on establishing community mechanisms to address radicalism. Politicians like Rishad Bathiudeen, Azath Salley and children of Alavi Moulana had met him, Hettiarchchi said. 

“All agreed that there was extremism. However, they also said that Sri Lanka was not an ISIS target and should not become one. ISIS targeted countries that took military action against them, they argued.”

Intelligence agencies kept tabs on  the promotion of extremism promoted by certain mosques and madrasas but were hesitant to take action because of political implications. 

“If those things had been happening in the majority community, we could have easily done something. We had to be very careful with Muslims and Christians. We had informed the National Security Council (NSC) of these developments and it could have done something.”

A member of the commission then asked Hettiarchchi what the political implications of taking action against extremism were. The witness said that the yahapalana government had come to power with the votes of the minorities and officials felt helpless.

“The yahapalana government won the North and the East, Mahinda Rajapaksa won all other areas. Religious and ethnic minorities were a powerful force in that government, and we couldn’t act unilaterally. That’s what we felt. We felt powerless. If something had gone wrong, officials would have had to face the consequences,” he said.

Hettiarchchi also said that he had made a proposal to ban the niqab, a veil worn by some Muslim women in public, covering all of the face apart from the eyes. He felt that the niqab was a threat to the national security and it should be banned at least in public spaces, Hettiarchchi said.