Sri Lankan Navy and defence officials at the review meeting. Photograph: Sri Lanka Ministry of Defence
Sri Lanka’s Defence Ministry is seeking to make more money from the Navy’s armed maritime security business, even as the military continues to face unresolved allegations of serious human rights violations committed during the genocide against Tamils .
Officials at the review meeting. Photograph: Sri Lanka Ministry of Defence
The review was conducted at a meeting chaired by Sri Lanka’s Deputy Defence Minister Aruna Jayasekara at the Parliament Complex, following an inspection of the Navy-supported weapons storage facility at Pettigalawatta in Galle.
The review meeting at the Parliament complex. Photograph: Sri Lanka Ministry of Defence
The facility houses weapons and equipment belonging to foreign private maritime security companies (PMSCs), whose armed personnel provide security aboard commercial shipping vessels. The Sri Lankan Navy provides logistical and other support services to these companies through its Onboard Security Team (OBST) operations.
Sri Lankan Navy officers at the meeting. Photograph: Sri Lanka Ministry of Defence
Officials discussed shortcomings in the programme, possible improvements to its administration and ways of increasing income generated through the maritime security arrangements.
Jayasekara called for measures to ensure the uninterrupted functioning of the operations, while emphasising financial accountability and transparency .
The meeting brought together senior Sri Lankan defence and military officials, including the Defence Secretary, the Navy Commander, Presidential Advisor on Legal Affairs J. M. Wijebandara and the Chairman of Rakna Araksha Lanka.
The Navy was handed powers to run the operation in August through a gazette issued by Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake as defence minister, reviving a role once mired in corruption allegations under Avant Garde Maritime Services, which ran floating armouries with the state-owned Rakna Araksha Lanka.
The Navy has never been held to account for abuses against Tamils. Former Navy commanders Wasantha Karannagoda and Ravindra Wijegunaratne have been accused over the “Navy 11” case, the abduction and disappearance of 11 Tamil and Muslim youths in Colombo in 2008 and 2009, which has stalled in the courts for years. Wijegunaratne was named as a suspect earlier this year.
Sri Lankan Navy and defence officials at the meeting. Photograph: Sri Lanka Ministry of Defence
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