Attempts to divulge intelligence information to international community

Sri Lanka military says attempts are in the works to divulge information on intelligence divisions to the international community under the pretext of parliamentary privileges.

Defense Ministry spokesman Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya said today certain elements are attempting to reveal the information on officials in the national intelligence service to the international community under the cover of parliamentary privileges.

Addressing a media conference today, Brigadier Wanigasooriya said a powerful element is trying to re-instigate another betrayal similar to that of Millennium City incident that took place in 2002 “To attain petty political gains these elements disseminated misinformation on a military intelligence network operating from Millennium City housing scheme in Athurugiriya, that ultimately led to the assassination of 21 intelligence personnel who dedicatedly performed an important role at a crucial stage of the Sri Lankan War,” the Spokesman said.

The Millennium City incident, which led to a national security crisis, due to miscommunication between law police and Army exposed the ultra-secret Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol unit of the Sri Lanka Army operating from a safe house in the Millennium City Housing Complex in Athurugiriya.

The exposure of the intelligence network resulted in a serious breach of national security and the executions of a number of intelligence operatives and LTTE informants by the LTTE.

The spokesman said that the country has still not been able to overcome this loss of human lives.

During the post war recovery and the development phase intelligence agencies of the country carried out a notable job in curbing the revival of LTTE, the Spokesman said.

“There are people those who extremely regret the successful restrain and control of the recent Aluthgama incident. External elements are acting in the background by using invisible hands to maneuver local petty political segments,” Brigadier Wanigasooriya without naming specific individuals.

If these attempts succeed, the repercussion would have been more disastrous than the Millennium incident, the Spokesman said.

He said that according to the information revealed, certain individuals are preparing to deliver false information in Parliament with a view to ruin the intelligence agencies while hiding behind parliamentary privileges.

The Brigadier revealed that a person of the then United National Party (UNP) government who had severely criticized the Millennium City incident has now joined the group which is striving to disclose information on present day intelligence division.

Such disinformation easily grabs international attention while tarnishing the image of the country, he pointed out.

He emphasized that, based on the dedicated attempts by the national intelligence agencies the island wide spread of the communal unrest was averted.

“It was due to the activities of the intelligence divisions, that Sri Lanka was able to prevent the massive destruction planned by certain extremist groups in the country in the recent past,” Brigadier Wanigasooriya told the briefing.

The Brigadier said the public needs to be educated on the issue and requested those who are connected to such initiatives to disassociate from such detrimental activities.