Led by Heads of SAARC Police Departments:
High level conference in Colombo
Sarath MALALASEKERA
A high level SAARC conference led by seven heads from Police
Departments in the Seven SAARC countries will be held in Colombo, Sri
Lanka on April 4 and 5 at the Intercontinental Hotel.
The two main topics for this important conference would be terrorist
activities and hard drug trafficking in the SAARC countries, Inspector
General of Police Dr Mahinda Balasuriya said at a press briefing held
yesterday afternoon at Police Headquarters in Colombo.
The seven SAARC countries participating at the high level conference
were Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and
India. This is the 9th SAARC conference on Co-operation in Police
matters, IGP Balasuriya said, adding that there would be two main Desks
at the conference - one being Hard Drug Offenders Monitoring Desk and
other Terrorists Offenders Desk led by Sri Lanka Criminal Investigations
Department (CID). Sri Lanka was the first country in the world where
terrorism was completely eradiated from the country. "We would share
these police experiences with other SAARC countries at the conference,
IGP Balasuriya said.
The Sri Lanka Government was sponsoring this high level SAARC Police
conference with the assistance of Mobitel, Sampath Bank, People's Bank,
Seylan Bank, and Dialog. Representatives from these companies were
present at the conference yesterday at the Police Headquarters.
IGP Balasuriya paid tribute to President Mahinda Rajapaksa and
Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa for their assistance in organising
this SAARC Police conference in Sri Lanka.
IGP Balasuriya also paid tribute to the public and Sri Lanka Cricket
organisers for their unstinted assistance given to the police during the
last World Cup match against New Zealand. |