Sri Lanka to beef up security of presidential candidates

Colombo, Jul 17 (PTI) Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Wednesday proposed appointing a committee to oversee the personal security arrangements of candidates who would be vying in the upcoming presidential election, days after an assassination attempt on former US president Donald Trump.
    The committee will be chaired by the Secretary to the Ministry of Public Security and will also include the Chief of Defence Staff, Inspector General of Police (IGP), Chief of National Intelligence and the Senior Deputy Inspector General (SDIG) of Police in charge of Elections.
    A press release said a Cabinet paper submitted by Wickremesinghe aims to ensure the safety of the candidates.
    However, the date for the much-awaited presidential election in Sri Lanka will be announced by the end of this month. The announcement of the date will come amid uncertainty created by petitions filed in the Supreme Court which the opposition has dubbed as the government’s moves to dodge the election.
    President Wickremesinghe has noted that there is a pressing need to ensure the personal security of the candidates for the forthcoming presidential election.
    “The proposal comes in the light of recent attacks on former US President Donald Trump during a campaign rally in Butler Pennsylvania highlighting the pressing need for security measures”, the release said.
    The announcement came as the independent election commission assumed power on Wednesday to name the election date for the election which must be held between September 17 September and October 16.
    The President has further proposed to direct the IGP to nominate a police officer, not below the rank of DIG to coordinate all matters related to the personal security of presidential candidates and the former Presidents during the presidential election.
    Wickremesinghe, the incumbent is yet to announce his candidature while the main opposition leader Sajith Premadasa and the leader of the third force the Marxist JVP’s Anura Kumara Dissanayake both have announced their intent to contest.
    Sri Lanka has seen a presidential candidate assassinated in the 1994 election and five years later the incumbent Chandrika Kumaratunga survived a suicide bomb attack losing an eye.
    Both attacks were blamed on the LTTE, the Tamil separatist group.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)