Renowned Chairman of the French Anti-Terrorist Judges, Judge Jean Louis Bruguiere, has said the French Government considers "that an organization like the LTTE is a terrorist organization like any other and that its activities even in the area of logistics, have to be repressed with the same vigour as for terrorist networks operating on our [French] soil and threatening us directly" and that it on this basis "that in April this year the French Government had dismantled a vast network of Tamil militants who actively supported the LTTE, notably at the financial level."
Judge Bruguiere, who was the Guest of Honour at the International Conference on Countering Terrorism, which was inaugurated by Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama in Colombo on Thursday (18th Oct. ‘07), made this observation when he addressed the first panel of the day focused on the international responses to terrorism. Judge Bruguiere who traced the manner in which international efforts at responding to terrorism has evolved over the years, said if the fight against terrorism is an inescapable requirement, “we owe it to ourselves to reinforce our international cooperation at every level, notably by adopting multilateral or bilateral conventions in the field of judicial cooperation as well as extradition.”
This session, which was chaired by the Dean of the Faculty of Arts of the University of Colombo, Prof. Amal. Jayawardena, also included the Executive Director of the Regional Centre for Strategic Studies, Dr. Rifaat Hussain and the Senior Terrorism Prevention Officer of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Vienna, Dr. Ms. Irka Kuleshnyk.
The Conference is being attended by renowned experts and academics deliberating on a variety of terrorism related issues.
Addressing the panel on regional responses to terrorism, former Commander of the Indian Army, Gen. V. P. Malik emphasized the need to combat and defeat terrorism in all its manifestations. He said “terrorist activities anywhere will stop only when their fuel runs out.” Gen. Malik who traced the important steps taken to counter terrorism in South Asia, emphasized the need for a regional strategy and cooperation but essentially, local operatives and doctrines.
Former Secretary General of SAARC, Ambassador Nihal Rodrigo, chaired this session, while the discussants comprised the Associate Research Fellow of the China Institute of International Studies, Prof. Zhang Lijun, the Deputy Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Mr. Vladimir Titokerni as well as the Pro-Chancellor and Director of the School of Science and Forensic Science, National Law University Rajastan, India, Prof. P. Chandra Sekharan.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Colombo 01
19th October 2007