 | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations .(December 2019) |
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| Agency overview | |
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| Formed | 1999 |
| Jurisdiction | Sri Lanka |
| Agency executive |
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 Sri Lankaportal |
The National Security Council (NSC) of Sri Lanka is the executive body of the Sri Lankan government that is charged with the maintenance of national security with authority to direct the Sri Lankan military and Police.
The National Security Council established in June 1999 by an Gazette notification, by President Chandrika Kumaratunga following the military set backs in Operation Jayasikurui taking over direct control of the military from her cousin General Anuruddha Ratwatte, the deputy defense minister. The NSC came to national attention following the 2019 Sri Lanka Easter bombings, in which Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe claimed that although a member, he was not invited to NSC sessions chaired by President Maithripala Sirisena following the 2018 Sri Lankan constitutional crisis. [1]
| Chairperson | President | Ranil Wickremesinghe |
|---|---|---|
| Statutory Members | Prime Minister | Dinesh Gunawardena |
| Minister of Defence | Ranil Wickremesinghe | |
| Secretary to the Ministry of Defence | General (Retd.) Kamal Gunaratne | |
| Chief of the Defence Staff Commander of the Army Commander of the Navy Commander of the Air Force Inspector General of Police | General Shavendra Silva Lieutenant General Vikum Liyanage Vice Admiral Priyantha Perera Air Marshal Sudarshana Pathirana C. D. Wickramaratne | |
| Appointed Members | Personnel appointed by the President Chief of National Intelligence Director, SIS |
The history of Sri Lanka is intertwined with the history of the broader Indian subcontinent and the surrounding regions, comprising the areas of South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean. The early human remains found on the island of Sri Lanka date to about 38,000 years ago.
The National Security Council is a federal institutional and consultative body chaired by the Prime Minister of Pakistan as its chairman. The NSC is a principal forum that is mandated for considering national security and foreign policy matters with the senior national security advisers and Cabinet ministers. The idea and inception of National Security Council was first conceived in 1969 under the President Yahya Khan, its functions were to advise and assist the president and prime minister on national security and foreign policies.
The Ministry of Defence is the cabinet ministry of the Government of Sri Lanka responsible for implementation of government defence policy and acts as the overall headquarters of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces.
The State Intelligence Service (SIS) is an intelligence agency of the Sri Lankan government. It is the primary civilian intelligence agency of Sri Lanka and is responsible for both internal and external intelligence-gathering. It comes under the purview of the Ministry of Defence. The agency was originally named National Intelligence Bureau.
Hemasiri Fernando is the former permanent secretary to the Ministry of Defence and chief of staff of the president, chairman Board of Investment of Sri Lanka.
The Sri Lanka Armed Forces is the overall unified military of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka encompassing the Sri Lanka Army, the Sri Lanka Navy, and the Sri Lanka Air Force; they are governed by the Ministry of Defence (MoD). The three services have around 346,700 active personnel; conscription has never been imposed in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lanka Coast Guard is also under the purview of the Ministry of Defence and its members are all from the Sri Lanka Navy.
Maithripala Yapa Sirisena is a Sri Lankan politician who served as the seventh President of Sri Lanka from 9 January 2015 to 18 November 2019. Sirisena is Sri Lanka's first president from the North Central Province of the country and does not belong to the traditional Sri Lankan political elite. He is currently a member of parliament from Polonnaruwa.
The history of Sri Lanka from 1948 to the present is marked by the independence of the country through to Dominion and becoming a Republic. The main factor has been conflict and civil war regarding the status of minority Tamils.
General Shantha H.S. Kottegoda, WWV, RWP, RSP, VSV, USP is a retired senior Sri Lanka Army general. He was the seventeenth Commander of the Sri Lankan Army from 1 July 2004 – 5 December 2005. He had served as the Sri Lankan Ambassador to Brazil and Thailand. In April 2019, following the Easter Sunday bombings he was appointed as the Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Defence.
General Anuruddha Leuke Ratwatte, frequently referred to as Anuruddha Ratwatte, was a Sri Lankan soldier and politician. He was a Cabinet Minister and Deputy Minister of Defence.
Mahamood Lebbe Alim Mohamed Hizbullah is a Sri Lankan politician and state minister. He was a minor presidential candidate in the 2019 presidential elections.
Terrorism in Sri Lanka has been a highly destructive phenomenon during the periods of the Sri Lankan Civil War (1983–2009) and the first and second JVP insurrections. A common definition of terrorism is the systematic use or threatened use of violence to intimidate a population or government for political, religious, or ideological goals. Sri Lanka is a country that has experienced some of the worst known acts of modern terrorism, such as suicide bombings, massacres of civilians and assassination of political and social leaders, that posed a significant threat to the society, economy and development of the country. The Prevention of Terrorism Act of 1978 is the legislation, that provides the powers to law enforcement officers to deal with issues related to terrorism in Sri Lanka. It was first enacted as a temporary law in 1979 under the presidency of J. R. Jayewardene, and later made permanent in 1982.
Pujith Senadhi Bandara Jayasundara also simply known as Pujith Jayasundara is a former Sri Lankan police officer. He was the 34th Inspector-General of Police (IGP) from 2016 to 2020. He was sent on compulsory leave from April 2019 following the Easter bombings and retired in March 2020.
This page lists notable events that took place in the year 2019 in Sri Lanka. This year marks the fewest non-working holidays in the country as most of the public holidays fall on weekends.
The Bangladesh cricket team toured Sri Lanka in July 2019 to play three One Day International (ODI) matches. Originally, the tour was scheduled to take place in December 2019, but it was moved to avoid clashing with the 2019–20 Bangladesh Premier League tournament.
On 21 April 2019, Easter Sunday, three churches in Sri Lanka and three luxury hotels in the commercial capital, Colombo, were targeted in a series of coordinated ISIS-related terrorist suicide bombings. Later that day, two smaller explosions occurred at a housing complex in Dematagoda and a guest house in Dehiwala. A total of 269 people were killed, including at least 45 foreign nationals, three police officers, and eight suicide bombers. An additional 500 were injured. The church bombings were carried out during Easter services in Negombo, Batticaloa and Colombo; the hotels bombed included the Shangri-La, Cinnamon Grand, Kingsbury and Tropical Inn. According to the State Intelligence Service, a second wave of attacks was planned, but was prevented due to government raids.
National Thowheeth Jama'ath is a Sri Lankan Islamist jihadist militant group implicated in the 2019 Sri Lanka Easter bombings. It is believed to have ties to the Islamic State (ISIL). President of Sri Lanka Maithripala Sirisena banned National Thowheed Jamath on 27 April 2019 and designated it as a terrorist organisation along with Jammiyathul Millathu Ibrahim.
On 26 April 2019, Sri Lankan security forces and National Thowheeth Jama'ath militants linked to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant clashed when the security forces raided a house in the town of Sainthamaruthu in Ampara District at around 7:30 pm. The house had been used by the militants to manufacture explosives and suicide vests. Three suicide bombers blew themselves up, killing nine of their family members, including six children, while four other suspects where shot dead by the soldiers. A civilian was killed and two others were injured during the crossfire.
The Commander-in-Chief of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces is the ultimate commanding authority of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces, an executive role vested in the President of Sri Lanka.