24th May 2017 17:08:29 Hours
The biannual academic sessions of the Officer Career Development Centre (OCDC) at Buttala began this morning (24) after a brief inaugural session, in which Major General Mahesh Senanayake, Chief of Staff of the Army, delivered the keynote address as the Chief Guest.
The two-day long sessions, themed mainly on ‘Changing Security Landscape: Role of Sri Lankan Forces’ have been listed under five major sub topic sessions to suit the main theme in addition to the opening session. Civil and military resource personnel, drawn from specific spheres of expertise during respective sessions will dwell on ‘Existing & Emerging Threats to Peace & Stability’, ‘Sensitization & Exploitation of Religious, Ethnic & Political Issues’, ‘Technological Advancement, Dependence & Potential Threats’, ‘Geo-political Interests & the World Order’ and ‘Challenges to Sri Lankan Armed Forces in Countering Future Threats’ during the sessions, attended by over 60 senior and middle rank tri service and Police officers.
The ceremonial inauguration got to a start soon after Major General Mahesh Senanayake, Chief Guest, together with a few others lit the traditional oil lamp, followed by the welcome speech, delivered by Brigadier Chandana Gunawardana, Commandant, OCDC.
In his keynote address, Major General Senanayake reminded the gathering that the overall pattern in nature of conflict and the entire spectrum of security environment had changed over the time. “Degree of escalation of conflicts has been increased in size, dispersion, effect and complexity. States have got bogged down by threats and challenges, like ethnic conflicts, fundamentalism, separatism, insurgencies, illegal migrations, public disorder and terrorism, in addition to the other issues such as those related to environment degradation, mass migration, influx of refugees, epidemics and disasters, etc,” he pointed out.
“On the other hand, increased developments of technological innovations, advances in robotics, artificial intelligence, genetics, neurosciences, computing, etc are among other factors that pose a threat to peace and stability. Similarly, one should not undermine the importance of concentration on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law in any future operational environment,” Major General Senanayake underlined.
Referring to future of military engagement, the keynote speaker highlighted ‘terrorism’ to be considered as the prioritized security concern. “We are the guardians of all Sri Lankans, and the Army is the nation’s means to seize, retain and exploit the opportunities. Terrorism is at the forefront of our security concerns and we have to nip the origins of terrorism in the bud. Constructive engagement with international and regional intelligence players is therefore a must. The Army should be all the time agile, lethal, versatile and modernized to suit tomorrow’s operations. That is the need of the hour. Close combination with Navy and Air Force is another essential component since the Army should act as a capability-based force and not a threat-based one because threats are always hard to predict. Likewise, capacity development in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations of the Army are also needed to be given due attention,” the Chief of Staff stressed.
Major General Ralph Nugera, Brigadier C.S.N Mudannayake (Retd), Mr Nishan De Mel, Mr Lasantha Wickramasooriya, Dr Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu and Prof. Imtiaz Ahamed contributed to the sessions on the first day.
Prof. Shantha K. Hennayake, Mr Asantha Senevirathna, Mr Sanath De Silva, Major General K.P.A Jayasekara, Major General B.H.M.A Wijesinghe, Brigadier G.V Ravipriya, Brigadier M.D.U.V Gunatilleka, Colonel S.A Kulathunga and Lieutenant Colonel K.V.P Dhammika are among those billed to address the second day sessions.
At the end of the first day’s inaugural session, the Commandant, OCDC awarded a memento of appreciation to the day’s Chief Guest.
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