Civil Military Interdependency to Counter Terrorism: A Case Study of Sri Lanka

Abstract

Terrorism has become a major threat to many countries worldwide and has made it difficult to maintain world peace whereas some countries find it difficult to manage due to the destructive terrorist activities of various terrorist groups with innovation. Terrorism is an issue that Sri Lankan military and the communities consider as a security threat. Since Easter Attacks, Sri Lankan military and law enforcement authorities have been increasingly tasked with preventing, responding to, and investigating extremist movements and terrorist organizations. The aim of this article is to examine the importance of building relationship between military and local communities, creating an information highway in order to counter terrorism. Data collected from secondary sources and existing literature confirmed the findings of the article on this topic. The findings explain the importance of Human Intelligence (HUMINT) and how to utilize a maximum output to the intelligence services from the local communities by developing a civil military interdependency. In order to build that, building trust is a major component. This also focuses on strengthening information sharing through better relationships. This demands that Military and law enforcement agencies to establish a system of public participation in the countering terrorism measures by working closely with their communities. The conclusion of the article demonstrates suggestions to build better relationship among the military and civil society which namely are initiating the concept of civil joint task force and inculcating community building and education. Some broader implications were also extracted for the Sri Lanka Military from a realistic point of view.