No laws to ban the National Thowheed Jamath - President

Colombo (News1st) - This morning President Maithripala Sirisena met with the heads of media organisations at the President's officials residence. During the meeting, the head of state made a series of startling revelations. The President noted that highly descriptive information was given by a friendly nation to a Head of Intelligence on April 4th adding that this information included targets and methods of the attack. He added that the Defence Secretary didn't take intelligence reports seriously. President Sirisena also noted that the IGP had forwarded the information to 5 DIGs adding that only one of them, DIG Dasanayake, had acted on the intel and sent it to VIP security. The President stated that the IGP and the other DIGs didn't do their job. He also stated that neither the IGP nor Defence Secretary informed him of the intelligence reports adding that this is not an attempt to absolve himself from any responsibility, he reiterated that the government must accept responsibility for the lapses in security. Vowing to stamp out the Islamic State (IS) from Sri Lanka, President Sirisena stated that 70 suspects have been arrested so far and that there are around  130-140 IS suspects in Sri Lanka. While stating that no foreign army will step into Sri Lanka the President assured that they have sought assistance from other nations to help us fight IS. The President assured that action will be taken against all officials who neglected their duties, and a total reorganization of the security establishment will take place in the days to come. President Sirisena stated that one of the main reasons for the rift between the government and himself over the past two years was because he stood against the weakening of the armed forces adding that top intelligence officers were harassed and he had to send a few on overseas appointments to help them. Commenting on the National Thowheed Jamath, President Sirisena noted that they are looking into banning the NTJ but that they do not have the necessary laws to implement a ban. The President stated that they are looking into the acts passed by the Australian Parliament to help Sri Lanka draft the required Laws. The President also stated that a new defence secretary would be appointed today and that he expects the IGP to resign today.