r Ministry of Defence - Sri Lanka

“Organized Crimes and the Growing Imbalance of Discipline within the Society”

August 26, 2022

Institute of National Security Studies

“Organized Crimes and the Growing Imbalance of Discipline within
the Society”

Press Release

Institute of National Security Studies (INSS), the premier think tank on national security established under the Ministry of Defence, organized a Round Table Discussion titled “Organized Crimes and the Growing Imbalance of Discipline within the Society” on Tuesday, 23rd of August 2022, from 1400hrs to 1530hrs (IST) via Zoom. The three esteemed Guest Speakers of the event were Former Senior DIG Priyantha Jayakody, Crimes, Criminal Intelligence & Organized Crime range, Sri Lanka Police, Deshabandu Professor M. A. D. J. S. Niriella, Dean, Faculty of Criminal Justice, General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University and Professor W. M. Dhanapala Wijesingha, Department of Criminology & Criminal Justice Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University Sri Jayewardenapura. The moderator for this informative and timely session was Rear Admiral Dimuthu Gunawardena RWP** RSP VSV USP nswc psc hdmc, Acting Director General, Director (Communications & Publications), of the Institute of National Security Studies. The audience comprised of ministry officials, academicians, researchers, representatives from Sri Lankan armed forces, think tanks and academia. The moderator commenced the proceedings along with the elaboration of how Organized Crimes within the current society have aroused with the direct impact of the crisis and how it has brought uncertain times for the community with the growing imbalance of discipline.

Commencing with Former Senior DIG Priyantha Jayakody, who spoke under the area, “Organized Criminal Gangs in Sri Lanka and its Impact to national security”, portrayed a wide array of information from the late 1990s to present as to how the Criminal gangs were formed and all relevant aspects aligned with it, along with the negative impact it has on society as well as national security in the long run. Following up, he also mentioned few of his very own experiences in dealing with such gangs and provided the audience with the underlined concerns of how Organized Criminal Gangs have taken an upper hand during the present day. Moving on with the Second speaker, Deshabandu Professor M. A. D. J. S. Niriella, brought out a clear insight on the area, “Impact of Rising Murder Rates on Human Security”. Within her speech she elaborated how the increasing murder rates have created insecurity within the community, while bringing out the essence through the aspect of law. Continuing with the final and last speaker, Professor W. M. Dhanapala Wijesingha, who spoke about, the “Disciplinary Issues in Society of Sri Lanka”, explained the overall negative impact of organized crimes within the Sri Lankan society. Where he connected the dots of what was mentioned by the previous speakers and spoke about the Disciplinary issues within Sri Lanka and how it can be mitigated by effective approaches through the scratch.

Following up, several timely related questions under the discussed topic of concern were posed by the audience in the Q and A segment, where each speaker was directed with a question as per their topic of discussion. The speakers responded constructively along with adequate facts as well as realistic concerns of the current context. Finally, Ms. Gayanga Dias, Research Assistant of the Institute of National Security Studies, delivered the Vote of thanks, marking the end of yet another insightful and engaging Round Table Discussion conducted under a timely theme of debate.