After what was witnessed in France last Friday, those in T&T who experienced the 1990 failed coup attempt “must know that we are not just vulnerable but we are more vulnerable now than in 1990,” Prime Minister Keith Rowley warned yesterday.
“We have to be vigilant in every single area. We have to be always vigilant and cognisant that we are exposed as everybody else in the world to this particular threat,” Rowley said.
He assured that the question of returning T&T-born foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs) was being addressed.
Rowley, at yesterday’s launch of a committee to examine the local health system, was responding to questions on T&T’s position following last Friday’s seven terrorist attacks in Paris. The launch was held at the Office of the Prime Minister, St Clair.
Some 129 people were killed, 352 injured (99 seriously), leading to high level global caucuses on the matter and a flurry of activity among global security sectors.
A manhunt is on for Salah Abdelsalam believed to be the eighth person involved with the seven Paris assassins in the attacks.
After the Islamic State (ISIS) claimed responsibility, France bombed Isis locations in Syria and massive sweeps are underway in France, Belgium, Greece and other states where the attack is believed to have been hatched.
Several US states have announced they would not be taking in Syrian refugees, though the Obama administration is committed to doing this. Yesterday, a new video surfaced in which Isis insurgents warned of striking the US.
Clarifying last Sunday’s reported quotes (not the T&T Guardian’s) from National Security Minister Edmund Dillon that “ Isis wasn’t a threat to TT,“ Rowley said:
“There are a couple statements attributed to Mr Dillon. One of the perils we face (as politicians) is we are subjected to interpretation and angles. It’s one of those situations.
“I don’t know that he was saying Isis is not a threat. This thing called Isis is a global threat and if anyone understands that, it’s the National Security Minister.
“If you look at the story in one of the other newspapers, it’s quite clear and different to the headline story that ‘Isis is not a threat.’”
Rowley continued: “We in T&T would know this modern development can, even by us, be viewed as an evolution of 1990.
“T&T was impacted upon by a sect in T&T, which in some way had a Middle Eastern influence so we cannot at any time take any position that we are immune to developments out there.
“Then comes the 21st century and there is this idea of this group in the Middle East which we call Isis, whose modus operandi is, as what we have seen in France.
“And we who experienced 1990 must know that we are not only just vulnerable but we are more vulnerable now than in 1990.
“In 1990, those persons who took up arms against the State didn’t have social media and I daresay, were not as barbarous as those today who can train anywhere in the world... as unknown persons anywhere... and put one person to upset a nation. So what we should be focusing on is our readiness to respond to the threat that we all face:”
The PM said T&T’s National Security Council met fairly regularly and there were security arrangements and contingencies in place.
Saying the question of T&T’s FTF returnees will certainly be examined by Government, he added: “It’s not just a question that people can’t come back home even people who we know now we don’t want to enter our borders are entering.
“So we just have to be vigilant in every single area, in particular in co-operating with the rest of the world and persons who may be engaged in this.”
Rowley acknowledged there could also be “persons who may never leave here but who may share the views and who may be encouraged to take action against us.
“So this is a very unusual development in history and T&T simply has to do the best that we can at the national and international levels in responding to this global phenomenon.”
On whether T&T is involved in international “sweeps” for planners of the Paris attack, Rowley said not specifically in the last day or so “but T&T is engaging a number of regional and international initiatives geared to respond to situations.”
He noted T&T was head of Caricom’s regional security committee and was on good terms with international neighbours who were directly involved in different types of responses.
He added: “What we have to do is stay engaged and we’re doing that. I know the population would like to know a lot about what we are doing but sometimes things are better done in a particular way.
“But rest assured, there is a National Security Council in T&T and those persons in T&T whose duty is to respond are responding and responding as part of an international arrangement.”