Easter Sunday carnage: Mysterious decisions, failures and politics of opportunity

The SLPP’s decision to reach an agreement with Maithripala Sirisena in the run-up to the general election in August 2020 is nothing but a fatal decision. The SLPP disregarded Sirisena’s pathetic and catastrophic failure to thwart the Easter Sunday carnage when the party finalized an electoral pact that enabled the SLFP to contest on the SLPP ticket. Sirisena returned to Parliament from Polonnaruwa on the SLPP ticket. The former President was among 12 SLFPers elected on the SLPP ticket. One SLFPer entered through the SLPP National List, while another was elected from Jaffna, under the SLFP symbol hand.

By Shamindra Ferdinando

Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and Jathika Jana Balawegaya (JJB) leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake is the fourth President trying to get to the bottom of the April 2019 Easter Sunday carnage, the only post-war major violent incident. If his predecessors in the top seat had been compromised in some way or another, and that was the reason for their failure, then he is our true hope!

The nearly 30-year brutal internecine war that appeared to drag on endlessly was brought to a successful conclusion in May 2009 to the surprise of many, through proper leadership, both militarily and politically, with the Mahinda Rajapaksa Government deciding to fight it to a finish, unlike previous regimes. Even some of the former security forces top brass, also made a business out of it when they were at the helm. Having witnessed the sorry way the LTTE challenge was met previously, war-winning Army Commander Sarath Fonseka, too, made a prophetic public pronouncement that he would not leave the war to a successor to fight.

Maithripala Sirisena, who had served as the President, in addition to being the Minister in charge of Defence and Public Security, as well as Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, at the time of the multiple Easter suicide attacks, was faulted by the Supreme Court in January 2023. The SC ordered him to pay Rs. 100 mn. Sirisena paid the entire amount by August 2024. The final instalment amounted to Rs 12 mn.

The failure on the part of Sirisena’s administration to thwart the attacks, blamed on the now proscribed National Thowheed Jamaat (NTJ), facilitated Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s sweeping victory at the Nov. 2019 presidential election. There is no doubt about that against the backdrop of the Gajaba Regiment veteran repeatedly assuring the country that security would be restored. Therefore, the crux of the matter is whether the wartime Defence Secretary ordered the Easter Sunday carnage for his benefit, while he and his powerful family were out of power. If it had been the case, as alleged by his opponents, there should be a plausible explanation as to why the extremist NTJ wanted to promote Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s candidate at all, as most Muslims by then detested the Rajapaksas because of their perceived bias towards Sinhala extremists, like Bodu Bala Sena. Such feelings among Muslims were obviously exploited by interested parties with the help of some of their leaders. Even corrupt monks, too, were exploited by them with foreign trips, and what not, to fan flames on the majority side. And, obviously, their ultimate target was the war-winning Rajapaksas for defying the West and destroying their pet Tigers.

Those who planned and executed the Easter Sunday terror project, Mohamed Zahran Mohammed Hashim (Shangri-La bomber) and Mohommad Ibrahim Ilham Ahmad (Shangri-La bomber) and Mohommad Ibrahim Insaf Ahmad (Cinnamon Grand bomber) and rest of the team, obviously couldn’t have been unaware of the opportunity the bloodbath afforded to the SLPP candidate. May be it was yet another plot to destroy the Rajapaksas as the dastardly attacks in a way helped the Rajapaksas to return to power, while other sinister plans against them were being brewed.

The Catholic Church wholeheartedly backed Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the 2019 presidential election. The top leadership had been so confident the new President would ensure investigations free of political interference, the Church backed the SLPP candidate unreservedly at the August 2020 parliamentary election as well. The Church also declined an offer made by President Gotabaya to nominate a person of its choice to the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) on the Easter Sunday attacks. The Church obviously felt that nomination of a person perceived to be their nominee could undermine the PCoI named by Sirisena in Sept. 2019.

Hence, the five-member PCoI, headed by Supreme Court Judge Janak de Silva, only consisted of Appeal Court Judge Nissanka Bandula Karunarathna, retired Judge of the Court of Appeal, Nihal Sunil Rajapaksa, retired Judge of the High Court, Bandula Kumara Atapattu, and retired Ministry Secretary Ms. W.M.M. Adikari, continued with the Inquiry with no representation from the Catholic Church.

Sirisena appointed the PCoI as the report presented by the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) that conducted an inquiry (May-Oct. 2019) into Easter Sunday carnage showed him in a bad light. Sirisena obviously wanted to clear himself, hence the appointment of the PCoI.

Disastrous move

Trouble started soon after the PCoI handed over its final report to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Feb. 01, 2021. The President had earlier received the first and the second interim reports which were handed over to him on Dec. 20, 2019 and on March 02, 2020 respectively. Director General, Legal Affairs of the Presidential Secretariat, Hariguptha Rohanadheera, handed over the report to Attorney General Dappula de Livera, PC, on February 25. Two days before Rohanadheera met Livera, President Rajapaksa caused himself and his government irreparable damage by appointing a six-member Committee, consisting of SLPP parliamentarians, to examine the report.

A statement issued by the Presidential Media Division declared that the Committee had been entrusted with a wide ranging mandate. The PMD explained: “Identifying the overall process, including the measures that need to be taken by various agencies and authorities such as the Parliament, judiciary, Attorney General’s Department, security forces, State Intelligence services and implementing recommendations as stipulated by PCoI to avert recurrence of a national catastrophe of such magnitude is the prime responsibility of the said Committee.”

The Committee, chaired by President’s elder brother Chamal Rajapaksa, included Johnston Fernando, Udaya Gammanpila, Dr. Ramesh Pathirana, Prasanna Ranatunga, and Rohitha Abeygunawardena.

Former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa owed the country an explanation as to why he named such a Committee that only strengthened accusations regarding his role in the Easter Sunday terror project.

‘Sri Lanka’s Easter Tragedy: When the Deep State gets out of its Depth

’, authored by Prof. Rajan Hoole meticulously dealt with the issues at hand. In spite of its launch in late Sept. 2019, just about five months after the Easter Sunday massacres, Hoole’s work didn’t receive the expected response but the course of action President Rajapaksa resorted to as regards PCoI, in Feb. 2021. influenced the public. By then, the Sinhala version of the Prof.’s work was available.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s government conveniently failed to implement the PCoI recommendations. In July 2021, less than five months after the President had received the PCoI report, the Catholic Church (National Catholic Committee for Justice to Easter Sunday victims), politely called for the implementation of the recommendations. Their plea was disregarded.

Director, State Intelligence Service (SIS) Senior DIG Nilantha Jayawardena, who had been the main culprit, as asserted by the PSC and the PCoI responsible for security failure, remained in the police till July 2024. Jayawardena served as Senior DIG in charge of the Central Province before receiving appointment as Senior DIG (Administration), in other words, the number two in the Department.

Having raised the Easter Sunday carnage at the Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council, and with the Vatican, the Church, without hesitation, backed the unprecedented public protest campaign (March-July 2022) that forced Gotabaya Rajapaksa out of office. That brought UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe into power in July 2022. Having declared his intention, in Sept. 2022, to secure the assistance of Scotland Yard, Wickremesinghe quickly and conveniently forgot his promise as he slowly turned around the economy. Emboldened by apparent success on the economic front, Wickremesinghe made a catastrophic bid to postpone presidential election. The rest is history.

PCoI recommendations regarding MS, RW

The PCoI report differed from the PSC in respect of the findings regarding political party leaders. Based on the PCoI findings, the Church, in July 2021, questioned President Rajapaksa as to why punitive recommendations, pertaining to Yahapalana President Sirisena (Final Report of PCoI. Vol 01. Page 265) hadn’t been implemented. The Church also demanded to know as to why Premier Wickremesinghe hadn’t been investigated for his shortcomings and failures (Final Report of PCoI. Volume 01. Pages 276-277).

The PCoI recommended that the AG consider criminal proceedings against Sirisena, under any suitable provision in the Penal Code. The Church found fault with the PCoI for not making any specific recommendations in respect of Wickremesinghe after having blamed him for contributing to the overall security failure.

The PCoI asserted that Wickremesinghe’s negligent approach towards extremism had been one of the primary reasons for the government’s failure to counter the growing threat. Therefore, the Premier’s failure facilitated, what the Church called, the build-up of Islamic extremism to the point of the Easter Sunday attack.

Within three weeks of his election, President Dissanayake visited St. Sebastian’s Church at Katuwapitiya, Negombo, where he assured justice for the Easter Sunday victims. One of the key issues that should receive the attention of the investigators is the continuing controversy over the Easter Sunday mastermind.

Who actually masterminded, or engineered, the Easter Sunday terror project? Retired Rear Admiral Sarath Weerasekera, who served as Public Security Minister during Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s tenure as President, declared Mohammadu Ibrahim Mohamed Naufer alias Naufer Moulavi as the mastermind. However, many people are skeptical about the claim. The Kattankudy-born man, who had been arrested in Dambulla, a few days after the Easter Sunday blasts, is in custody pending investigations and court proceedings.

Top spokesperson for the Catholic Church Rev. Father Cyril Gamini Fernando recently declared a person identified as Abu Hind as a key figure in the Easter Sunday conspiracy. Widely believed to be a creation of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) of India, that technical persona, or avatar, infiltrated the network planning Easter Sunday attacks. Those who still suspect an Indian had had a hand in the terror project haven’t explained as to why New Delhi provided specific intelligence on three occasions before the suicide attacks. The use of such avatars is all part of counterintelligence strategy employed not only by India but many other countries as well. So was it a foreign plot or something on those lines? No wonder foreign personnel were crawling over some of the attacked places, like the Colombo Shangri-La, no sooner it happened, and even before some of our own investigators got down to work.

Dematagoda link

But have we paid sufficient attention to the family of wealthy spice exporter Mohammed Yusuf Ibrahim who live at Mahawila Uyana Road, Dematagoda. If not for their financial and moral support, the Easter Sunday operation couldn’t have been mounted under any circumstances. Would it be unfair on our part to ascertain them as the Easter Sunday masterminds or prime facilitators? The question is whether Easter Sunday strikes could have materialized without the involvement of the Ibrahim family.

One of Ibrahim’s sons, Mohommad Ibrahim Ilham Ahmad along with Mohamed Zahran Mohammed Hashim mounted an attack on Shangri-La. Ilham’s brother, Mohommad Ibrahim Insaf Ahmad blasted himself inside the Cinnamon Grand hotel. The two brothers are believed to have first met Zaharan at a wedding ceremony in the East. The two brothers may have also met Zaharan in Kurunegala, home town of Zaharan’s wife Abdul Kadar Fathima Hadiya. It would be pertinent to mention that Ilham had managed their spice farm in Matale.

Fathima Jefri, the wife of Ilham, detonated a bomb on the first floor of their three-storey luxury home when investigators came to their place to gather evidence. The blast killed three CCD (Colombo Crime Division) personnel who entered the house, as well as her three sons. Fathima, in her early 20s, had been pregnant at the time.

Mohammed Yusuf Ibrahim, who had been the President of the Pettah Traders Association, was among the JVP National List nominees for the 2015 parliamentary election. Of course at the time the JVP accommodated the wealthy trader on its National List, the deadly ‘religious’ plot may not have been conceived. Therefore, it wouldn’t be fair to demand an explanation from the JVP or JVP-led JJB, now in power ,regarding the inclusion of Mohammed Yusuf Ibrahim on their 2015 National List.

Prominent lawyer Hejaaz Hizbullah, who had been detained in April 2020 in connection with the Easter Sunday carnage, was granted bail and released in Feb. 2022. Investigators failed to link Hizbullah to the Easter Sunday plot though he professionally knew the Ibrahim family.

Instead of playing politics with the issues at hand, the government should undertake a thorough review of all available information. The truth is that the radical preacher Mohamed Zahran Mohammed Hashim had been under investigation years before the Senior DIG Jayawardena, in his capacity as Director SIS received the first Indian intelligence alert on April 04, 2019.

Jayawardena’s failure to act is inexplicable as on his request the entire investigation on the extremist had been brought under the SIS on April 08, 2018, a year before the attacks. The delay on the part of the Attorney General’s Department in providing required instructions/advice pertaining to extremist activity to the police, too, contributed to the overall security failure. The PCoI recommended disciplinary action against State Counsel Malik Azees and Deputy Solicitor General Azad Navavi.

The Yahapalana government disregarded the then Justice Minister Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakse’s dire warning issued in Parliament in mid Nov. 2016 regarding radicalization of the local Muslim community against the backdrop of some Sri Lankans joining the Islamic State (IS). A section of the government parliamentary group and other interested parties lambasted Wijeyadasa Rajapakse, a President’s Counsel, over his prima facie suspicions. The Justice Minister wouldn’t have made such a grave declaration, in Parliament, if he was not sure about what he was talking about.

What really made both the political and intelligence apparatus turn a blind eye to extremism? The shocking revelation made by Yahapalana Minister Harin Fernando, immediately after the Easter Sunday carnage that his father received a specific warning on April 20 regarding the impending attacks from a CID investigator, underscored a pathetic state of affairs.

As a responsible Cabinet Minister there cannot be any doubt that he alerted Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe and Deputy Defence Minister Ruwan Wijewardene regarding the impending attacks.

Collective int’l failure

The PSC in its report questioned the failure on the part of SIS to act swiftly and decisively against the backdrop of information available on active extremist groups, including arrest warrant issued on Shangri-La bomber Mohamed Zahran Mohammed Hashim way back in March 2017. Having found fault with the SIS Chief, the PSC headed by the then Deputy Speaker Ananda Kumarasiri, asserted that Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando, IGP Pujitha Jayasundera, Chief of National Intelligence retired DIG Sisira Mendis and Director of Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) Brigadier Chula Kodituwakku, in addition to the SIS Chief, were collectively responsible for the catastrophic security failure.

The need to examine the CID and TID response to the extremist threat, as well as the impact of the 2018 Oct. political conspiracy to bring in Mahinda Rajapaksa as PM, should also receive the attention of the new government. The bottom line is that the intelligence services had loads of information on the NTJ and they should have been able to thwart the deaths of 270 people and injuries to over 500 even with Indian warning. That is the truth.

Allegations directed at retired Maj. Gen. Suresh Salley regarding his direct involvement with the suicide squad should be investigated, taking into consideration the overall failure on the part of the SIS, Secy Defence, IGP, CNI and DMI to thwart the Easter Sunday plot. The investigation should seek to ascertain whether Salley, in spite of being attached to our High Commission as Minister Counsellor in Kuala Lumpur, influenced the DMI.

Following extremely serious allegations pertaining to Salley’s role in the Easter Sunday plot made by the UK’s controversial Channel 4 well-known for doing hatchet jobs, about an alleged clandestine meeting between the former DMI chief and the suicide squad at an estate in the Puttalam district in Feb 2018, President Wickremesinghe appointed a three-member Committee in Sept., 2023 to investigate the allegations. Salley, in response to a questionnaire posed to him by Channel 4, claimed that between Dec. 2016 and Dec. 2018 he left Malaysia only once for a week in Dec .2017 to visit Colombo. And he hadn’t left Malaysia for any other country during this period. This should be investigated. Having served as head of DMI from Oct. 2012 to Nov. 2016, he received a diplomatic appointment. Brig M D U V Gunathilake succeeded Salley. But at the time of the Easter Sunday carnage Brig. Chula Kodithuwakku had been at the helm of the DMI.

The committee, chaired by retired Supreme Court Justice S.I. Imam, consists of retired Air Force Commander A.C.M. Jayalath Weerakkody and President’s Counsel Harsha A.J. Soza PC.

In June 2023, Wickremesinghe appointed a Committee, headed by retired High Court judge Ms. A.N.J. De Alwis, to probe the SIS and CNI and other related services regarding the handling of the Easter Sunday intelligence warnings received from India and local investigations carried out before that. The Committee included SLAS special grade Officer Ms. K.N.K. Somaratne and Attorney-at-Law W.M.A.N. Nishane.

Wickremesinghe’s failure to release the reports, before the Sept. 21 presidential election, is baffling. The UNP leader’s successor President Dissanayake is yet to release the reports. As demanded by the Catholic Church and former MP Udaya Gammanpila on behalf of the Opposition, the reports should be released. The reports should be able to shed light on the entire intelligence apparatus and when examined along with all other material available can expose the murder plot. The need to identify conspirators at all levels regardless of their standing in the society cannot be disregarded.