Fish stories and repressive laws

Thursday 6th April, 2023

The Catholic Church has challenged the veracity of a claim by the police that Pulasthini Mahendran alias Sara Jasmine, wife of Muhammadu Muhammadu Hasthun, who carried out a suicide bomb attack on St. Sebastian’s Church, Katuwapitiya, on 21 April 2019, is dead. The police say a third DNA test has revealed that she was among those who died inside a National Thowheed Jamaath (NTJ) safehouse in Sainthamaruthu on 26 April 2019. Archbishop of Colombo, His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, addressing the media, the other day, said DNA tests in respect of Sarah had been conducted until the police got the result they desired! He has struck a responsive chord with the discerning public.

One may recall that in 1983, when the counting of votes got underway, following the conclusion of the Mahara by-election, and it became obvious that that UNP candidate Kamalawarna Jayakody would lose, the then President J. R. Jayewardene reportedly ordered that recounts go on until Jayakody became the winner! He ensured that his order was carried out and got the result he wanted. The police seem to have adopted the same modus operandi in respect of the aforesaid DNA tests. Sara is believed to have fled the country with the help of some foreign spooks.

It is thought that Sara was privy to vital information about the masterminds behind the Easter Sunday carnage. Hence the need to find out what actually happened to her. Curiously, even the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) which probed the Easter Sunday tragedy dealt with the alleged foreign involvement rather perfunctorily. It has devoted only an eight-page chapter in its bulky report to the claim of a foreign hand in the attacks, as we have pointed out in a previous editorial comment. This section in the PCoI report lacks clarity and proper analysis. The witnesses who expressly testified that there had been ‘an external hand or conspiracy behind the attacks’, according to the PCoI, are Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, former President Sirisena, former Minister Rauf Hakeem, former Minister Rishad Bathiudeen, former Governor Azath Salley, SJB MP Mujibur Rahman, former SIS Director SDIG Nilantha Jayawardena, former STF Commandant M. R. Lateef, former Chief of Defence Staff Ravindra Wijegunaratne, former SDIG CID Ravi Seneviratne and former CID Director Shani Abeysekera. Dismissing their statements as mere ipse dixits (assertions made but not proven), the PCoI has said it did not find any such foreign link. It has, however, recommended that certain identified parties be further investigated.

The police are so politicised that they have lost credibility. They are known to bark up the wrong tree to cover up crimes at the behest of their political masters who have them on a string. The shameful manner in which they sought to cover up the murder of ruggerite Wasim Thajudeen in 2012 is a case in point. So, it is only natural that nobody takes their claims seriously. A thorough investigation must be conducted to find out whether there was a foreign hand behind the Easter Sunday bombings.

The Archbishop of Colombo has told the government some home truths. Condemning the proposed Anti-Terrorism Bill (ATB) as draconian, he has warned the ruling politicians that it is a ‘double-edged sword’ and, if ratified, will boomerang on them one day because they will not be in power forever. His warning reminds us of the golden rule: “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.” If the Rajapaksa-Wickremesinghe regime goes ahead with the ATB aimed at suppressing its political opponents, its leaders will have a future government using the same law against them.

Anti-terror laws, in this country, are mostly used against the law-abiding citizens and not bloodthirsty savages who harm innocent people. Terrorists were given kid-glove treatment, under some governments, despite the PTA (Prevention of Terrorism Act). The LTTE was treated like a de facto government during ‘peace talks’, especially from 2001 to 2004, when the UNP was in power and Ranil Wickremesinghe served as the Prime Minister. But, today, student leaders and other anti-government activists are dealt with under the PTA! The Easter Sunday PCoI has revealed that the UNP-led Yahapalana government did not allow action to be taken against religious fanatics such as Zahran Hashim and other NTJ terrorists. But the current SLPP-UNP regime is in overdrive to introduce a set of repressive anti-terror laws to neutralise its political opponents. Hence the need for all those who uphold democracy to join forces to abort the ATB.