Church leaders should name the people who benefitted from ‘grand political plot’

(UCAN) Investigations into the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks in Sri Lanka have made little progress. There have been endless cover-ups helping the perpetrators go scot-free.The attacks on churches in Katuwapitiya, Colombo Kochchikade and Batticaloa, and three hotels claimed the lives of nearly 270 and injured more than 400.

Successive governments have preferred to engage in the blame game when it comes to delivering justice to the victims and their families.The Church in Sri Lanka has been knocking on all doors to bring the perpetrators of the Easter carnage to justice. However, it has not gotten anywhere.

Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith of Colombo has been lending his voice to get justice for the victims. In March, he told the UN Human Rights Council that the attacks were a “grand political plot.”

Six months after the bombings, former president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, ran for the presidency promising justice to the victims of the Easter atrocities and won with a thumping majority.Initially, Church officials including Cardinal Ranjith backed Rajapaksa, but later voiced disappointment over the lack of progress in the probe, giving rise to his accusations that the attacks had a political or electoral motive.

The bombings in Sri Lanka could have been averted if the government of the day, headed by President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had acted on intelligence inputs. But the former president and ex-prime minister have washed their hands and have been blaming each other for the attacks.

Earlier this week, during a meeting with Acting President Wickremesinghe, the head of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Sri Lanka (CBCS), Bishop Harold Anthony Perera of Kurunegala raised the following point: If intelligence agencies had tipped off the government of the impending attacks why wasn’t the information passed on to the Catholic Church?

During their meeting, Bishop Perera also reminded the president about the responsibility on the part of the government to deliver justice to the victims, their families and the Church.Shedding light on the complacency of the government, Bishop Perera told the president that some of the key suspects have ended up as state witnesses.Already, Wickremesinghe appears to be safe. At the end of last month, the Supreme Court decided not to proceed with a petition filed against him over the Easter Sunday attacks because of the constitutional immunity given to presidents.

The order was issued by a seven-member Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya.But former president, Sirisena, seems to be in trouble.On Sept 16, a Sri Lankan court named him a suspect in the terror bombings and asked him to appear in court on Oct 14. Sirisena has filed a petition challenging the summons issued against him.

The magistrate’s court in Colombo’s Fort area issued the order while hearing a private complaint filed by Father Cyril Gamini Fernando, a member of the National Catholic Committee for Justice for Easter Sunday attack victims.This is not the first time Sirisena has been blamed for the attacks. In May 2019, a parliamentary panel, tasked with probing the Easter bombings, accused Sirisena of “actively undermining” security systems, which resulted in serious lapses ahead of the attacks.

In February 2021, a Presidential Commission of Inquiry said that Sirisena and his intelligence chiefs should be prosecuted for their failure to prevent the bombings, which are attributed to a radical Islamist network in Sri Lanka.Seventy-one-year-old Sirisena, however, has denied any prior knowledge.

The presidential commission also found a host of other defense officials, including former police chief, Pujith Jayasundera, and former defense secretary, Hemasiri Fernando, guilty of ignoring intelligence warnings. The panel recommended criminal action against Sirisena and others. However, no criminal cases were filed against them.

Ousted president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who succeeded Sirisena, came under pressure to act against his predecessor. He, however, refused to act as Sirisena occupied a vital position in the ruling coalition.

On the third anniversary of the terror attacks this year, then prime minister, Mahinda Rajapaksa, vowed that the government would not rest until the perpetrators were arrested. A month later, he and Gotabaya were forced to leave office in May following massive protests against their mismanagement of the nation’s economy.Last year, in a letter to the government, the Church sought legal action against Sirisena for negligence.

The Church leaders in Sri Lanka, at least by now, have their own doubts about the political ambitions that failed to prevent the Easter attack. They should name the people who benefitted from the attacks and speak out about their well-founded doubts that need investigation.Shying away from speaking their mind fearing political repercussions will only help politicians to exploit the vulnerable sensitivity of the Church leaders. The sooner the Church leaders open up, the better for the Church in Sri Lanka.