By Kingsley Wickremasuriya, PhD
E-mail: kingsley.wickremasuriya@gmail.com

Introduction

April this year marked the fourt anniversary of the Easter Sunday bomb attack which rocked and shocked Sri Lanka and the world. In retrospect, on the morning of that fateful Easter Sunday, April 21, 2019 suicide bombers targeted three plush hotels and three churches in Colombo, Negombo, and Batticaloa; over 260 were killed and over 500 injured in the well-coordinated near-simultaneous attacks by a group of Islamic extremists called the National Thawheek Jamaat allegedly subscribing to Islamic ideology of JIHAD associated with group with suspected foreign links, that has previously targeted and

Two of the three churches attacked were Catholic churches. One was St. Anthony’s Church in Kochchikade, Colombo, and the other was St. Sebastian’s Church in Katuwapitiya, Negombo. The third church under attack was the Protestant evangelical Zion Church in Batticaloa. The attacks affected the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka directly as many of the victims were Catholics.

The three hotels targeted were the Shangri-La, Kingsbury, and Cinnamon Grand in Colombo. Several of the victims were foreign nationals. Two other persons connected to the Islamic Jihad Movement were killed in two separate explosions in Dehiwala and Dematagoda. Most of the innocents killed, maimed, and injured were people engaged in morning worship at the churches or guests having breakfast in the hotels.

Shortly afterward, , a propaganda outlet for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), claimed that ISIL inspired the attacks. It released a photo and a video showing eight suicide bombers pledging allegiance to ISIL leader . Zahran Hashim of the NTJ was identified as their leader.

On April 6, Public Security Minister Sarath Weerasekara stated at a press conference that the Intelligence Services had identified Naufer Moulavi as the mastermind behind the attacks. The Minister also said that he was then in remand custody. Making a special statement in Parliament on April 10, he confirmed his statement to the press that Naufer Moulavi was the main person behind the Easter Sunday terror attacks. Following these disclosures, the national and international media went to town with the revelation that the Sri Lankan Government Minister had identified Naufer Moulavi as the mastermind behind the attack.

State Defense Minister , however, had said earlier, that initial investigations have revealed that Islamic extremists “carried out the attacks in retaliation for the ,’’ a place far removed from the scene of the explosion here. This has been questioned by New Zealand’s Prime Minister and by other experts, who saw the Easter attacks as planned before the Christchurch incident. Further, the New Zealand security expert Paul Buchanan stated that “Christchurch seems to be a convenient justification for something that was being planned before March 15”.

The Amaq news agency’s statements emphasized that the attacks were against Christians who were at war with the organization but none of them referenced the Christchurch incident. But Sri Lanka was not part of the anti-ISIL coalition and the overwhelming majority of those killed in the bombings were Sri Lankan citizen. Further, according to the Criminal Investigation Department, there was no evidence of ISIL’s direct involvement. It was evident that Tawheed Jamaat has been stockpiling explosives since January 2019. Even though it was claimed that the incident was inspired by ISIL, the available evidence was to the contrary.

Meanwhile, Malcolm Cardinal , the head of Sri Lanka’s Catholic Church, alleged that the massacre wasn’t purely the work of a few Islamic extremists but was part of a grand political plot, and that the attacks were conducted intentionally to win votes. He further alleged that the culprits are still holding high positions in the police and Military Intelligence and that the government has been covering up the investigations to protect the real culprits. Expressing dissatisfaction with the progress of the investigation and alleging intimidation of those who clamor for justice, the cardinal called on the UN to investigate the bombings. Even some prominent Buddhist monks contributed to this theory and alleged that “selfish politicians directed the blind rage of religious extremists to achieve political ends”.

Quoting from the report of the President’s Commission on the attack, chapter and verse, in support of his allegation, His Eminence pointed the finger at the former chief of intelligence, and other top-level officials including the Police, for their failure to prevent the attacks. ‘They knew beforehand from the information they had gathered and also from warnings given by the Indian intelligence services, but they did nothing. The Government seems to have done its best to prevent the arrest of the attackers. There are indications that the authorities wanted the attacks to be carried out, he alleged.

Quoting further excerpts from the Presidential Commission Report and other authentic sources, he said that the available evidence indicates that the Government may have been motivated by electoral gain. While Cardinal was making these allegations, Rev. Father Cyril Gamini, spokesman for the Committee of Catholics pointed out several issues regarding some serious lapses in the investigations in a telecast over ‘You Tube’. He also based his arguments on authentic sources like the proceedings of the Presidential Commission and the Parliamentary Select Committee.

These arguments were buttressed by the Opposition in the Parliament during a parliamentary debate on the appointment of a Select Committee on the attack suggesting that it was the work of a Special Operation of an Intelligence Service. Besides, the fact that the former Attorney – General is on record having said that there is a conspiracy behind the incident goes to add further weight against those who the allegations have been made against.

Call for justice

It is against this backdrop that the Cardinal has been repeatedly demanding justice for the victims and their families for a long time. In March this year, he issued what was termed by the media as an ultimatum to the government. The news story stated that the ‘Archbishop of Colombo Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith yesterday warned that countrywide protests would be held if the Government failed to produce before Courts by April 21, those behind the Easter Sunday attacks. “We urge the Government to investigate the attacks impartially and transparently. At least take action against those named in the Presidential Commission on Easter Sunday attacks before April 21. Otherwise, we will hold a continuous protest,” the Cardinal warned. Going by the turn of events, the Cardinal is not likely to rest until the ‘true masterminds’ behind the carnage are identified and penalized.

Conclusions

The incident reveals serious criminal offenses committed against the State putting its security in jeopardy. The offenses of this nature are punishable under the ‘offences against the state’ specified in chapter VI of the Penal Code. It covers a range of offenses relevant to the incident, including conspiracy, abetting and concealment. These offenses carry punishments from death, or imprisonment of either description, which may be extended to 20 years, and the forfeiture of the offender’s property.

But one has to admit that the offenders can be brought to justice only after a fair and impartial criminal investigation and thereafter arraignment before a court of law after a fair trial in keeping with the Rule of Law. That is what the aggrieved parties have been clamoring for. However, from the material exposed so far it appears that the criminal investigations have been obstructed at several points down the line.

Names of several high-ranking officers in the Police and State Intelligence Services have transpired during the course of the Presidential Commission, Select Committee proceedings, debates in Parliament and elsewhere in the Press and Media. Allegations have been made against them by the Church authorities and the aggrieved parties. But these accusations or allegations have not been processed through the criminal justice system. As far as the country is concerned, they have broken the sacred trust the country placed in them.

Presidential Commissions or Select Committees, will not help to clear the air. They will, whatever the picture their sponsors might try to paint to exculpate them, therefore, remain ’guilty’ in the national conscience. As such if they continue to hold those high positions without being cleared through the criminal justice system their credibility will be at stake. They will be watched by the Nation at every move they make with suspicion that will make them vulnerable in their own commands.

Moreover, the attack has all the characteristics of a Special Operation conducted by an Intelligence organization. But without a proper investigation one cannot prove, who is responsible; whether it is the work of a foreign intelligence service or our own or a combination of both.

It has been said that among the growing arsenals across the world, intelligence is an essential weapon, perhaps the most important, and that intelligence is necessary for democracies to avoid disaster and possibly destruction. In other words, ‘Intelligence Organizations are an inevitable part of modern states as armies, telephones, and postal services or a system of collecting taxes’.

Intelligence Organizations have now come to play an ever-increasingly important role. They are a part of the defense forces of a country. Their task is the defense of the realm as a whole from external and internal threats arising from attempts at espionage and sabotage or from actions of persons and organizations whether directed from within or without the country that may be considered subversive of the state’s security. They not only act as the eyes and ears of governments but also as their policy instruments.

One must therefore, accept that intelligence organizations are a reality in modern National and International life in a world that is no longer ruled by ‘negotiation between gentlemen, but rather by plots, revolutions, conspiracies, assassinations, coups d’états, and general mayhem. As such there is an inherent danger within the system itself.

Firstly, intelligence organizations can misinform their governments by providing false information, because the information has been planted on them by a hostile service through a double agent; a sycophantic Intelligence Organization believes that it should provide information that its Masters want to hear; that it has become a representative of a vested interest; and that the Service is thoroughly incompetent that it invents its information and create a non-existent source to cover up its failure. This danger is increased substantially where the Intelligence Organizations control paramilitary forces. They can be real dangers to their states because they represent or can represent conspiratorial power points

Intelligence services are specially trained to carry out covert operations while on the other hand the main task of the Police is the prevention of crimes and offenses. Therefore, it is unimaginable to find any State Intelligence Service or the Police working in concert with subversives against the grain of their basic responsibilities under the very nose of the State. This is why it is doubly important not to have any doubts left as to who was responsible for the attack and who the mastermind behind was.

The trade of intelligence, therefore, is not everyone’s cup of tea.

Intelligence Organizations, should be highly professional and their management should, be in the hands of men of first-rate ability, imagination, and integrity. In the last analysis, however, the truth is that the intelligence organizations are as competent or incompetent as the governments who control them.