Leader of the House Bimal Rathnayake has disclosed in Parliament that two retired police officers, Senior DIG Ravi Seneviratne and SSP Shani Abeysekera, had been brought back to oversee investigations into the Easter Sunday carnage at the request of Archbishop of Colombo Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith and the Catholic Church.

Rathnayake said the two officers had been victimised by previous administrations.

Rathnayake said so during an adjournment debate on the progress in the Easter Sunday investigations on Wednesday (9).

With the approval of the National Police Commission (NPC), the police headquarters had brought back Abeysekera as Director of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). Abeysekera retired in June 2021 but the NPP took him back on contractual basis and then extended the contract before accommodating him as the CID Director.

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake last year appointed former Senior Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Ravi Seneviratne as the Public Security Ministry Secretary.

Minister Rathnayake alleged in Parliament that Seneviratne and Abeysekera had been targeted by the Rajapaksasas as they felt that some high-profile investigations such as the killing of Mohammed Wasim Thajudeen in May 2012 threatened them.

Declaring that the Easter Sunday investigations had been streamlined and were progressing well, Minister Rathnayake alleged that the yahapalana administration that was in office at the time of the near simultaneous Easter Sunday blasts in April 2019, the Gotabaya Rajapaksa administration that followed and the subsequent Wickremesinghe-Rajapaksa government didn’t investigate the crime.

Minister Rathnayake said that the Easter Sunday carnage should be investigated taking into consideration the political environment created by the Rajapaksas following their defeat at the 2015 presidential election. In line with their despicable strategy, the then Opposition utilised the intelligence services to promote extremism among both Sinhala and Muslim communities.

That heinous project culminated with the Easter Sunday attacks, Minister Rathnayake said asserting that the clandestine operation got underway in 2013 in the run-up to the presidential election.

The Leader of the House reiterated that the Easter Sunday carnage had been the brainchild of the Rajapaksas. However, the President Maithripala Sirisena and Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe could have thwarted the planned attacks if intelligence warnings were taken seriously, the JVPer said, emphasising that Sirisena, Wickremesinghe and the then UNP deputy leader Sajith Premadasa should accept responsibility for the failure to prevent the Rajapaksa project.

There had been numerous warnings, some from the Muslim community itself regarding the activities of this group.

Yahapalana justice minister Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, PC, in parliament revealed the Muslim extremist buildup while referring to their links with ISIS.

Minister Rathnayake at the onset of his speech alleged that the Rajapaksas also exploited a developing rift between President Sirisena and Premier Wickremesinghe to cause chaos and the attempt by Sirisena to seek a second term resulted in further deterioration. Asserting that the mandate that had been received at the 2015 general election was as equally powerful as the NPP’s results in Nov last year, Minister Rathnayake said the Rajapaksas acted on the premise that they didn’t have political space in the new environment. According to the minister, the Easter Sunday murder project had been their strategy.

The National List MP explained how the Rajapaksas developed a situation over a period of time that pushed Muslim youth to extremism.

Alleging UNP leader Wickremesinghe would do anything to gain and retain power, Minister Rathnayake lambasted Wickremesinghe while calling him the Rajapaksas peon.

Commenting on high profile ongoing investigations, Minister Rathnayake accused Sirisena, Wickremesinghe and Premadasa of sabotaging such inquiries launched in 2015. They betrayed the investigations. Now that the NPP had resumed those investigations in addition to new inquiries, Rathnayake said.

How could those who failed to thwart attacks and at least conduct proper investigations now question us, Minister Rathnayake asked. They would be elected to govern the country again, the lawmaker said.

By Shamindra Ferdinando ✍️