News
Expect more Easter Sunday type attacks: minister
Sri Lanka risks facing more Easter Sunday style attacks, state minister for defence disclosed in parliament during a two-day debate on the country’s worst single terror attack against civilians in April 2019.Pramitha Bandara Tennakoon warned the legislature not to undermine intelligence services as their services were required to prevent the next attack.
“Don’t think that the Easter Sunday attack was the last. In the future too there could be more attacks,” Tennakoon said reading off a prepared text defending the role of the military intelligence and criticizing the “professional misconduct” of the police.
He criticized the police for botching up evidence from a house at Saindamaradu where 15 people linked to the Easter Sunday bombers died in an exchange of fire with the police. Those inside the house exploded themselves when they were cornered.
Tennakoon said the police did not obtain DNA evidence from scene leading to a repeat of the tests that caused suspicion of a cover up.
He said he was reluctantly compelled to disclose that the much talked about “Sonic Sonic” is a police inspector working for the intelligence but had to leave the main spy agency after his cover was blown.
“Sonic Sonic is a code name. Sonic Sonic is an intelligence officer who infiltrated the (Islamic extremist) terrorist group. He pretended to be a terrorist. He talked, worked like them. That is how you win the confidence of the terrorists. Not by being a policeman. Understand that.
“We must have a mature parliament that understands it. Which idiot can go before terrorists as a policeman and expect information. I ask you to understand this.”
“How can I ask an intelligence officer in future to carry out a mission if they run the risk of ending up in jail.”
He also disclosed that the much discussed “Abu Hind” was also a code name of an intelligence operative, but someone working for a foreign spy agency.
Abu Hind
Evidence before the Presidential Commission of Inquiry had showed that a person identified as “Abu Hind” was in close contact with the lead Easter Sunday bomber Zaharan Hashim. The Catholic church has asked the authorities to investigate the role of Abu Hind to understand who was really behind the suicide bombers.
Minister Tennakoon also told parliament that the military intelligence was aware and possibly in contact with Jamil, the man who went to the Taj but did not explode his bomb there. The minister was responding to allegations that military intelligence (MI) had gone to Jamil’s even before he set off the bomb at Tropical Inn, Dehiwala.Opposition MPs said identification of Jameel’s MI handlers could shed more light into those behind the Zaharan and his fellow suicide bombers.
The Cabinet of Ministers approved the resolution forwarded by the Minister of Health and Mass Media to relocate the Deniyaya Base Hospital after constructing a new hospital with a capacity of 300 beds at an estimated cost of Rupees 6,000 million.
The Southern Provincial Department of Health has acquired a plot of land in Handford estate which is approximately 03 kilometres away from the town for this purpose.
News
Cabinet nod to legally empower methodology for implementing the ‘Praja Shakthi’ poverty alleviation national movement
The Cabinet of Ministers granted approval for the resolution furnished by the Minister of Rural Development, Social Security and Community Empowerment to instruct the Legal Draftsman to draft a bill to legally empower the implementation of ‘Praja Shakthi’ (Strength of the Community) poverty alleviation national movement
…preliminary work started on new Constitution
JVP General Secretary Tilvin Silva yesterday (17) maintained that the NPP government was not under Indian pressure to hold the long delayed Provincial Council elections.
The top JVP official said so appearing on Sirasa Pathikada, anchored by Asoka Dias. Tilvin Silva said that neither the devolution nor terrorism issues had been discussed during his meeting with External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar and Deputy National Security Advisor Pavan Kapoor, in New Delhi. This was Tilvin Silva’s first visit to India.
Declaring that politics hadn’t been on the agenda, the JVPer said that the Indian focus was entirely on economic development and technology.
The JVP General Secretary visited India under the Indian Council for Cultural Relations’ (ICCR) Distinguished Visitors Programme from 5-12 February 2026. General Secretary Silva was accompanied by Kitnan Selvaraj, MP, Ilankumaran Karunanathan, MP, JVP Central Committee Member Janaka Adhikari, JVP’s Media Unit Head Hemathilaka Gamage and Member of JVP’s International Relations Department Kalpana Madhubhashini. The delegation visited New Delhi, Ahmedabad and Thiruvananthapuram.
Responding to another query, Tilvin Silva said that Dr. S. Jaishankar had reiterated that India would always remain a true and trusted partner for Sri Lanka, in accordance with its ‘Neighbourhood First Policy’ and Vision ‘MAHASAGAR.’
Referring to the second JVP insurrection in the late 1980s, the JVPer claimed that they had not been against India but responded to the actions of the then Indian government.
Sri Lanka enacted the 13th Amendment to the Constitution in the wake of the Indo-Lanka peace accord of July 1987 to pave the way for Provincial Councils.
Tilvin Silva said that since they came to power, Indo-Sri Lanka relations had changed. “India has realised we could work together,” he said.
The JVP official said that preliminary work was underway, regarding the formulation of a new Constitution. The abolition of executive presidency and creation of an Office of President sans executive powers, too, would be addressed, he said, adding that the strengthening of the legislature was the other issue at hand.
Pointing out that the NPP had 2/3 majority in Parliament and could introduce a new Constitution on their own, Tilvin Silva said that they intended to obtain views of all and study the past processes in a bid to secure consensus. The JVP, as the party that campaigned against the introduction of executive presidency, way back in 1978, would lead the current effort to do away with the existing Constitution, he said.
Tilvin promised that they would implement what was in their manifesto.
The interviewer also raised the issue of abolishing the pensions for ex-Presidents. Tilvin Silva said that the Supreme Court, too, had approved the move to abolish pensions to ex-MPs. Therefore there was no issue with that, however, the ex-Presidents pensions couldn’t be done away with as they were made through the Constitution. That would be addressed when the government introduced a new Constitution in consultation with other stakeholders.
By Shamindra Ferdinando
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