Image: Cover of the Sri Lanka Briefing Note on the issue of Easter Sunday Attacks.
Colombo, April 22 – Highlighting that there is a ‘Deep State’ that controls the present government, Archbishop of Colombo Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith yesterday alleged that those officers in the deep state are out to obstruct the investigations on Easter Sunday attacks.
“The incumbent government that came to power in 2024 is indeed taking a more positive attitude with regard to the Easter massacre. Yet certain officials of the ‘deep state’ are seeking to obstruct the smooth flow of these investigations. For example, in spite of the fact that the Presidential Commission of Inquiry had given clear directives to the Attorney General and to that department to take clear legal and disciplinary action against some of the political figures, officials of the security establishment and organizations for criminal neglect of duty, very little has so far been done on this matter by them,” Cardinal Ranjith told a ceremony held to mark the seventh anniversary of the Easter Sunday attacks.
“President Anura Kumara Dissanayake who visited the Katuwapitiya Church promised the families of Easter Sunday attacks that his government will not allow the attack to be buried under the sand. We call upon the President and the government to fulfill this promise,” he stressed.
“It has to be sadly affirmed that, unlike the present leaders of the country, almost all the power holders since these sad incidents in 2019, including former Presidents, Heads of the Police and the AGs department officials instead of sincerely finding out as to who and what was behind these dastardly attacks, tried their best to confuse the public, muddle up the investigations and appointing all kinds of committees with highly suspect investigators in order to come out with conclusions crafted by them, tried to sabotage the truth from emerging.,” he also said.
UN Resident Coordinator Marc-Andre Franche called for quick completion of probes carried out on Easter Sunday attacks.
“This commemoration should not be about remembrance but there should also be results. Acts of commemoration affirm the value of each life taken away and share the responsibility of ensuring that violence will not be repeated again. This commemoration comes at a time where there is renewed momentum for advanced investigations including ongoing legal proceedings to the linked attacks. These steps alongside public commitment by the government to peruse justice are important. What matters now is results. Victims and the country deserve answers and completion of investigations and judicial procedures so that they can finally find closure,” the Resident Coordinator said.
Read the Sri Lanka Briefing Note:SLB-Briefing-Note-No-24.-Easter-Sunday-Attacks-Accountability-Justice-and-the-deep-state
Apostolic Nuncio (Vatican Ambassador in Sri Lanka) Monsignor Andrzej Jozwowicz stressed the need for forgiving the Easter Sunday attackers but stressed that they will be forgiven only after finding the truth about the attacks. “This commemoration should not be made with vengeance but with hope that justice would be meted out to those who were affected by the attacks” he said.