By S.I.M.M. Deen - BA,MA,MSW, PhD(R), Defence and Political analyser
The Easter Sunday attack investigations have now seen four executive presidents. The question of whether the main mastermind will be punished remains unanswered, leaving behind only hope and expectation while falling silent. Almost all investigations have concluded, yet nothing has been fully resolved.
Despite having a formidable military and intelligence apparatus that brought an end to a civil war which had festered for over three decades, we have been unable to obtain a definitive answer. Our journalists continue to ask questions centred only on assumptions, while the truth stands mute before us.
Shortly after the Easter Sunday suicide attacks, then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe publicly stated that foreign intelligence officers were the most suitable to investigate the matter and extended invitations to FBI officers from the United States. He also gave the green light to CIA officers. At the conclusion of their investigation, they conveniently placed the blame on their "pet" — ISIS — and moved on. We have never examined why Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was so adamant about including foreign officers within the investigation circle. Our own investigative officers also avoided this.
There is a common global practice: if a disaster occurs in a country while the president is abroad, the president cancels all events and returns home immediately. Upon return, the first action is to visit the site of the incident. However, President Maithripala Sirisena did not follow this practice. He neither cancelled his foreign tour and rushed back to the country, nor did he visit the incident site. Later, he revealed that there was a death threat against him. He stated that he learned of the Easter attack through media reports. He said he knew which country the mastermind came from, but that they were too powerful for us to do anything. There are certain points that we have failed to consider when examining the background of the Easter attack, including the context of the night of 26 October 2018, when Ranil was abruptly removed from the premiership and Mahinda Rajapaksa was appointed Prime Minister, after which death threats against President Maithripala Sirisena increased. We have failed to ask several questions arising from these.
The van packed with explosives parked 100 metres from the Kochchikade Christian church was only destroyed the following evening by our security forces — not by defusing it, but by detonating it. With its explosion, all surrounding evidence was also destroyed. Why have no questions arisen from our security forces regarding the gas cylinder remote-controlled bomb system or the mechanisms by which it was rigged? Let us leave that aside. We have also failed to ask why such a bomb was placed at that location. The full plan for carrying out the suicide attacks was executed. Seven bombers detonated themselves. No other bombs were placed anywhere else. So why was a bomb placed only at this location? Especially using a gas cylinder strategy... And why did it not explode until it was discovered the next day? (Perhaps if President Maithripala Sirisena had visited the Kochchikade church like all other political leaders, surveyed the damage, addressed the media, and returned to the President's House via that route, it might have exploded then!!) In the shock of the suicide attacks, our journalists, the public, and especially security officials completely forgot about this bomb.
The Mannar Basin M-2 block was again put up for international bidding in January 2019. Four international companies participated. The final submission date was 9 May 2019. But the bombs exploded on 21 April 2019 — named the Easter attack. It was claimed that the primary reason for the attack was to retaliate for the terrorist attack carried out by a Christian extremist at a mosque in New Zealand on 15 March 2019, and to avenge those killed there, with Muslim extremists targeting Christian churches in Sri Lanka. If we accept that at face value, the seven Muslim extremists should have detonated bombs at seven Christian churches. Why were star hotels targeted? We have failed to ask this question. What was the economic factor behind this? This was a direct warning to investments being made in Sri Lanka. This incident completely destroyed the tourism industry. Who is the enemy of investments being made in Sri Lanka? Why did they need to hide their warning to investments within Christianity's important Easter Sunday? How have we been conditioned to this day to focus only on the attacks on churches, forgetting the attack on star hotels that devastated the nation's economy? Which media outlets were behind this? Why did they do it? How did the attack on investments affect the submission process for the public international bidding of the Mannar Basin M-2 block? How did it threaten those investments?
After the Easter attack, why were only four individuals targeted — Minister Rishad Bathiudeen, Minister Mangala Samaraweera, Minister Ravi Karunanayake, and Governor Hisbullah? Specifically, why was an effort made to completely sideline Rishad Bathiudeen? Why was an effort made to brand Minister Rishad as a key partner of ISIS and a sponsor of the attack, completely sidelining him? Why was the hunger strike drama staged for this purpose? Why did that hunger strike later lose its vigour? Who were the people behind it, and why did they do it? How did Parliamentarian Athuraliye Rathana Thero and Parliamentarian Viyalendran meet on this line?
Ranil Wickremesinghe's "good governance" only recorded him as one of Sri Lanka's prime ministers. Is there any connection to making him an executive president in Sri Lankan history and Gotabhaya Rajapaksa contesting the presidential election with the slogan "threat to national security"? Two decisions taken by President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa recorded him in Sri Lankan history as a foolish president: first, banning the import of manure; second, on 22 April 2021, banning the import of chemical fertilizer — leading to a chain reaction of one crisis after another. This continued until a people's uprising erupted. Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned, and Parliamentarian Ranil Wickremesinghe was made Prime Minister. President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa was forced to flee the country, then resigned. Then Prime Minister Ranil became an executive president. In the meantime, what happened to the slogan "threat to national security"? Why did both presidents simply abandon the Easter attack? How did we fail to connect the dots behind the moments when Ranil, who had been politically humiliated in 2018 by President Maithripala Sirisena through a legal battle against Mahinda Rajapaksa (whom Sirisena himself had appointed Prime Minister), was later appointed Prime Minister and President in 2022, and celebrated? What are the open secrets behind this?
We have failed to ask many more questions about this attack. As opportunities arise, we will ask them as well. In the meantime, let us not forget to ask one final question:
Is the Easter Attack a matter that concludes with the arrest of Pillayan and the arrest of Saleh?"
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