Officer accused of failing to prevent Easter Sunday bombings becomes a deputy police chief
Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police Nilantha Jayawardena has been accused of failing to prevent the Easter Sunday bombings of churches in Sri Lanka in 2019. (Photo: Sri Lanka Guardian)
Church officials in Sri Lanka have criticized the promotion of a senior police officer, which they said ignored allegations that the officer, despite having intelligence information, did not act to prevent the Easter Sunday bombings of churches in 2019.
Nilantha Jayawardena was recently made acting Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police (Administration) and is tipped to become the next Inspector-General of Police (IGP), the island nation’s top police job.
Church spokesman Father Cyril Gamini said Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith of Colombo was unhappy that Jayawardena had been appointed to such an influential post, adding the new posting aims to hide the truth behind the bombings, which killed 269 people, including 37 foreign nationals, and injured more than 500.
Jayawardena is accused of failing to act despite receiving a tip-off from Indian intelligence about the impending Easter Sunday attacks while he was heading the State Intelligence Division.
“”The government of President Ranil Wickremesinghe is trying to protect criminals”
“If he had taken the necessary steps, the precious lives of around 269 innocent people would have been saved,” observed Father Gamini.
The perpetrators are reported to be still large, though a group of suicide bombers affiliated with local Islamist group National Thowheed Jamath is blamed for the eight bomb blasts that tore through the Indian Ocean nation.
“The government of President Ranil Wickremesinghe is trying to protect criminals. It is an insult to the victims,” Father Gamini said on Jan. 9 in the capital Colombo.
It was reported that Jayawardena deleted all the data related to the bombings from his computer in an attempt to destroy evidence against him.
The Presidential Commission of Inquiry, which probed the Easter Sunday bombings, has recommended filing criminal charges against Jayawardena.
The government failed to initiate a disciplinary inquiry against him and instead appointed him as the Kandy senior deputy inspector general.
“We strongly condemn the attempt to make him the country’s top cop,” Father Gamini added.
Mujibur Rahman from the Sri Lankan United National Party and a member of parliament for a Colombo district accused the Wickremesinghe government of suppressing evidence and protecting the criminals of the Easter Sunday bombings.
“People will not vote for anyone connected to the Easter Sunday attacks”
Jayawardena was found guilty by a presidential commission but the attorney general’s office made him a witness in the case, noted Rahman.
The government plans to appoint Jayawardene as the next Inspector General of Police, alleged Rahman.
The appointment of Jayawardene comes as the bankrupt nation heads for local elections, though the date for the polls to elect 340 local governments is yet to be fixed by the government.
Opposition lawmaker Kumara Welgama said that people will not vote for anyone connected to the Easter Sunday attacks during the upcoming elections.
Former president Maithripala Sirisena and Wickremesinghe, who is now acting as the country’s president, are also implicated in 109 cases filed by the victims’ families.
The cases against these senior politicians have resulted in no convictions.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who succeeded Sirisena, however, refused to act against Sirisena as he had by then become head of the ruling coalition.
A court will decide on Sirisena’s culpability on Feb. 22 while hearing the cases filed by the victims’ families who are seeking compensation.
Sirisena has denied any wrongdoing and has called for all the cases against him to be dismissed.
Wickremesinghe, who was serving as prime minister when the bombings took place, is enjoying constitutional immunity as the president.
Ruwani Fernando, who was injured in the attack on St Sebastian’s Church in Negombo near Colombo, said he hoped Wickremesinghe, who was named second defendant in the compensation cases, would be held accountable.
“The president is trying to protect and hide the criminals,” Fernando said.
Since he is the president, Wickremesinghe is safe now. But one day the law of the land will zero in on him, he said.
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