Sri Lankan govt denies claims of Easter attack cover-up

Sri Lanka

Justice evades the victims as the real conspirators remain at large, Cardinal Ranjith claims

The Catholic Church in Sri Lanka is still waiting for justice and punishment for the real culprits behind the Easter Sunday bombings that rocked the island nation nearly three years ago.

Nine suicide bombers belonging to local Islamist group National Thowheed Jamath carried out a series of blasts that destroyed three churches and luxury hotels on April 21, 2019, killing 269 people, including 82 children and 47 foreigners belonging to 14 nations, besides injuring more than 500 others.

Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith has maintained that justice was not done to victims as the real conspirators were never brought to book. “Now it is being revealed to us who those conspirators are,” he said in Negombo on April 9.

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The Sri Lankan government denies all allegations. Kamal Gunaratne, the secretary of defense, said 735 people were charged following investigations by local and international sleuths.

But the Church remains skeptical about claims over police investigations, which they claim to be a political cover-up to save those who ignored prior intelligence warnings about the attack.

Cardinal Ranjith even hinted at some forces from India interfering in the affairs of the country and thereby “posing a great threat to the independence of the country.”

“Those including the former president, prime minister and top officials who were responsible for ignoring prior intelligence warnings on the attack have not yet received any punishments”

At the 49th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, which he attended, the cardinal said the initial suspicion was the attack was a handiwork of a few local Islamic extremists. But subsequent investigations found that the bombings were part of a grand political plot.

“Those including the former president, prime minister and top officials who were responsible for ignoring prior intelligence warnings on the attack have not yet received any punishments,” said Surini Niroshani, who has been fighting for justice for the Easter attack victims.

She had hoped the long struggle that began in the immediate aftermath of the attack would end by 2022. “As yet another anniversary approaches, the politicians and government officials issue statements and then forget about the investigations,” she said.

Niroshani said they will continue to pray and “God will do justice for us, not the politicians.”

The Rajapaksa family, which has dominated the country’s politics for over two decades, is facing protests over mismanagement of the economy

She further said that “the curse of the Easter attack had fallen on the current government, which had no escape from it.”

The Rajapaksa family, which has dominated the country’s politics for over two decades, is facing protests over mismanagement of the economy.

Protesters want the Gotabaya Rajapaksa government to step down immediately and continue to lay siege near the presidential secretariat office, renaming the site as “Gota-go-village.”

“Some members of the Rajapaksa families who stole money have already fled the country,” said Cardinal Ranjith

Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan Church and civil society organizations have planned various events to commemorate the three-year anniversary of the Easter attack.

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