By The Church in Sri Lanka has been knocking on all doors to bring the perpetrators of the Easter carnage to justice. However, it has not gotten anywhere. Notes the Catholic Asian News commentator Ben Joseph.
Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith of Colombo has been lending his voice to get justice for the victims. In March, he told the UN Human Rights Council that the attacks were a
“grand political plot.”
Meeting the Bishop of Kurnagala:
Earlier this week, during a meeting with Acting President Wickremesinghe, the head of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Sri Lanka (CBCS), Bishop Harold Anthony Perera of Kurunegala, asked “If intelligence agencies had tipped off the government of the impending attacks why wasn’t the information passed on to the Catholic Church?
Shedding light on the complacency of the government, Bishop Perera told the president that some of the key suspects have ended up as state witnesses.
The presidential commission also found a host of other defense officials, including former police chief, Pujith Jayasundera, and former defense secretary, Hemasiri Fernando, guilty of ignoring intelligence warnings. The panel recommended criminal action against Sirisena and others. However, no criminal cases were filed against them.
Commentator Ben Joseph suggests’ the Church leaders in Sri Lanka, at least by now, have their own doubts about the political ambitions that failed to prevent the Easter attack. They should name the people who benefitted from the attacks and speak out about their well-founded doubts that need investigation.,
The commenter concludes that
“The sooner the Church leaders open up, the better for the Church in Sri Lanka”.
