By Sri Lanka’s Parliament has scheduled three-day debate over 2019 Easter Sunday attack after former president Maithripala Sirisena in public said the he knows the real plotters behind the attack.
April 21th will mark the fifth year anniversary of the Easter Bombing that killed at least 269 people.
Sirisena has given a statement at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on the Easter Sunday on March 25 after he was called by the police for questioning. Government sources have said Sirisena has accused India of having a hand in the attack.
India is yet to make an official statement on Sirisena’s allegation as he has recorded his statement in a confidential manner.
The Parliament has decided to have a three day debate on the Easter Sunday attack from April 24-26 on the request of the opposition, the order paper shows. It is posibale that these sessions could be mere talk shop as Sirisena is claiming that the information he has is sensitive and confidential .
Sirisena, who was asked by the country’s Supreme Court to pay 100 million Sri Lanka rupees for the Easter attack victims for his failure to prevent the carnage.
Statement to the CID
Sirisena was called by a Colombo court to make a statement on April 4 on his revelation. However, his legal team said he has already made the statement to the CID and there is no necessary to repeat the same statement.
Maligakanda Magistrate Lochani Abeywickrema announced in open Court on April 4 that since it was revealed that the statement made by former President Maithripala Sirisena regarding the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks contains sensitive information, the related document will be kept as a confidential document in Court.
It also said that the Magistrate noted that until the investigators find out whether the facts contained in the statement are true or false, the B report presented to Court by the Criminal Investigation Department will have to be kept under the custody of the Court as a secret report. Given the context it is very unlikely that there could be any useful parliamentary debate based on the claims made by the former president.
Sri Lanka’s Catholic leadership had demanded an independent investigation into the attack and said the Easter carnage clearly supported former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to win the 2019 presidency. Rajapaksa has denied any involvement in the attack.y.
Sirisena, in October 2018, claimed that there was a plot by Indian intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) to assassinate him and Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
Sirisena’s claim was based on an arrest of an Indian and a telephone conversation. However, such a plot was not proven with evidence.
