Features
Four years after the Easter massacre, the plot keeps thickening
By Sanja de Silva Jayatilleka
The families of the victims still weep and mourn, their hurt spilling over in painful tears. They express their disappointment at the lack of progress on the investigation into the Easter Bombings of 2019. Justice for the victims has proved to be oddly elusive since the 21st of April that year. four years on, the authorities seem to be still staring at a blank wall, unable to connect the dots and follow the trail of evidence in the public domain and those collected at various commissions and by official investigations.
The public, horrified at the utterly unexpected outrage four years ago, are beginning to construct their own theories, partly out of frustration and partly because it’s impossible to leave such a gaping hole in their collective consciousness without filling it. Why did it happen? Why then? Who was behind it? What was the point of it all? Did they achieve what they wanted? Who won? We lost, as a people, so who won as a result of the mindless carnage?
It didn’t just happen to the several hundred dead and injured and their families. It happened to us all in this country, to ordinary folk who had put their violent collective history behind them, and were looking forward to a different future after 30 years of war. Who pulled us back into such horror?
The Catholic Church which had shown remarkable patience from the very beginning, displayed its intense displeasure at the failure of the government to provide any satisfactory answers at the Mass held on the 4th anniversary of the bombing.
Malcom Cardinal Ranjith made a strident speech at the Mass commemorating the dead, stating that the Church had no trust in the present leadership to do what they promised. He read out from the pages of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry established to look into the Easter bombing. He reiterated the conclusions of the former Attorney General who said that the evidence points to a political conspiracy behind the event.
The Conspiracy Theory
The people want to know what happened and are putting the pieces together in the absence of a credible official version. If the people lose faith in their institutions, it won’t be pretty, since that’s not all they are dealing with. The public already knows a lot of what is said to have happened, and going by what’s in the public domain, a political conspiracy is not outside the domain of logic and beyond the realm of possibility.
So far, it has been worked out that some outside the ring of suicide bombers benefitted. About the bombers themselves we cannot know for sure, but their hope was ‘glory’ and we can’t know if they managed to achieve it. It may be the case that those others who obviously benefitted, did so completely by accident and horrified though they were together with the rest of us, the very circumstances may have contributed in some measure towards their success. And the most conspicuous success was political. Thus, the conspiracy theory.
To be fair, it’s not conclusive therefore, that those who succeeded as a result of an event, had anything to do with the event itself. In Israel, following the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin by a rightwing Zionist infuriated by the signing of the Oslo peace accords and the handshake with Yasser Arafat in the White House Rose Garden, Mr. Netanyahu was about to lose the election to Leah Rabin, the slain PM’s widow and strong peace campaigner, when an extremist Palestinian group set off a bomb killing civilians on a bus. Mr. Netanyahu was hardly known as a friend of the group and was in fact its opposite, but he benefitted nevertheless by the swing of Jewish sentiment in its aftermath. He could convincingly run as the national security candidate and did so successfully.
The central theme of a brand-new Netflix series called The Diplomat, much acclaimed already, is a false flag event which finally turns out to be commissioned by the personality who benefitted politically, with the same highly placed politician drowning out all other voices by shouting “Russia first, second and third” on the agenda at every opportunity as responsible for the death of 41 British sailors. He insists on a plan to bomb Russia as the culprit, having cynically ‘masterminded’ the hiring of a Russian mercenary for the job. Such a scenario is obviously not inconceivable, and makes for a successful drama.
For us in Sri Lanka though, life was much more tragically dramatic. Even art couldn’t conceive of the killing worshippers in Church on a religious holiday. Evil reigned here together with self-interest.
Justice delayed
The problem here is the delay in piecing together what happened, and issuing a credible official report which would offer some kind of closure to the victims. It would also offer some reassurance to the general public that some random group cannot go around bombing several different locations in a coordinated manner, killing and injuring hundreds of unarmed civilians and leave the authorities baffled four years after the event.
The pieces of evidence in the public domain are so curious as to naturally provoke speculation. A few are bizarrely so. The top in this list is the repeated DNA testing of the wife of a member of the suicide squad, Sarah Jasmin, (now a household name), in order to ascertain whether she is alive or dead. When the first two tests came up positive for “alive”, in addition to reports that she was seen being taken away, the authorities persisted until a third test gave what they seem to have wanted, which was that she was dead. So, which is it? Is it two out of three, or the last one wins the day?
Next up, there’s the case of the reluctant suicide bomber Abdul Lathief Jameel Mohamed. Cardinal Ranjith read from a report that said that this particular would-be bomber of the Hotel Taj Samudra in Colombo, went in, turned on his heels and headed back to Dehiwala where he allegedly spent a few hours wandering around. His wife was located in a house in the area where military intelligence actually went in and spoke to her. The Cardinal asks on behalf of us all, why he wasn’t apprehended. They knew where he lived. Instead, he blew himself up elsewhere, in less exalted premises.
The Cardinal said that he would like everyone to know that the Catholic Church “will remain watchful till justice is delivered”.
Things get further confused when reports appear to say that someone was heard on a telephone begging ISIS to claim the bombing, which they were reluctant to do. However, eventually they seem to have been persuaded. How bizarre can this get?
How curious is it also, that no parliamentarian actually attended the Easter Mass that Sunday morning? No, I’m not wishing that they were there on that day. But they obviously weren’t as fervent in the observation of ‘days of obligation’ as the thousands of ordinary worshippers who did. How fortunate for them, who missed Mass that Sunday.
People are connecting the dots every which way. If they are doing so incorrectly, it’s best that the authorities snap to it before the popular narrative takes hold. If they come to their own conclusions, that will have its own consequences.
Mastermind
If as the Cardinal and the former Attorney-General say, there was in fact a ‘Mastermind’ other than the ringleader of the suicide squad, he or she made a pretty bad call. Whichever way you look at it, resorting to this particular strategy wasn’t smart.
If as is alleged, this Mastermind was also responsible for the “political links”, that too didn’t work out as a prize winning strategy since all the gains turned out to be short-lived. Political strategists are prized professionals but their success depends on their discernment of the local realities. It takes intimate knowledge of the personalities involved and a reading of the respective country’s people as a whole, their sensitivities, the limits of their tolerance and the level of rebelliousness in times of stress.
Considering the failure of the project other than to get international ISIS to claim the carnage, (hardly making a ripple internationally), the Mastermind wasn’t all that, except utterly devoid of humanity. No Islamic group gained anything at all by the random bombing of Churches on Easter Sunday. And yet some people thought it was worth the tragedy, and some people decided to look the other way. That these people who looked the other way by ignoring intelligence about the event, well before the event, were the guardians of this country’s security is a tragedy reaching a whole new dimension. An entire stratum of intelligence officials, coincidentally thought, quite separately from each other, that the higher authorities who could have prevented it, had no need to know, is the most frightening thing of all. They, the lot of them, thought exactly the same thing, and they were all so wrong. They ignored the most evil project to date on this island.
In this country where people have seen decades of violence, it has always been about some grievance, with hot-blooded passion aroused by issues such as poverty, inequality, racism, discrimination. The Easter bombing seems to be the first time in our country’s modern history that such heinous acts were planned with cold-blooded calculation to take lives for no public purpose and without the support of any segment of the public. Everyone knows that there was no background of friction between the Catholics/Christians of Sri Lanka and the Muslim community.
That Mastermind, if there is one, is still at large, free to engage in further evil strategising. This Mastermind has continued to elude the authorities, despite the hundreds who have been questioned, the pages of evidence and reports. He outsmarts our smartest intelligence operatives who are still struggling to name him or her. That is his or her real genius.
The many hands that went up in prayer, the many eyes that looked up in broken-hearted supplication offering praise and prayer for the delivery of justice for those innocent victims of unprecedented evil deserve closure. Fervent prayer has been known to generously deliver much more.
by Dr Gotabhya Ranasinghe
Senior Consultant Cardiologist
National Hospital Sri Lanka
When we sought a meeting with Hon Dr. Ramesh Pathirana, Minister of Health, he graciously cleared his busy schedule to accommodate us. Renowned for his attentive listening and deep understanding, Minister Pathirana is dedicated to advancing the health sector. His openness and transparency exemplify the qualities of an exemplary politician and minister.
Dr. Palitha Mahipala, the current Health Secretary, demonstrates both commendable enthusiasm and unwavering support. This combination of attributes makes him a highly compatible colleague for the esteemed Minister of Health.
Our discussion centered on a project that has been in the works for the past 30 years, one that no other minister had managed to advance.
Minister Pathirana, however, recognized the project’s significance and its potential to revolutionize care for heart patients.
The project involves the construction of a state-of-the-art facility at the premises of the National Hospital Colombo. The project’s location within the premises of the National Hospital underscores its importance and relevance to the healthcare infrastructure of the nation.
This facility will include a cardiology building and a tertiary care center, equipped with the latest technology to handle and treat all types of heart-related conditions and surgeries.
Securing funding was a major milestone for this initiative. Minister Pathirana successfully obtained approval for a $40 billion loan from the Asian Development Bank. With the funding in place, the foundation stone is scheduled to be laid in September this year, and construction will begin in January 2025.
This project guarantees a consistent and uninterrupted supply of stents and related medications for heart patients. As a result, patients will have timely access to essential medical supplies during their treatment and recovery. By securing these critical resources, the project aims to enhance patient outcomes, minimize treatment delays, and maintain the highest standards of cardiac care.
Upon its fruition, this monumental building will serve as a beacon of hope and healing, symbolizing the unwavering dedication to improving patient outcomes and fostering a healthier society.We anticipate a future marked by significant progress and positive outcomes in Sri Lanka’s cardiovascular treatment landscape within the foreseeable timeframe.
by Fr. Emmanuel Fernando, OMI
Jesuit Fr. Aloysius Pieris (affectionately called Fr. Aloy) celebrated his 90th birthday on April 9, 2024 and I, as the editor of our Oblate Journal, THE MISSIONARY OBLATE had gone to press by that time. Immediately I decided to publish an article, appreciating the untiring selfless services he continues to offer for inter-Faith dialogue, the renewal of the Catholic Church, his concern for the poor and the suffering Sri Lankan masses and to me, the present writer.
It was in 1988, when I was appointed Director of the Oblate Scholastics at Ampitiya by the then Oblate Provincial Fr. Anselm Silva, that I came to know Fr. Aloy more closely. Knowing well his expertise in matters spiritual, theological, Indological and pastoral, and with the collaborative spirit of my companion-formators, our Oblate Scholastics were sent to Tulana, the Research and Encounter Centre, Kelaniya, of which he is the Founder-Director, for ‘exposure-programmes’ on matters spiritual, biblical, theological and pastoral. Some of these dimensions according to my view and that of my companion-formators, were not available at the National Seminary, Ampitiya.
Ever since that time, our Oblate formators/ accompaniers at the Oblate Scholasticate, Ampitiya , have continued to send our Oblate Scholastics to Tulana Centre for deepening their insights and convictions regarding matters needed to serve the people in today’s context. Fr. Aloy also had tried very enthusiastically with the Oblate team headed by Frs. Oswald Firth and Clement Waidyasekara to begin a Theologate, directed by the Religious Congregations in Sri Lanka, for the contextual formation/ accompaniment of their members. It should very well be a desired goal of the Leaders / Provincials of the Religious Congregations.
Besides being a formator/accompanier at the Oblate Scholasticate, I was entrusted also with the task of editing and publishing our Oblate journal, ‘The Missionary Oblate’. To maintain the quality of the journal I continue to depend on Fr. Aloy for his thought-provoking and stimulating articles on Biblical Spirituality, Biblical Theology and Ecclesiology. I am very grateful to him for his generous assistance. Of late, his writings on renewal of the Church, initiated by Pope St. John XX111 and continued by Pope Francis through the Synodal path, published in our Oblate journal, enable our readers to focus their attention also on the needed renewal in the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka. Fr. Aloy appreciated very much the Synodal path adopted by the Jesuit Pope Francis for the renewal of the Church, rooted very much on prayerful discernment. In my Religious and presbyteral life, Fr.Aloy continues to be my spiritual animator / guide and ongoing formator / acccompanier.
Fr. Aloysius Pieris, BA Hons (Lond), LPh (SHC, India), STL (PFT, Naples), PhD (SLU/VC), ThD (Tilburg), D.Ltt (KU), has been one of the eminent Asian theologians well recognized internationally and one who has lectured and held visiting chairs in many universities both in the West and in the East. Many members of Religious Congregations from Asian countries have benefited from his lectures and guidance in the East Asian Pastoral Institute (EAPI) in Manila, Philippines. He had been a Theologian consulted by the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences for many years. During his professorship at the Gregorian University in Rome, he was called to be a member of a special group of advisers on other religions consulted by Pope Paul VI.
Fr. Aloy is the author of more than 30 books and well over 500 Research Papers. Some of his books and articles have been translated and published in several countries. Among those books, one can find the following: 1) The Genesis of an Asian Theology of Liberation (An Autobiographical Excursus on the Art of Theologising in Asia, 2) An Asian Theology of Liberation, 3) Providential Timeliness of Vatican 11 (a long-overdue halt to a scandalous millennium, 4) Give Vatican 11 a chance, 5) Leadership in the Church, 6) Relishing our faith in working for justice (Themes for study and discussion), 7) A Message meant mainly, not exclusively for Jesuits (Background information necessary for helping Francis renew the Church), 8) Lent in Lanka (Reflections and Resolutions, 9) Love meets wisdom (A Christian Experience of Buddhism, 10) Fire and Water 11) God’s Reign for God’s poor, 12) Our Unhiddden Agenda (How we Jesuits work, pray and form our men). He is also the Editor of two journals, Vagdevi, Journal of Religious Reflection and Dialogue, New Series.
Fr. Aloy has a BA in Pali and Sanskrit from the University of London and a Ph.D in Buddhist Philosophy from the University of Sri Lankan, Vidyodaya Campus. On Nov. 23, 2019, he was awarded the prestigious honorary Doctorate of Literature (D.Litt) by the Chancellor of the University of Kelaniya, the Most Venerable Welamitiyawe Dharmakirthi Sri Kusala Dhamma Thera.
Fr. Aloy continues to be a promoter of Gospel values and virtues. Justice as a constitutive dimension of love and social concern for the downtrodden masses are very much noted in his life and work. He had very much appreciated the commitment of the late Fr. Joseph (Joe) Fernando, the National Director of the Social and Economic Centre (SEDEC) for the poor.
In Sri Lanka, a few religious Congregations – the Good Shepherd Sisters, the Christian Brothers, the Marist Brothers and the Oblates – have invited him to animate their members especially during their Provincial Congresses, Chapters and International Conferences. The mainline Christian Churches also have sought his advice and followed his seminars. I, for one, regret very much, that the Sri Lankan authorities of the Catholic Church –today’s Hierarchy—- have not sought Fr.
Aloy’s expertise for the renewal of the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka and thus have not benefited from the immense store of wisdom and insight that he can offer to our local Church while the Sri Lankan bishops who governed the Catholic church in the immediate aftermath of the Second Vatican Council (Edmund Fernando OMI, Anthony de Saram, Leo Nanayakkara OSB, Frank Marcus Fernando, Paul Perera,) visited him and consulted him on many matters. Among the Tamil Bishops, Bishop Rayappu Joseph was keeping close contact with him and Bishop J. Deogupillai hosted him and his team visiting him after the horrible Black July massacre of Tamils.
Sri Lanka-Singapore Free Trade Agreement
By Gomi Senadhira
senadhiragomi@gmail.com
“You might tell fairy tales, but the progress of a country cannot be achieved through such narratives. A country cannot be developed by making false promises. The country moved backward because of the electoral promises made by political parties throughout time. We have witnessed that the ultimate result of this is the country becoming bankrupt. Unfortunately, many segments of the population have not come to realize this yet.” – President Ranil Wickremesinghe, 2024 Budget speech
Any Sri Lankan would agree with the above words of President Wickremesinghe on the false promises our politicians and officials make and the fairy tales they narrate which bankrupted this country. So, to understand this, let’s look at one such fairy tale with lots of false promises; Ranil Wickremesinghe’s greatest achievement in the area of international trade and investment promotion during the Yahapalana period, Sri Lanka-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (SLSFTA).
It is appropriate and timely to do it now as Finance Minister Wickremesinghe has just presented to parliament a bill on the National Policy on Economic Transformation which includes the establishment of an Office for International Trade and the Sri Lanka Institute of Economics and International Trade.
Was SLSFTA a “Cleverly negotiated Free Trade Agreement” as stated by the (former) Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade Malik Samarawickrama during the Parliamentary Debate on the SLSFTA in July 2018, or a colossal blunder covered up with lies, false promises, and fairy tales? After SLSFTA was signed there were a number of fairy tales published on this agreement by the Ministry of Development Strategies and International, Institute of Policy Studies, and others.
However, for this article, I would like to limit my comments to the speech by Minister Samarawickrama during the Parliamentary Debate, and the two most important areas in the agreement which were covered up with lies, fairy tales, and false promises, namely: revenue loss for Sri Lanka and Investment from Singapore. On the other important area, “Waste products dumping” I do not want to comment here as I have written extensively on the issue.
1. The revenue loss
During the Parliamentary Debate in July 2018, Minister Samarawickrama stated “…. let me reiterate that this FTA with Singapore has been very cleverly negotiated by us…. The liberalisation programme under this FTA has been carefully designed to have the least impact on domestic industry and revenue collection. We have included all revenue sensitive items in the negative list of items which will not be subject to removal of tariff. Therefore, 97.8% revenue from Customs duty is protected. Our tariff liberalisation will take place over a period of 12-15 years! In fact, the revenue earned through tariffs on goods imported from Singapore last year was Rs. 35 billion.
The revenue loss for over the next 15 years due to the FTA is only Rs. 733 million– which when annualised, on average, is just Rs. 51 million. That is just 0.14% per year! So anyone who claims the Singapore FTA causes revenue loss to the Government cannot do basic arithmetic! Mr. Speaker, in conclusion, I call on my fellow members of this House – don’t mislead the public with baseless criticism that is not grounded in facts. Don’t look at petty politics and use these issues for your own political survival.”
I was surprised to read the minister’s speech because an article published in January 2018 in “The Straits Times“, based on information released by the Singaporean Negotiators stated, “…. With the FTA, tariff savings for Singapore exports are estimated to hit $10 million annually“.
As the annual tariff savings (that is the revenue loss for Sri Lanka) calculated by the Singaporean Negotiators, Singaporean $ 10 million (Sri Lankan rupees 1,200 million in 2018) was way above the rupees’ 733 million revenue loss for 15 years estimated by the Sri Lankan negotiators, it was clear to any observer that one of the parties to the agreement had not done the basic arithmetic!
Six years later, according to a report published by “The Morning” newspaper, speaking at the Committee on Public Finance (COPF) on 7th May 2024, Mr Samarawickrama’s chief trade negotiator K.J. Weerasinghehad had admitted “…. that forecasted revenue loss for the Government of Sri Lanka through the Singapore FTA is Rs. 450 million in 2023 and Rs. 1.3 billion in 2024.”
If these numbers are correct, as tariff liberalisation under the SLSFTA has just started, we will pass Rs 2 billion very soon. Then, the question is how Sri Lanka’s trade negotiators made such a colossal blunder. Didn’t they do their basic arithmetic? If they didn’t know how to do basic arithmetic they should have at least done their basic readings. For example, the headline of the article published in The Straits Times in January 2018 was “Singapore, Sri Lanka sign FTA, annual savings of $10m expected”.
Anyway, as Sri Lanka’s chief negotiator reiterated at the COPF meeting that “…. since 99% of the tariffs in Singapore have zero rates of duty, Sri Lanka has agreed on 80% tariff liberalisation over a period of 15 years while expecting Singapore investments to address the imbalance in trade,” let’s turn towards investment.
Investment from Singapore
In July 2018, speaking during the Parliamentary Debate on the FTA this is what Minister Malik Samarawickrama stated on investment from Singapore, “Already, thanks to this FTA, in just the past two-and-a-half months since the agreement came into effect we have received a proposal from Singapore for investment amounting to $ 14.8 billion in an oil refinery for export of petroleum products. In addition, we have proposals for a steel manufacturing plant for exports ($ 1 billion investment), flour milling plant ($ 50 million), sugar refinery ($ 200 million). This adds up to more than $ 16.05 billion in the pipeline on these projects alone.
And all of these projects will create thousands of more jobs for our people. In principle approval has already been granted by the BOI and the investors are awaiting the release of land the environmental approvals to commence the project.
I request the Opposition and those with vested interests to change their narrow-minded thinking and join us to develop our country. We must always look at what is best for the whole community, not just the few who may oppose. We owe it to our people to courageously take decisions that will change their lives for the better.”
According to the media report I quoted earlier, speaking at the Committee on Public Finance (COPF) Chief Negotiator Weerasinghe has admitted that Sri Lanka was not happy with overall Singapore investments that have come in the past few years in return for the trade liberalisation under the Singapore-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement. He has added that between 2021 and 2023 the total investment from Singapore had been around $162 million!
What happened to those projects worth $16 billion negotiated, thanks to the SLSFTA, in just the two-and-a-half months after the agreement came into effect and approved by the BOI? I do not know about the steel manufacturing plant for exports ($ 1 billion investment), flour milling plant ($ 50 million) and sugar refinery ($ 200 million).
However, story of the multibillion-dollar investment in the Petroleum Refinery unfolded in a manner that would qualify it as the best fairy tale with false promises presented by our politicians and the officials, prior to 2019 elections.
Though many Sri Lankans got to know, through the media which repeatedly highlighted a plethora of issues surrounding the project and the questionable credentials of the Singaporean investor, the construction work on the Mirrijiwela Oil Refinery along with the cement factory began on the24th of March 2019 with a bang and Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and his ministers along with the foreign and local dignitaries laid the foundation stones.
That was few months before the 2019 Presidential elections. Inaugurating the construction work Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said the projects will create thousands of job opportunities in the area and surrounding districts.
The oil refinery, which was to be built over 200 acres of land, with the capacity to refine 200,000 barrels of crude oil per day, was to generate US$7 billion of exports and create 1,500 direct and 3,000 indirect jobs. The construction of the refinery was to be completed in 44 months. Four years later, in August 2023 the Cabinet of Ministers approved the proposal presented by President Ranil Wickremesinghe to cancel the agreement with the investors of the refinery as the project has not been implemented! Can they explain to the country how much money was wasted to produce that fairy tale?
It is obvious that the President, ministers, and officials had made huge blunders and had deliberately misled the public and the parliament on the revenue loss and potential investment from SLSFTA with fairy tales and false promises.
As the president himself said, a country cannot be developed by making false promises or with fairy tales and these false promises and fairy tales had bankrupted the country. “Unfortunately, many segments of the population have not come to realize this yet”.
(The writer, a specialist and an activist on trade and development issues . )
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