Amaraweera explains why SLFP has rejected PCoI probe report

By Ifham Nizam

The leader did not commit suicide at the outset in any terrorist organisation in the world. “So, we need to find out who ordered Zahran to carry out attacks. And if Sarah, the wife of one of the suicide bombers, herself had fled to India, who would have helped her? Answers to those questions should have been found, Environment Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said yesterday.

Amaraweera yesterday said that the SLFP, therefore, rejected the report by the PCoI that probed the Easter Sunday carnage.

He said that from the beginning media had reported the evidence led before the Commission about advance intelligence available about the pending attacks that Zahran was going to carry out. But in the end, it was former President Maithripala Sirisena and Ven. Galagodaatte Gnanasara Thera of the Bodu Bala Sena who were blamed for the attack.

It was President Sirisena who appointed the commission to find out the truth about the attacks. “The desired objectives have been achieved. I think even His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, the Archbishop, will not accept this report. He has not yet expressed his opinion in this regard,” Amaraweera said, adding that the SLFP wanted to know who had handled Zahran. “The other issue is that who brought 6,000 swords into the country. Those are the issues that came up following the Easter Sunday carnage. But it should be revealed why they have been ignored. Therefore, we are focusing on future steps in this regard.”

The people of the country did not expect such a report from the commission appointed to probe the Easter Sunday carnage, he said.

Amaraweera said: “I am not commenting on the Commission or the judiciary. But we, as the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, are deploying a team of our lawyers to conduct a full study in this regard”

Amaraweera said female suicide cadres had also been trained and they had taken an oath before Zahran. The presidential commission had not made any revelations about this aspect of the issue, he added.

“The people wanted to know who was behind the Easter Sunday carnage, but the report does not say anything about it. This is one of the reasons why we have rejected the report.”