Cardinal calls for foreign team to investigate Easter Sunday attacks

Archbishop of Colombo, Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith on Wednesday (06) called for an independent international team to investigate the Easter Sunday attacks.The team must be supported by CID officials who were initially involved in the investigation but were transferred to other areas by a biased political authority, the Cardinal said.

Minister Manusha Nanayakkara had said that a parliament select committee would be appointed to investigate the allegations made by a Channel 04 documentary, the Cardinal said.

“From the day of the attacks,even though a parliament select committee and a Presidential Commission of Inquiry had been appointed to investigate these sad events, and recommendations were made by them, there has been no positive and credible action by political authorities,” the prelate said.

The earlier parliament select committee had been appointed when President Ranil Wickremesinghe was Prime Minister, he said, noting that the present and previous government had paid lip service to findings made by the probe committees.

“Nothing clear and tangible will emerge from another Parliament select committee. Appointing such a committee will only lead to a waste of public funds and be an exercise in misleading the public. So, we reject this proposal outright,” he said.

The Cardinal said that they want an independent and impartial investigation into what Channel 4 documentary on the Easter Sunday attacks revealed.

“Those mentioned in the documentary must be investigated to determine if they indeed played a role in this mass murder. This investigation must take place through an independent international investigation team. This team must be supported by CID officials who were initially involved in the investigation and were transferred to other areas by a biased political authority,” he said.

Since these fresh investigations need to be independent, all the officials in the police and intelligence agencies, who need to be investigated, should be suspended forthwith, he said.

“Any such officials named in the Channel 4 video should move out of their high positions in order to ensure the independence of the inquiry. SDIG Nilantha Jayawardena who is now the Senior DIG Administration and who had been found guilty by the Supreme Court for culpable neglect of duties during the Easter Sunday attacks, and SDIG Deshabandu Tennakoon whose neglect was cited by the Presidential Commission, should both be suspended until the new inquiry is over. We hope these requests will be carried out by the President and the government of Sri Lanka,” he said.