Cardinal: Catholics will hoist black flags seeking justice for victims of Easter carnage

By Norman Palihawadane

Archbishop of Colombo Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith yesterday urged the government to fulfil its responsibility with respect to the investigations into the Easter Sunday carnage and said that until it was done properly, the protest campaign by the Church would not go silent.

“We have no intention of taking to the streets demanding justice, in view of the pandemic. We have asked people to hoist black flags on Saturday (21) to express their displeasure at the investigations” the Cardinal said.

Addressing the media at the Bishop’s House in Colombo, the Cardinal said the Directorate of Intelligence had made contact with the group led by Zahran Hashim, who carried out the Easter Sunday attacks.

“We need to know what dealings took place between ‘Army Mohideen’ and this group. This is mentioned in the report of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry as well,” he said.

The Cardinal also voiced concern over the investigations with regard to the assassination of two police officers in 2019 at Vavuniathivu.

‘There is an intelligence officer who was identified as ‘Sonic’. He had used a personal call sign ‘Matale Zahran’ to make radio contact with a person in Indonesia and urged ISIS to take responsibility for the attacks,’ the prelate told reporters, adding that it could have been an attempt to divert attention away from the real perpetrators.

“It is stated that the State Intelligence Services officer known as ‘Sonic’ had used the person in Matale to get the ISIS to claim responsibility,” the Cardinal said. It clearly meant that a person who masterminded the attacks wanted their tracks covered, said His Eminence.

Further, there were questions over the identity of the Military Intelligence Officer who made contact with ‘Jameel’, the suicide bomber who failed to detonate inside the Taj Samudra Hotel, he added.

He urged the government to fulfil its responsibility and added until it was done properly, the protest campaign would go on.