Easter carnage: Catholic Church asks govt. to reveal ‘invisible hand’

By Norman Palihawadane

The Catholic Church would continue to seek justice for the victims of the Easter Sunday carnage and wanted the government to reveal the ‘invisible hand’ behind the terror attacks, the Chairman of the Centre for Society and Religion (CSR) Rev. Fr. Rohan Silva said.

“The report of the Vijith Malalgoda Committee has said there was an invisible hand behind the Easter Sunday attacks. We ask the government to reveal it,” said Rev. Fr. Rohan Silva, addressing the media in Colombo recently.

The CSR had obtained the Malalgoda Committee report under the Right to Information Act, Rev Fr. Silva said. “We have been asking the government to reveal the truth. Justice has not yet been done. We will continue our quest for justice until they reveal the culprits behind the attacks. The Malalgoda report says that according to the evidence presented to the investigation committee, there had been another party that controlled the National Thawheed Jamaat organization led by Zahran Hashim. The report states that although the attacks had been carried out by the Hashim’s group there was no evidence to prove that it was their initiative. There was another party leading Zahran’s group. We need to find out that invisible force that manipulated Zahran’s group,” Rev. Fr. Silva said.

Representing the CSR investigating team, journalist Tharindu Jayawardena and Dureksha Gayani, also addressed the press.