Easter Sunday Carnage debate: SJB blasts govt for trying to palm blame on India for their own lapses

By Saman Indrajith

The main opposition SJB in parliament on Thursday found fault with government MPs trying to apportion the blame of Easter Sunday terror attacks on India.Participating in a three-day debate on the Easter Sunday carnage, Chief Opposition Whip SJB Kandy District MP Lakshman Kiriella said that it was India that provided intelligence warnings of the imminent attacks.

 “Those who received these warning reports specifying the date and time of the attacks, the name of the attackers and the places to be attacked kept that information to themselves. Now the government MPs are trying to place the blame on India, which had cautioned us. This is ridiculous,” Kiriella said.

He said that the warnings came several times. “There were warnings of the imminent attacks several days prior to the attacks. There had been three prior warnings on the day of the attack. India had given five warnings of these attacks. These warnings were received by the then SIS head Senior DIG Nilantha Jayawardena. It was later found that he had erased data from his mobile phone and devices. If this information were not erased, the investigators could have found to whom Nilantha Jayawardena had spoken of these warnings.

Former President Maithripala Sirisena is here today. He has stated several times that he was not informed of these warnings. This is why Nilantha Jayawardena erased his data before surrendering his devices to the investigators. We hope ex-president Sirisena will inform this House during this debate what information he has. What we now know is that those responsible for preventing Easter Sunday attacks, despite there being prior warnings, let the attacks take place. We believe that the data has been erased to prevent finding to whom Jayawardena had passed the warnings. The presidential commission of inquiry has recommended legal action against Jayawardena, but nothing has been done,” Kiriella said.

He said that India had always stood for Sri Lanka’s security, and it lost over 1,500 lives of its military personnel during the war against the LTTE to ensure territorial integrity of this country.

 “The government MPs are trying to shift the blame on India to save their leaders. We as Buddhists believe in ‘Dittadhamma Vedaniya Karma’ doctrine which says that we must suffer the consequences of our actions within this life. This country is facing the consequences of heinous crime on Easter Sunday. Former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had to flee the country, the Prime Minister and the Cabinet had to leave, the country faced an unprecedented crisis and bankruptcy. To those who now try to mislead this House, I am telling that they could escape from the courts and legal liability, but they should get ready to be punished by the natural law principles. They can’t escape the judgment of Gods.