Insult added to injury

Wednesday 11th January, 2023

There seems to be no end in sight to the incumbent regime’s wrong moves. Perhaps, it does not care two hoots about them; it is impervious to public opinion, for power and greed blind rulers to reality. In what could be considered yet another ill-conceived move, the government is allegedly trying to appoint Senior DIG Nilantha Jayawardena the next IGP. He has already been appointed the SDIG (Administration). The Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI), which probed the Easter Sunday terror attacks, has recommended criminal proceedings against Jayawardena for a grave dereliction of duty and other such serious lapses on his part as the Head of the State Intelligence Service (SIS) in 2019.

Naturally, those who are seeking justice for the Easter Sunday terror victims, and demanding action against the political leaders and others who did not heed several warnings of terror attacks are up in arms against Jayawardena’s promotion. The Catholic Church and the SJB are prominent among them.

The Catholic Church has explained why it is opposed to Jayawardena’s promotion. Rev. Fr. Cyril Gamini Fernando has, on behalf of Archbishop of Colombo Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, told the media that the government is trying to hide the truth about the Easter Sunday attacks, and protect the culprits.

Police investigations into the Easter Sunday attacks are still on, we are told, and therefore no one named by the Easter Sunday PCoI for dereliction of duty and criminal negligence should be appointed the IGP for obvious reasons.

The controversy at hand would not have arisen but for the selective implementation by the SLPP government of the PCoI recommendations. If criminal proceedings had been instituted against all those named by the PCoI and cases against them heard expeditiously, they would have been either convicted or acquitted by now. The then IGP Pujith Jayasundera has been acquitted by a trial-at bar.

Curiously, there were no protests while Jayawardena’s predecessor, Nandana Munasinghe, was holding the post of SIDG (Administration). The PCoI has recommended criminal proceedings against Munasinghe as well. He was the SDIG Western Province in 2019. The PCoI has said, in its final report: ‘Based on the evidence, the CoI is of the view that there is criminal liability on his part for the acts of omission explained above. The COI recommends that the Attorney General consider instituting criminal proceedings against SDIG Nandana Munasinghe under any suitable provisions in the Penal Code or section 82 of the Police Ordinance.”

The SJB cannot dupe the public by protesting against the government’s alleged attempt to promote Jayawardena as the next IGP. The blame for the yahapalana administration’s failure to prevent the Easter Sunday carnage should be apportioned to the SJB seniors as well. The PCoI has said, in its final report, “The government including President Sirisena and Prime Minister [Ranil Wickremesinghe] is accountable for the tragedy.” The SJB and the UNP are two peas in a pod, and their leaders were together in the yahapalana government!

Ironically, having won the presidential election in 2019 and the parliamentary polls the following year by condemning the UNP for the yahapalana government’s failure to protect the public against terrorist attacks and undertaking to safeguard national security, the Rajapaksas have made Wickremesinghe the President! Previously, they formed an electoral alliance with Sirisena, who as the President, failed to protect the citizenry against terrorist bombings in April 2019 despite having received repeated warnings thereof. They have proved that they do not scruple to subjugate national security to their personal interests. The public should bear this fact in mind when they vote at future elections.

Now that the political leaders who failed to prevent the Easter Sunday attacks, which snuffed out about 275 lives, and their rivals who offered to bring them to justice and protect the country have closed ranks unashamedly, the task of getting at the truth about the terror attacks and having the PCoI recommendations fully implemented will become even more uphill. One can only hope that the religious leaders and the family members of the terror victims will succeed in their quest for justice. They deserve unstinted public support.