Praying for justice

Tuesday 9th March, 2021

The Black Sunday protest was a huge success. Thankfully, some politicians who sought to make political capital out of the event failed in their endeavour. It became a people’s agitation campaign led by religious dignitaries. Their message was loud and clear; they are deeply disappointed at the outcome of the presidential commission probe into the Easter Sunday terror attacks. The government had better heed their voice and act accordingly instead of trying to take cover behind the flawed presidential commission report, which says so little in so many words.

It was heartening to see many members of other religious communities standing shoulder to shoulder with the Catholics, on Sunday, and calling for justice. Unity is the best form of defence against terrorism. People must sink their differences, religious, ethnic, political or otherwise, and unite against all acts of terrorism. The victims of terror must be reassured and helped rebuild their lives. If only religious leaders and members of the public had come out in a similar manner and protested against LTTE terror attacks on places of worship and members of the clergy.

The LTTE massacred 146 Buddhist devotees at Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi (1985), 37 novice Buddhist monks at Arantalawa (1987), 147 Muslims praying in the Kaththankudi mosque (1990), 109 Muslims attending prayers in the Palliyagodella mosque (1991), and 17 Buddhist devotees at Sri Dalada Maligawa (1998), which suffered extensive damage when the LTTE exploded a truck bomb. There were many other terror attacks on civilians, but those crimes went unpunished.

At present, protests are being held to pressure the government to identify a bunch of terrorists. This demand is nothing but fair. Those savages must be traced and made to pay for their sins. However, the identities of those who masterminded many terror attacks before 2009 were known; curiously, there was no national campaign as such to have them punished. Interestingly, the SJB notables are pressuring the government to expose the forces that were behind the Easter Sunday carnage. Their right to do so cannot be questioned, but the fact remains that all of them, save a few including Sajith Premadasa, did not call for action against the LTTE for civilian massacres and high-profile assassinations. Some SJB grandees who were in the UNP-led Opposition, during the war, even went all out to dislodge military operations against the LTTE; they strove to defeat budgets in Parliament and bring down the then Rajapaksa government in a desperate bid to scuttle the war effort. Had they succeeded in doing so, the LTTE would have survived and many more terror attacks like the Easter Sunday bombings would have happed during the last 12 years or so. One of them even declared in Parliament that any fool could fight a war and urged the then government to opt for negotiations with the LTTE!

Among those whose lapses helped the NTJ terrorists strike with ease are former President Maithripala Sirisena, former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, former Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando, former IGP Pujith Jayasundera and several key intelligence officers. The blame for serious security failures at issue should also be apportioned to those who were in the yahapalana Cabinet. But they will pose no danger to national security or public safety even if they manage to get off scot-free. But the masterminds of the Easter Sunday terror strikes remain a grave danger and hence the need to give priority to the task of tracing and dealing with them. The country will not be safe as long as they are at large. People who abhor terrorism expected the Easter Sunday PCoI to dig deep enough and expose those who were behind the bombings so that action could be taken against them and threats to national security neutralised. Therefore, it is only natural that the PCoI report has come as a huge disappointment for them.

Perhaps, the only way out is for the government to order another probe to find out who masterminded the Easter Sunday carnage and make use of the findings and the recommendations of the presidential commission probe to prosecute those who failed to prevent the terror attacks.