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Easter attacks PCoI report: Rejected across the board, SLFP 

27 Feb 2021

  • Party legal team studying the report 

  • ‘Ranil treated with kid gloves; Sirisena treated harshly’ 

  The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) is not perturbed by the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) report on the Easter Sunday terror attacks, as it has been rejected by many sections including political parties and the clergy, senior SLFP Member and Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said.    Amaraweera is also the General Secretary of the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) of which the SLFP is the main constituent party.    He said the SLFP was not interested in paying much heed to the report which recommended that the Attorney General considers criminal proceedings against the SLFP Chairman, former President, and incumbent parliamentarian Maithripala Sirisena over the Easter Sunday bombings, for the failure to prevent such due to the alleged dereliction of duty and negligence.    “We didn't consider this issue of the report an important one and we don’t want to focus more on it as it has no substantial value. The Catholic Church, the Buddhist clergy, the United National Party (UNP), the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and everyone else is against it,” he claimed while speaking to The Sunday Morning in this regard.    When questioned as to whether the party would focus on taking future action over the report, Amaraweera said that a team of legal counsel was studying the report at the moment. “Any action will be based on their input,” he said.    Meanwhile, SLFP General Secretary and State Minister Dayasiri Jayasekara said that the party has yet to make any substantial decision on future action to be taken over the report.    When queried as to whether MP Sirisena would seek legal counsel, he said that there was no such decision yet.    He added that the decisions outlined in the statement issued by the party following the party’s Executive Committee meeting which was held on 25 February, stands for now.    The lengthy statement issued by the SLFP said that the PCoI report was inconclusive and that it had been prepared in violation of the instructions and mandate given to it.  The party said that its Executive Committee therefore had no option but to unanimously reject the report.    The SLFP noted that the key objectives of the PCoI was to identify the domestic and foreign forces behind the attacks, understanding the objectives and aspirations of these forces, and make recommendations to take legal action against those responsible for the attacks.    The statement claimed that the Samagi Jana Balawegaya, the JVP, and also the Buddhist clergy have stated that the report is incomplete and had not been able to achieve the expected aspirations.    The SLFP explained that it was their opinion that the Commission had been unable to reach reasonable conclusions and make relevant recommendations.    “The Commission has made recommendations and conclusions by going beyond its scope and by paying attention to unnecessary facts such as recommendations on the General Secretary of the Bodu Bala Sena Ven. Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thera. Also, it appears that the PCoI has adopted a lukewarm approach towards the then Prime Minister at the time of the bombings, Ranil Wickremesinghe, and a stricter one on Sirisena,” it said.    The party has further said that the report has not taken into consideration the personnel who planned the attacks and those who had provided financial assistance and security to them.    The SLFP also pointed out that the Commission had not probed into Pulasthini Mahendran alias Sarah Jasmine, an associate of the Easter Sunday terror attacks ringleader Zahran Hashim’s terrorist group, who had fled to India.    Defending the former President Sirisena, the SLFP said that a president not executing his powers does not qualify as a cause for a criminal case against the said president.    “The unanimous decision of the SLFP Executive Committee is that there is no room to file a criminal case against former President Sirisena. The party will make a special statement after studying this report in depth. We vehemently reject the recommendations made with regard to former President Sirisena and most of the other recommendations of the Commission,” it said.

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