President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has assured that the Government will not exert political influence on matters relating to the Easter attacks. Such made these remarks while speaking at the opening of the New Kelani bridge last evening (24). “They (Yahapalanaya) appointed a Presidential Commission. They have clearly identified the wrongdoers. It says that the President at the time, the Prime Minister and the Cabinet of Ministers must bear responsibility for this. We have submitted these reports to Parliament, the Attorney General and the Criminal Investigations Department. This is to conduct investigations and punish them, but unlike the previous Government, we will not exert political influence,” the President said. He also added that the citizenship of those responsible for the attacks may be cancelled “If necessary, we can take steps to ensure such mistakes do not happen again. If that is what is expected from us, we are ready for it. We have a two thirds majority to do that, therefore they must be mindful of what they ask from us,” the President warned. The President also said that prior to the Yahapalanaya regime, the country had strong defence and intelligence services. “We had created a strong defence service at the time. We had also created a strong intelligence service. That is why such incidents did not occur after the war. The April 21st attacks occurred as they (Yahapalanaya Govt.) dismantled intelligence services, dashed the hopes of soldiers and did not pay any attention to national security after coming to power,” the President said.