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Publicising Easter report nowhere in sight

12 Feb 2021

  • No date set for necessary Cabinet meeting

  By Hiranyada Dewasiri and Pamodi Waravita   No date has been set for the tabling of the final report of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) appointed to investigate the Easter Sunday attacks of 21 April 2019, in Parliament, with a special Cabinet of Ministers meeting required to be held before the tabling, for which too a date has not been set yet. While The Morning earlier learnt from Cabinet Spokesman and Minister of Mass Media Keheliya Rambukwella that a special Cabinet meeting was scheduled to be held on 10 February, the Minister told us yesterday (11) that a date was not set for the meeting. “Before the report is tabled in Parliament, it has to go through the Cabinet. A date would be nominated for it to be brought before the Parliament thereafter. This special Cabinet meeting will be held for the purpose of taking up the report on a special date and not on one of the regular Cabinet dates. A date has not been nominated yet for this meeting. But I presume that within the course of the next week or so, there will be some developments in this regard.” The Minister told The Morning on 9 February that the special Cabinet meeting is expected to be held on a day that is convenient for all of the meeting’s participants. When inquired about a special Cabinet meeting that was scheduled to have taken place on 10 February to take up the final report of the PCoI on the Easter Sunday attacks, Co-Cabinet Spokesperson Udaya Gammanpila said that no date for the meeting was fixed and that there had been a piece of misinformation shared about a date. “I heard that an incorrect piece of information had been shared. The President said at the previous Cabinet meeting that a special Cabinet meeting will be held to discuss the PCoI report on the Easter Sunday attacks. But the date was never fixed.” Meanwhile, various parties await the publicisation of the final report of the PCoI that investigated the Easter Sunday attacks. Archbishop of Colombo Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith released a statement yesterday requesting that the report be made available to him. “Let us receive a copy of this report as soon as possible,” said the Archbishop, claiming that it has come to his attention that this report and the investigation carried out by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) has shortcomings and that necessary steps could be taken if the report is given to him. Samagi Jana Balawegaya Parliamentarian Eran Wickramaratne told The Morning yesterday that the PCoI report on the Easter Sunday attacks should be publicised soon and that the recommendations should be implemented. “The Attorney General has done his job and now it is up to the Government to implement the recommendations in the report.” Holding a press briefing, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and National People’s Power (NPP) Leader MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake said yesterday that the public has a right to know the contents of the final Easter Sunday attack PCoI report. “The main objective behind this press conference is to demand that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa publicises the report immediately.” Dissanayake claimed that the President and the Government had no right to hold the report back from the public claiming that the report is a lengthy document or that it needs to be studied further.  


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