Footage of Zahran Hashim’s farewell message which has never been seen by public eyes before was revealed last night (11) on Ada Derana 24’s Hyde Park programme. In his farewell message, Hashim explains the motivation behind carrying out the Easter attacks of 2019. “Do you know why we targeted Christian churches in our attacks? In New Zealand, you killed our people who were praying in mosques. As revenge for interfering and laying a hand on the house of Allah, we will teach you a lesson by bombing these churches,” Zahran said in the video footage. Hashim also states that an Islamic state will be established in Sri Lanka. Joining the Hyde Park programme, Director General of the Institute of National Security Studies Prof. Rohan Gunaratna said that the video explicitly explains Hashim’s motivation. “It is consistent with other global attacks by the radical Muslim organisation,” Gunaratna said. As Hashim further mentions in the farewell video that funds used to carry out the attacks were “halal”, Gunaratna explained that funding was not provided by non-Muslims or any Government. “The source of finance for Zahran is from the two sons of the richest spice trader in Sri Lanka. All the ongoing international investigations on the source of funding also show that it came from a company owned by the spice trader’s sons,” he said.