- Catholic Bishops to discuss ‘Prez’s revelation’ next week
In the wake of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake stating in Parliament that certain evidence linked to the 2019 Easter Sunday terror attacks was destroyed, the Police stated that it is yet to receive specific information on what material was lost or who was responsible for the same.
When contacted by The Daily Morning, Police Media Spokesperson and Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) F.U. Wootler said that no information related to the alleged destruction of evidence had been received thus far. “This matter is currently with the Criminal Investigations Department (CID). We will inform the media as soon as we receive information.”
Meanwhile, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Sri Lanka (CBCSL) stated that it is set to discuss the reported destruction of evidence next week. Speaking to The Daily Morning, CBCSL President Reverend and Father Harold Anthony Perera said the revelation was made by the President only on Tuesday (18), and that therefore, it had not yet been discussed formally within the Conference. He said that the Bishops had previously questioned the President about the related investigation, most recently during a meeting in which the President said that the relevant investigations were ongoing.
“The CBCSL will meet next week. The meeting is not specifically to discuss this issue, as several matters of national importance are on the agenda. However, this matter will come up during the discussions. At that point, we can gather the views of all Bishops and decide on the next steps. For instance, we can decide whether we should write to the President or to take any other form of action.”
The issue surfaced after the President told Parliament that while pages from key reports pertaining to the terror attacks had been torn out, the Government had already begun gathering new evidence. “We will uncover the truth despite the destruction of evidence,” he said, adding the CID Director, Senior (Snr.) SP Shani Abeysekera and the Public Security Ministry Secretary, Snr. Deputy Inspector General of Police (Retired) Ravi Seneviratne was working continuously on the investigation.
On 21 April 2019 Easter Sunday, three Churches (the St. Sebastian’s Church in Katuwapitiya, the St. Anthony’s Church in Kochchikade, and the Zion Church in Batticaloa) and three luxury Hotels in Colombo (the Cinnamon Grand, The Kingsbury, and the Shangri-La) were targeted in a series of coordinated suicide bombings. Later that day, another two bomb explosions took place at a house in Dematagoda and the Tropical Inn Lodge in Dehiwala. More than 270 people excluding the bombers were killed in the bombings, including about 45 foreign nationals, while at least 500 were injured.
Accusing the previous Governments led by former Presidents Maithripala Sirisena, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, and Ranil Wickremesinghe of having failed to serve justice to the victims of the attacks and their families, the National People’s Power, before, during, and after their Election campaigns, pledged to carry out the necessary investigations and serve justice to those affected.