• Says ready to explain matters to Cardinal

Noting that his concern is to find out the culprits of the Easter Sunday terror attacks of 21 April 2019, instead of finding only those who are alleged to have neglected their duties, Minister of Public Security Tiran Alles said that he is willing to meet the Archbishop of Colombo Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith and other Bishops and explain regarding the matter if an opportunity is given.

When contacted by The Morning, he said: “As far as I am concerned, the main thing should be to find out the culprits who carried out these terror attacks, and that is what the Government is trying to do. Any negligence of duties by former President and incumbent Opposition MP Maithripala Sirisena and former Inspector General of Police Pujith Jayasundara is just one side of this incident. For me, what is more important is to find out who did it. If there has been any negligence of duties by someone, taking action for that is a different story, but we should first find out the culprits.”

He said that he had sent a message to Archbishop Ranjith through some Catholic priests, informing the latter of some plans to carry out investigations into the said terror attacks with the support of the Catholic Church, and that he is still awaiting a response. If the Catholic Church and all the other parties concerned are really interested, he said, all such parties should get together and get to the bottom of the matter, and then find out where the attack originated.

“The Government is trying its best to investigate the entire incident and find out the culprits. The people should understand the two sides of this, the culprits and those who neglected their duties. Therefore, if we are getting the Police Scotland to investigate this, all that will be to find out the culprits and will not be for the Police Scotland to come and say that this Policeman had been standing on the other side of the road when the attacks took place. If I am given an opportunity, I am ready to meet the Archbishop and the other bishops at any time to explain these matters,” added Alles.

Speaking in Parliament recently, he said that he had sent a message to the Archbishop through a few Catholic priests after assuming the position of the Minister of Public Security, informing him (Archbishop Ranjith) that if the Catholic Church was not satisfied with the investigations that have been carried out into the Easter Sunday terror attacks, the Government was ready to review the related investigations. 

“We requested him (Archbishop Ranjith) to nominate a few representatives from the Church to be appointed for a committee to work with the Criminal Investigations Department (CID). We said that we will show the progress of the investigation to the Catholic Church on a weekly basis, but to date we have not received an answer. Therefore, what is apparent to us is that the Catholic Church does not want to solve this, but keep it unresolved and continue to attack the Government,” he claimed.

Following his statement, National Director of Communications of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference, Father Jude Chrishantha Fernando told the media that the Catholic Church was not satisfied with the investigations and the legal proceedings that are currently underway regarding the Easter Sunday terror attacks. 

He said that it was difficult for the Catholic Church to have faith in the previous Governments and the current Government, as it was not evident that they have had an honest need to serve justice to the victims of the terror attacks.

“Alles’s statement itself makes it clear that the investigations have not been done properly. Especially the CID and the Attorney General’s Department are acting in a lethargic manner. A Parliamentary Select Committee and the Presidential Commission of Inquiry have investigated these attacks in depth and made a number of recommendations. Therefore, we would like to inform the Government to implement those recommendations instead of appointing more committees which will serve no purpose. Then, there will be some confidence in the Catholic Church that the Government sincerely needs to serve justice,” he added.

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 Shangri-La Colombo) were targeted in a series of co-ordinated suicide bombings. Later that day, another two bomb explosions took place at a house in Dematagoda and the Tropical Inn Lodge in Dehiwala. A total of 269 people excluding the bombers were killed in the bombings, including about 45 foreign nationals, while at least 500 were injured.