• Govt. to conduct int’l probe if required following the appointment of a PSC to investigate ‘Channel 4 Dispatches’   

While Opposition and Samagi Jana Balawegaya Leader Sajith Premadasa has called for an immediate international investigation into the Easter Sunday terror attacks of 21 April 2019, the Government has hinted at such an investigation into the same.

The United Kingdom’s Channel Four News yesterday (5) aired a programme titled Sri Lanka’s Easter Bombings – Dispatches which made shocking revelations including the alleged involvement and complicity of certain Government officials in orchestrating the terror attacks.

In response to statements made by certain Opposition MPs regarding the controversial programme in the Parliament yesterday, the Minister of Labour and Foreign Employment Manusha Nanayakkara said that the Government would conduct a probe into the disclosures by Channel 4. 

"The Cabinet of Ministers decided to appoint a special Parliamentary select committee (PSC) to probe into the exposures by Channel 4. An international level investigation will also be conducted if a need arises as the need for international assistance to investigate these accusations has been recognised." 

Speaking further, he said however that it is suspicious as to whether the Channel 4 programme is something that is aimed at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) session which is to be held this month (September) as the Channel has a common practice of airing such controversial videos closer to the UNHRC sessions in Geneva, Switzerland. 

"We are of the view that these revelations must be looked into. We do not oppose it. However, if we come to a conclusion based on what this particular moulavi (a reference to the whistleblower who is said to have provided information to Channel 4) claims, and assume that former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa came to power through this conspiracy, the Archbishop of Colombo, Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith who asked the people to go and vote for Rajapaksa and all those who shed tears after this incident should be a part of his (Rajapaksa’s) election campaign."

Nanayakkara's statement was highly criticised by Premadasa, who asked the Government not to insult Cardinal Ranjith and the Catholic community. "Do not insult the Cardinal, the other Bishops and the Catholic community. What you all (Government) wanted was to come to power using the terror attacks. Did you all not speak about this on each and every political stage?," Further claiming that the mastermind behind the terror attacks could never be revealed through an internal investigation, he called for an immediate international level investigation into it. "An international investigation is urgently needed to uncover the truth behind this, but, I am not sure if the Government has a backbone to initiate such."

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. A total of 269 people excluding the bombers were killed in the bombings, including about 45 foreign nationals, while at least 500 were injured.

Meanwhile, Cardinal Ranjith recently renewed calls for the Government to initiate a “full and transparent investigation” into the Easter Sunday terror attacks, in line with international standards. 

Channel 4 became known in Sri Lanka in the past after airing several controversial videos alleging that war crimes had taken place in Sri Lanka, including its documentaries, Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields, No Fire Zone: The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka and No Fire Zone: In the Killing Fields of Sri Lanka, hard hitting investigations into the final weeks of the Sri Lankan war.