• Fonseka casts aspersions on SIS Chief, calls for int’l experts’ involvement in the investigation  

The main Parliamentary Opposition party, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) has called for an immediate investigation into the allegations made by the controversial Channel 4 documentary titled Sri Lanka’s Easter Bombings – Dispatches regarding the alleged involvement of Chief of the State Intelligence Service (SIS) Maj. Gen. Suresh Sallay in the Easter Sunday attacks in 2019.

Speaking at a media briefing yesterday (7), former SJB Parliamentarian Mujibur Rahman told the media that not only the SJB but also the majority of the society is not ready to accept the SIS Chief’s response to these allegations that he was not in the country when the Easter bombings took place. He added that instead of blaming Channel 4 for making the documentary, the Government should launch an impartial probe into the matters associated with senior officers whose names were mentioned in the documentary. 

He also said that the truth can only be revealed through an impartial probe into the incident and therefore, past phone calls of all related persons must be subject to investigation. “We are not ready to accept Sallay’s response to the revelations made by the documentary. The Leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was not in Colombo when the LTTE bombers exploded bombs in Wellawatte. The al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden was not in the US when the September 2011, attacks happened. That is why we request an investigation. It will disclose the truth,” he said.

Meanwhile, speaking in Parliament yesterday, SJB MP Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka said that considering the past records of the Chief of the SIS, there are sufficient reasons to accept the information disclosed by the particular documentary regarding him (Sallay), and that therefore, an investigation must be launched with the support of international experts to reveal the truth behind the incident.

The Catholic Church also called for an impartial and broad investigation into what the controversial Channel 4 documentary has revealed as well as the involvement of an independent, international investigation team assisted by domestic officials for the investigations. Colombo Archbishop Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith said that all high-ranking officials in the Police and the intelligence services under investigation should be suspended forthwith to ensure the transparency of the new investigations.