Sri Lanka yesterday (12) saw a landmark Supreme Court (SC) verdict which could easily be denoted the most significant court decision in the process of meting out justice for the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings. It ordered several high-profile figures, against whom the people have long been demanding action, to pay compensation from their personal funds to those affected.
The SC ordered that a victims’ fund be established at the Office for Reparations, which must formulate a scheme to award the sums ordered as compensation in a fair and equitable manner to the victims and families. More importantly, it ordered former President and Defence Minister and incumbent Opposition MP Mathripala Sirisena to pay Rs. 100 million, former Inspector General of Police Pujith Jayasundara and former State Intelligence Service Director, Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police (SDIG) Nilantha Jayawardena, to pay Rs. 75 million each, former Defence Ministry Secretary Hemasiri Fernando to pay Rs. 50 million, former Chief of National Intelligence, DIG Sisira Mendis to pay Rs. 10 million, and the State to pay Rs. 1 million, as compensation.
This may be a single event in the lengthy process of seeking justice for the Easter Sunday bombings, and may not even be the type of “justice” that the people demand. However, this is undeniably a turning point in the said process. Many would argue that the sums of compensation ordered to be paid through the verdict are insufficient and are not commensurate with the damage the aforementioned persons are said to have caused in the Easter Sunday terror attacks case. However, this case could not have gone beyond compensation, as it is not a criminal case but a civil one. Therefore, given the complex nature of these legal proceedings, this decision is sufficient to give the people hope for the time being.
Needless to say, the people, especially the hundreds of survivors and family members of those who died in the Easter Sunday bombings are awaiting more stringent punishment and further investigation of the parties that should be held accountable. More action is necessary to penalise those directly and indirectly responsible for the bombings. The country expects three types of action in this regard – i.e. putting the culprits of the bombings behind bars, ensuring adequate compensation to the survivors and the families of the victims, and lastly, issuing an acknowledgement of and an apology for the flaws, incompetencies and disputes that allowed the bombings to occur despite having considerable opportunity to thwart it. What is more, the country is yet to pay adequate attention to the recommendations of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the Easter Sunday bombings, which is tragic.
However, penalising the culprits of the Easter Sunday bombings is merely one aspect of the justice being sought in this regard, and there is a much bigger problem that goes beyond legal action. Explaining this situation in its verdict, the SC stated that with regard to the State’s liability for the infringements, it would like to observe that by putting the lives and liberty of common citizens at risk, the aforementioned respondents had caused the possible collapse of public order and the rule of law, and that it cannot be denied that it entailed the potential to destroy the faith of citizens in the State and to erode its legitimacy.
In this context, to prevent the recurrence of a similar tragedy, the country should learn from the events that led to the planning and execution of the Easter Sunday bombings. As part of this long-term system change, steps need to be taken to ensure that the personal interests of rulers and authorities have little to no impact on the decisions taken to ensure national security; that matters pertaining to national security are managed by those with knowledge and experience about the matter; that accountability, lessons, facts and logic, and transparency should form the foundation of the decisions pertaining to national security; that national intelligence and similar services are allowed to operate free from political interference or interests; that a proper system is in place to facilitate effective communication and co-ordination between those involved in ensuring national security; and, most importantly, that ethnic and religious rifts are addressed as early as possible, with minimum room left for such divisions.
The compensation ordered by the SC is a response to the people’s concerns that the country’s justice system did not take adequate action or had been weakened with regard to the court proceedings into the Easter Sunday bombings. While this is indeed a promising development, the Government, the authorities, the justice system, activists, and other parties that desire justice for the victims of the bombings should not be complacent, and understand that they have a great deal more work to do.