Sri Lankan Church Hails Fresh Probe Into Easter Sunday Bombings

By Rubatheesan Sandran

(UCA News) -- The Sri Lankan Church and surviving victims of the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings have hailed the launch of a fresh probe into the deadliest-ever terror attack in the island nation.

“I am hopeful that the new government will provide me with answers soon,” Pradeepan Regan from the capital Colombo told UCA News.

Forty-three-year-old-Regan, a father of four, lost his four and a half year-old daughter when Islamic State-inspired suicide bombers targeted St. Anthony’s Church in Kochchikade on the outskirts of Colombo on April 21 five years ago.

“When I walk on the street and come across a girl of my daughter’s age, I think about her. I want to know who did this to my child and for what purpose?”

Regan’s mother and another son sustained serious injuries and are still recovering with assistance from Church volunteers.

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s government on Oct. 1 announced the launch of a fresh probe into the terror attack which killed 279 people, including more than 40 foreigners, and injured over 500 people when three churches and three luxury hotels were targeted by nine suicide bombers.

“The Ministry of Public Security has already launched a preliminary probe into the Easter Sunday attacks,” said cabinet spokesperson and public security minister Vijitha Herath.

Former deputy inspector-general Seneviratne has been appointed as secretary of the investigation team at the ministry.

The Church has been repeatedly seeking a fresh probe as panels appointed by the previous governments failed in their mission.

The perpetrators of the deadly simultaneous attacks, carried out by members of the National Thawheed Jamaat, are still at large and there is an allegation that senior government officials failed to prevent the bombings despite prior intelligence input.

Father Cyril Gamini Fernando, spokesperson of Colombo archdiocese, said the Church was hopeful that the new probe would look into the longstanding concerns and allegations.

When President Dissanayake called on Cardinal Malcom Ranjithon Sept. 23, we stressed the urgent need to end further delays, Fernando told UCA News.

Fernando said the Church’s request for a fresh probe was turned down by two former presidents— Ranil Wickremesinghe and Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

We urge the new government to look into the “credible evidence” presented by the Presidential Commission of Inquiry and the Parliament Oversight Committee which recommended “further investigations,” Fernando added.

“There was political interference, too,” he said.

After assuming office in November 2019, Rajapaksa transferred Criminal Investigation Department teams that were probing the attacks under the leadership of then deputy inspector-general Ravi Seneviratne, Fernando added.

Father Rohan Silva, director of the Centre for Society and Religion, a Colombo-based organization working with affected families, said they would have to wait to see how the probe goes ahead.

His organization has prepared a letter to present to Dissnayake this week, detailing the failures of previous investigation teams.

Civil society activist, Father Jeewantha Pieris, said a fresh probe would find the names of the real culprits and the masterminds behind the attack.

Many of the country’s 1.1 million Catholic community reportedly voted for left-leaning Dissanayake at the Sept. 21 polls.

The Catholic community and others have given a mandate to the president to uncover the truth behind the attack, Pieris observed.