• The attack on Easter Sunday in 2019 was not carried out by a group of seven  persons. There is something bigger behind these attacks

By Yohan Perera   

Whilst stating that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had informed him that it is not possible to implement every recommendation that has been made by the Presidential Commission which probed the Easter Sunday attacks, Archbishop of Colombo Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith over the weekend called for the support of the international community to find out the truth about the mayhem.   

Cardinal Ranjith made this call via zoom discussion he had with the Sri Lankan community living in Australia on Saturday. “The attack on Easter Sunday 2019 was not carried out by a group of seven  persons. There is something bigger behind these attacks. We need the support of the international community to find out as to who used these seven or eight persons to fulfil their objectives,” Cardinal Ranjith said.   

“The President and the present government assured us that they will attend to the Easter Sunday attacks and do justice to those who were affected by the April 21 2019 attacks. He assured that the presidential commission will continue to probe the attacks when he met the Sri Lanka Catholic Bishops Conference as soon as he came into power.   

The President called me over the phone two days after the presidential commission report came out and told me that it is not possible to implement everything that is recommended by the commission. Those who were affected by the attacks have been badly let down.   

We don’t want to take revenge from any one, nor have we called for anyone’s blood. I, together with Venerable Ittapane Dhammalankara Thera called for calm after the Easter Sunday attacks. I requested Catholics not to harm the Muslims,” he added.   

“The presidential commission has recommended that the Attorney General should get intelligence units to carry out investigations on a series of grey areas. This has not happened,” he said.   

• We don’t want to take revenge from any one, nor have we called for anyone’s blood. I, together with Venerable Ittapane Dhammalankara Thera called for calm after the Easter Sunday attacks