• There are persons already in custody in connection with the terror strike and they should be indicted first

By Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana  

Former President Maithripala Sirisena yesterday said the suspects who are already held in connection with the Easter Sunday attacks should be indicted first before instituting legal action against him.   

Speaking during the adjournment debate on the report on the Presidential Commission which probed the Easter Sunday attacks in Parliament he said there are persons already in custody in connection with the terror strike and they should be indicted first.  Mr. Sirisena said none in the defence sector including the intelligence units had warned him prior to the attacks. “I would have warned Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith and imposed islandwide curfew if  I was informed about the attacks beforehand,”  he said.  “I was undergoing medical treatment in Singapore when the attacks took place in Sri Lanka and no one was allowed to come close to me when I was undergoing treatment. I therefore made it a point to return to the island on the same night,” he said.  

“However I had ordered the police and defence forces to be vigilant of Islamic terror attacks from the year 2016 as it was a time when ISIS staged attacks in various parts of the world. I also questioned the Police as to why Zahran was not taken into custody. It is not the President’s job to arrest him,” he also said. 

•  I was undergoing medical treatment in Singapore when the attacks took place in Sri Lanka