Several probes conducted on Easter Sunday attacks, yet questions still remain unanswered

• President Sirisena on September 20, 2019, through an  extraordinary gazette, appointed a PCoI

Three probes that have been conducted by a committee, a  Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) and a Presidential Commission have  failed to allay suspicions raised by various quarters on the terrorist  attacks that took place on the 2019 Easter Sunday which fell on April  21, in the same year.  

 Just a day after the terrorist attacks, on April 22, 2019, President Maithripala Sirisena appointed the Presidential Committee  headed by Supreme Court Judge Vijith Malalgoda to conduct investigations  into the bombings.   

The Committee submitted its report to President Sirisena on June 10, 2019, over a month after it was scheduled to.    

Meanwhile, just over a month after the tragedy, on May 22,  the Parliament, through a resolution, appointed a select committee  (PSC) to look into the attacks, with Deputy Speaker Ananda Kumarasiri being the chairman. Malalgoda committee report too was handed over to the Chairman of the PSC.   Later, President Sirisena on September 20, 2019, through an  extraordinary gazette, appointed a Presidential Commission of Inquiry  (PCoI) to probe the same. This Commission had Supreme Court Judge Janak  de Silva as its Chairman. The final report of the Commission was handed  over to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa by the Chairman of the Commission  on February 1, 2021.  

However, several parts of the report were withheld by the  Presidential Secretariat on the grounds that those parts contained facts  sensitive to national security. Yet, the final report including those  parts was handed over to the Speaker by the Presidential Secretariat on  February 22, last year on the instructions of President Gotabaya  Rajapaksa.  
However, all these committees, PSCs and commissions have  failed to answer all questions pertaining to the terrorist attacks  raised by the victims of the attacks and the Catholic Church.