Religious leaders need to play bigger role

In the aftermath of the Easter Sunday slaughter which left hundreds killed or injured and made Sri Lanka an international lead story for the wrong reasons, peaceful and responsible citizens need to focus more on finding a solution than finding fault, so that as promised in the Holy Scriptures this catastrophe could be turned into a blessing for all.   

It is now clear that a small local terror group -- apparently linked to the notorious Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) -- carried out the horrible attacks on three churches which were filled with devotees, three five-star hotels in Colombo and two other places. Intelligence reports indicate that suicide bombers were involved in all the massacres making it one of the worst since the 9/11 Apocalypse in New York and Washington.   

Although most Sri Lankans are gripped with fear and uncertainty as to who will attack whom and where, all religious leaders have come forward to turn this calamity into a blessing. On Thursday, the Muslim Affairs Ministry appealed to Muslims to refrain from attending traditional Friday prayers at mosques to avoid the possibility of a backlash by some extremists. Most Muslims did not congregate at mosques. The mainstream Islam has nothing to do with terrorism.  

Colombo Archdiocese churches also remained closed and, at Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith’s request, television stations have decided to give a live telecast of this Sunday’s holy mass in Sinhala, Tamil and English. The Cardinal, who is also the Archbishop of Colombo, met Buddhism’s chief prelates and also had a dialogue with Islamic and Hindu leaders on the need to bring about more unity in diversity in the face of this apocalypse.   

While being positive and proactive, it is also necessary to take tough action not only against the group responsible for the massacres but also against those who did not act on Indian intelligence reports given thrice this month with the name of the group, its members and the places they were targeting. President Maithripala Sirisena, who is also the Minister of Defence and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, claims he was not made aware of these intelligence reports. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe also said he was not made aware of these intelligence reports and made the shocking revelation that after the so-called “palace coup” of October 26 last year, he had not been invited for the vital decision-making meetings of the National Security Council. The Prime Minister also revealed that soon after the Easter Sunday massacres -- with the President being overseas on a private visit -- he summoned a meeting of the NSC at Temple Trees, but the members had refused to attend. The Prime Minster revealed that in apparent desperation he then went to the Defence Ministry for a meeting of the NSC, but was kept waiting for about 20 minutes in the office of the Minister of State for Defence.   

The 19th Amendment was intended to restore the supremacy of Parliament and many political analysts are asking why the Prime Minister did not inform Parliament that he had not been invited for NSC meetings for six months. This was apparently due to the widely known friction between the President and the Prime Minister. If this friction caused instability which led to the Easter Sunday terrorism then the President, the Prime Minister and the government need to take responsibility for one of Sri Lanka’s worst catastrophes.   

At the President’s request, Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando resigned from his post on Thursday but also defended himself by claiming he had passed on the intelligence reports to those in charge of intelligence. The President has also asked Police Chief Pujith Jayasundara to resign, but he has not still done so and claims he passed on the intelligence reports to four senior DIGs. Political analysts and the people are raising questions about the claims, who is telling the truth and whether anyone is trying to get away with half-truths or fake news.   

While party politics will remain divisive and self-centred for personal gain or glory, the religious leaders need to move actively and with dynamism to come together in curbing terrorism, bring about poverty alleviation and take practical measures in the battle against global warming or climate change which threatened to destroy all of humanity and creation.