Easter Sunday Terror – Learning from the past

DR. NIRMALA CHANDRAHASAN-May 17, 2019, 8:21 pm 

A soldier stands guard near a car explosion after the police tried to defuse a bomb near St. Anthony’s Shrine in Colombo on April 22, 2019, a day after the series of bomb blasts targeting churches and luxury hotels in Sri Lanka. JEWEL SAMAD—AFP

It is said that those who do not heed their past often repeat it. In other words history repeats itself. Looking at the present scenario in the Country one feels that we might be on the brink of another period of conflict. Recent revelations that some members of the Muslim community have been bringing to the attention of the Governments, prior to and after 2015, details regarding preachers who were preaching dangerous doctrines and of ISIS operatives in Sri Lanka, shows there were sections of the community who were concerned and taking action.

Can we say the same of the persons and institutions entrusted with looking after the security of the citizens of the country? Not only did they pay no attention to the information provided by the Muslim community, but they even chose to ignore the three warnings with specific details of the places to be attacked and names of the terrorist organization, even down to telephone numbers, given by the Indian Security Agencies. This shows sheer indifference and a massive security lapse amounting to criminal negligence by the security and intelligence personal involved, and the Government Ministers responsible for defence and security. Either they did not care, because in their view the community to be targeted did not merit taking action, or in the alternative they had some agenda of their own. Either way the prospects for the country are frightening to say the least. Just as frightening is the sudden eruption three weeks later of attacks on mosques and burning and looting of Muslim homes, shops and businesses by organised mobs in some parts of the Country. For many of us who have seen it happen before there is a sense of dejavu.

We might better understand this recent surge of violence by looking at the trajectory of earlier civil disturbances, insurgencies and terrorist activity in the Country, and whether they have a bearing on the present events. However, in an article such as this it can be only a cursory analysis. I note that there is a move to appoint a Select Committee of Parliament to examine the background to the Easter Sunday attacks. Hopefully the Committee will study this incident in relation to the past events, and analyse the reasons why they arose and the way previous Governments have responded to them. Looking back in time, almost exactly one century ago occurred the first recorded instance of inter ethnic/religious, violence in the 20th century, during British rule. This was in 1915 between the Sinhalese and the Muslims. The riots which started in Kandy, out of a dispute regarding the path a religious procession was taking, blew up into widespread clashes between Muslims and Sinhalese, during which Mosques were attacked and Muslim shops damaged. The clashes spread to Colombo and to the Central, North Western, Southern and Sabaragamuwa provinces. The British Colonial Government came down hard on the Sinhalese Community as they suspected that it could be a possible native uprising. Martial law was declared and many Sinhalese were shot and arrested. This civil disturbance points to some underlying tensions between the communities, which could have been due to trade rivalries. The Colonial policy of divide and rule could also have been behind it. The Tamil community supported the Sinhalese and Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan strongly condemned the British Government for their actions.

The first armed insurgency in the Country after Independence was the JVP insurgency of 1971 mainly in the Southern province, by some sections of the Sinhalese youth. This uprising was put down by the State using the security services, but it erupted again between 1987- 89, after which it was eradicated by the Security forces. A general amnesty was declared and the movement gave up its militant policies and entered the democratic mainstream as a political party. This uprising was Marxist inspired and had to do with economic causes. The other major insurgency was that of the Tamil youth in the Northern and Eastern provinces. The Northern Province had been for long regarded as the most peaceful province in the island. It became the theatre of a prolonged civil war/ insurgency from 1983, which lasted for 26 years. Small groups of militants had become active in the late 1970s, but after 1983 the movement grew in numbers, with the LTTE becoming the main militant organization and militarily taking on the State. Tamil youth joined the ranks of the militants and a civil war and terrorist activity raged for 26 long years and claimed many lives. Some youths even became suicide bombers in the LTTE, just as today Muslim youths became suicide bombers of the NTJ, the radical Muslim organization.

The question that needs to be considered is why the hitherto peaceful Province and its docile population changed its character. The change began in 1956, with the passing of the Sinhala Only Act, making Sinhalese the only Official language, without any provision for the use of the Tamil language. The disaffection and agitation this caused among the Tamil speaking people led to a peaceful non-violent protest movement i.e. ‘Satyagraha’ demonstrations, or peaceful sit-ins in 1956, and a campaign of civil disobedience in the Northern and Eastern Provinces, led by the Federal Party in the early 1960s. This non-violent protest was put down with violence by the government of the day, using thugs and the security forces to crush the peaceful protests. The Members of Parliament of the Federal Party (ITAK) were put in detention at the Panagoda Army camp. The non-violent protests had the support of the Muslims in the north and east, as they were also Tamil speaking. The Federal Party/ ITAK (the major constituent party in the present TNA) of that period had considerable Muslim support and even Muslim MPs from the Eastern province in the party. However, after the 1970s, with the growth of militancy in these provinces the Muslims distanced themselves from the Tamils and formed their own Muslim parties.

Apart from the legislative measures perceived as discriminatory by the Tamil speaking people, the community became the victims of riots and mob attacks in the southern parts of the country from 1958 onwards. The burning of the Jaffna Public Library in, 1981 said to be under the direction of Government Ministers, also caused much heartburn among the Tamil people. I might mention that Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in 2015, made an apology for this act committed during the tenure of a UNP Government. Finally we have the 1983, Riot/ Pogrom, in which thousands of Tamils living in Colombo and other parts of the country were killed, their homes, shops and business premises burnt and looted. This was a watershed. It will be recalled that the burning and looting went on for four days while the J.R Jayewardene Government did not take any action, and the law enforcement authorities - the police and army stood by. The sense of alienation and grievance felt by the people came to be directed against the State and the province became fertile ground for the militant movement. I might add that some commentators are of the opinion that the draconian enforcement of the provisions of the Prevention of Terrorism Act, on the Tamil youth, on the basis of ethnic profiling, had the negative effect of swelling the ranks of the militants. We see a similar trend in the case of the JVP Insurgency in the South. Young Sinhalese educated youth who felt discriminated against by the governments in power, joined the militant organization and mounted an armed insurgency to capture state power.

The Muslim community on the other hand stayed out of any confrontation with the Governments in power. They did not get involved in the war directly, but some Muslim groups who were supportive of the Government were armed by the Government during this period as a counter to the LTTE, and these groups could have been of assistance to the security forces in their operations. Dr Ameer Ali in an article "Anatomy of an Islamist Infamy" in the Daily Mirror of 6/5/19 mentions this fact. It has now come to light that a process of religious radicalization and cultural Arabization had also began from the 1980s onwards. A fundamentalist doctrine i.e. Wahabism was promoted and the earlier Sufi religious practices were side tracked. This process was given tacit support both by the politicians of the area and also the Muslim religious establishment represented by the ACJU (All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama). Funds from Muslim countries such as Saudi Arabia were used to aid this process. All this was taking place under the nose of the Government of the day and /the security agencies. Why did the government of the day allow this process? It would appear that some intelligence agencies even encouraged it and had the extremists on their pay roll as pointed out by Harim Peiris in an Article titled "Moving beyond the Easter Carnage " Island 11/5/19. This policy of divide and rule was to ultimately rebound on them.

In the above quoted article Dr Ameer Ali observes "by aligning with the Governments in power and supporting the Sinhalese against the Tamils, Muslim leaders showed an incredible talent in pragmatic politics for which their community was handsomely rewarded." The Open Economy has also given the Muslim community the opportunity to use their trading and commercial skills and they have generally prospered as a community, although of course not everybody. This factor has caused resentment among the other communities. At the same time, the radicalization of the Muslim community has made them more insular, and also differentiated them by their dress. This is giving rise to alienation from the other communities, both Sinhalese and Tamil, and is a matter that the Muslims should try to redress on their side. It has bred fears among the majority Sinhalese Buddhists, stoked by a group of radical Buddhist monks. The recent spate of attacks against the Muslims in 2014 and 2018 shows that hostility to this community is growing among the Sinhalese Buddhists. The most recent retaliatory attacks on the Muslim community in May this year is further evidence of this trend, which is being encouraged by some politicians. As in 1983, the Police did not take preventive action.

When we look at the present scene it looks as though the trajectory of events is taking a similar course to the earlier insurgencies/terrorist activity in the country. However, when we compare the two earlier insurgencies and the terrorist activity of that period, with the Easter Sunday massacre and acts of terrorism of the NTJ (National Thaweed Jamaat) members, it is a very different type of terrorism. In the case of the LTTE and the JVP the communities from which they got their recruits had felt themselves to be discriminated against by governments. It was based on ethnic grievances and economic reasons. But in the case of the Muslim terrorists of the NTJ, one does not discern any of these reasons. As pointed out above, as a result of Muslim political parties siding with the governments in power during and after the war, the community as a whole had benefited. Hence it was not a sense of grievance that led to alienation and radicalization. It was more in the nature of a religious fervour that had been nurtured by the new found religious radicalization, and it is this fervour that catalyzed the suicide bombers. This religious fervour appears to have been fuelled by events outside Sri Lanka and connected to global politics and links with global terror groups. As things stand, it could take a turn for the worse, as more members of the community come to be alienated by the hostility being shown towards them, and the violence perpetrated against the entire Muslim community, as in the recent pogrom/riots taking place within the country.

It is evident that the Muslim community as a whole were not behind the Easter Sunday attacks, which were carried out by a small minority among them. Some of them had earlier tried to warn the authorities but to no effect. The fact that many Muslims have taken to a fundamentalist interpretation of the doctrine does not make them all jihadists. There was a time when every Tamil was looked at with suspicion as an LTTE member or sympathiser. Today every Muslim should not be looked upon as a terrorist. Muslims are being looked at with fear and suspicion, a feeling which is being fanned by interested parties. What is disturbing is that the attacks against the community by organized rioting mobs may well alienate the whole community and cause another conflagration as we had after 1983. Ultimately the whole country paid the cost of these pogroms /riots. The people of the country do not want any more bloodshed and any more insurgencies/terrorism.

The lessons to be learnt from the past are that Governments must be fair to all communities, protect all communities and treat all communities as equal citizens. In the present situation, the police and security forces while investigating and tracking down the Muslim terrorists responsible for the Easter Sunday massacres, must give protection to the Muslim citizens and not stand by when they are unfairly attacked. New security measures and legislation such as the proposed Counter Terrorism Act should not be rushed through. The necessary legislation must be made keeping in mind the democratic values and Constitutional rights of the people as a whole. In applying the law the Security agencies should guard against ethnic or religious profiling, and the law should be applied without fear or favour towards all communities, without targeting one community. It must be kept in mind that power in the hands of intelligence and security agencies without some form of oversight could also be dangerous. As the Latin maxim states ‘Quis custodiet ipsos custodes,’ - who will police the police. Under the present system where an Emergency has to be promulgated, Parliament exercises oversight, under the proposed new Counter Terrorism Act an Emergency need not be declared for the Act to take effect.

Examining what went wrong in the past will help us to make the correct decisions for the future and prevent the same mistakes occurring. The Leader of the Opposition too, has pointed out that we must not have a repetition of July 1983. The Government has to realize that the present situation cannot be resolved by getting the help of foreign intelligence agencies alone. It is only when the State has the support of its own people, and this includes all communities in Sri Lanka, that terrorism can be kept at bay.

DR. NIRMALA CHANDRAHASAN

CULPRITS AND MASTERMINDS BEHIND THE RECENT RIOTS BE APPREHENDED, EXPOSED AND HELD TO ACCOUNT SWIFTLY URGES NPC

16/05/2019

The anti-Muslim riots in different parts of the country have led to at least two killings and wrecked the lives of thousands of innocent people. These riots have taken place more than three weeks after the Easter Sunday bombings for which the Islamic State took responsibility. They have taken place at locations far from where those innocent people lost their lives. The government was compelled to deploy the army and to declare night time curfew all over the country to contain the rioting due to the initial failure of local police to control the mobs.

The world mourned with Sri Lanka when the Easter Sunday bombings took place in churches and hotels and condemned the suicide bombings that caused much loss of life and damage to property. There was appreciation at the conduct of the Sri Lankan people’s restraint in the aftermath of the bombings and the leadership given by religious clergy who ensured no acts of retaliation took place. With the recent riots global and national attention has shifted onto the failures of governance and breakdown of civilized norms in Sri Lanka.

The National Peace Council condemns the rioters and those who organized them oblivious of the larger national interest and humanitarian considerations. People living in the vicinity of the riots have confirmed that the outsiders led the attack. The victims have also stated that some of the mob attacks were reported after curfew was imposed. The police have arrested many suspects. The truth about the organization of the riots can be ascertained from them. We demand that the culprits and masterminds behind the recent riots be apprehended, exposed and held to account swiftly by applying the Rule of Law without any political or other influence.

We extend our sympathies to those who lost their loved ones and their properties, we appreciate the role of religious clergy and civil organisations in caring for the victims and call on the government to compensate the victims who are directly and indirectly affected by the violence.
Media Release./National Peace Council
Image from Firaz Cassim’s Face Book.

Sri Lanka: But, Why I'm Standing With Mangala

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Mangala decides to pierce the conspiracy of silence with the obvious truth. It is a grave mistake

by Sarath de Alwis-2019-05-17

 

“The rhetoric of hate is often most effective when couched in the idiom of love…. Truth is all around us...Truth is wherever man has glimpsed divinity” – From Gore Vidal’s novel on Roman Emperor Julian

 

The script of ‘Mangala’s mistake’ is simple and straightforward. It begins with a pervasive silence of our collective complicity with an untruth.

 

Mangala decides to pierce the conspiracy of silence with the obvious truth. It is a grave mistake.

 

You cannot argue with the custodians of Sinhala Buddhism. You cannot question its pre-eminence in the Sri Lankan polity. That is their exclusive preserve.

 

 

They operate on the simple principle that only the fish can study marine biology. Mangala is not a fish. Dabbling in marine biology is not his business.

 

Now, poor Mangala finds that he has made a controversial statement. It has snowballed into a painful reproach against our collective pusillanimity. Mangala is pilloried.

 

Even those who share Mangala’s values do not wish to be reminded of or discuss their neutrality to truth.

 

Mangala is not a run-of-the-mill politician. If he was, he would not have made this ethically correct, politically erroneous statement that Sri Lanka was a country where Sinhala Buddhists were the majority, but all were equal citizens irrespective of their ethnoreligious diversity.

 

On the face of it, none can dispute its core content. That is if one subscribes to the overall assumption that we are a plural multicultural democracy.

 

But it makes an impudent challenge to the Sinhalese Buddhist cosmic order which protects the land destined to be the repository of Theravada Buddhism, protected by ‘Satharawaram Deviwaru’ – the four guardian deities.

 

His bold but hopelessly starry-eyed attempt to defend and promote the idea of a civic nation – an inclusive Sri Lankan nation – in the present exceptionally incendiary climate is unfortunate. He would be lucky to have any defenders.

 

This writer counts himself as one of those defenders. But the price is high. Refusing to take part in ‘a lie’ is a simple courageous step. Such situations are neither new nor unexampled. They have happened before and will happen again. That is how nations progress and defenders of truth are remembered in history.

 

Mangala can take solace in John Steinbeck the novelist who gave his finest work, the biblical name ‘Grapes of Wrath’. “It takes great courage to back truth unacceptable to our times. There’s a punishment for it, and it’s usually crucifixion.”

 

The Minister of National Integration, Official Languages, Social Progress and Hindu Religious Affairs Mano Ganesan has firmly reiterated that Sri Lanka is a Sinhala Buddhist country.

 

Addressing the gathering of the ‘Jathika Maga’ movement at the BMICH, he has said that we were people of one nation, but it was a Sinhala Buddhist country.

 

Mano Ganesan, whose constituency consists of Tamils permanently domiciled in metropolitan Colombo, has very sensibly explained why he holds that view.

 

“It was not good to say that Sri Lanka is not a Sinhala Buddhist country. Although, there are different communities living in the country, we should admit that Sri Lanka is a Sinhala Buddhist country.”

 

Mark the distinction. Mano Ganesan does not say Mangala is wrong. He merely observes that Mangala’s statement is not good. What Minister Mano Ganesan attempts to tell us is that what Mangala has stated is not good, convenient or politically prudent.

 

The reference to Sri Lanka’s Buddhist ethos of tolerance by his eminence Cardinal Malcom Ranjith made eminent sense.

 

However, his parable of the Buddhist older brother and younger siblings of other faiths baffled me. My bafflement is on the simple logic that rejects a hierarchical classification of moral purity – the essence of all religions.

 

On this issue, I am open to correction. I possess no deep insight to comparative religions. It never occurred to me to explore the subject. I have a deep and abiding aversion to all categories of opiates.

 

The confusion over Mangala’s statement was soon resolved quickly firmly and with absolute finality by Venerable Mawarelle Bhaddiya Thero who addressed the ‘Jathika Maga’ parley at the BMICH on Tuesday. He presented an eloquently-framed proposition.

 

“Cardinal thumata meya piliganta puluwannam, mokada Mangala Samaraweerata bari?”

 

“When His Eminence the Cardinal has pronounced that ours is a Sinhala Buddhist country, what is Mangala groaning about?”

 

The persuasive rhetoric of Venerable Mawarelle Bhaddiya Thero has an irresistible resonance with the theory of ‘spontaneous consent’ with which the masses concede to the hegemony of a dominant group proposed by the Italian Marxist theoretician Antonio Gramsci.

 

He wrote extensively on it, while languishing in one of Mussolini’s prison where he finally died. Although he does not offer a clear-sighted definition of cultural hegemony (he was weary of his Fascist prison censors) Gramsci explained the process of ‘spontaneous consent’.

 

Mangala’s rejoinder should have really come from the JVP that calls itself a Marxist party. But how can Sinhala Buddhist Marxists commit that kind of heresy?

 

The ruling group determines the direction of the social discourse. Subordinate groups are manipulatively persuaded to come on board. Consent is a complex mental activity – a “contradictory consciousness” mixing resistance and resignation or approval and apathy. Oscillating between approval and apathy is the lot of Mano Ganesan grappling with the serious task of national reconciliation.

 

In this heated climate we are missing the point. This is not about the sanctity of belief systems. Underneath the verbiage of heritage and purity of tradition there is a hegemonic consensus that defines access to wealth and power. The real debate is about the power relations that developed in post-war Sri Lanka.

 

In 2012, Professor Nira Wickremesinghe made an incisive inquiry into the State-sponsored project to shape the present by postulating history as heritage. In the post-war period, the study of history was quietly abandoned to the mercies of film producers and perception engineers advancing the political project of the State.

 

The versatile actor Jackson Anthony replaced the distinguished scholar Senarath Parnavithane as our interlocutor with a past that was once obscure but now offering immense possibilities harking back to the days of Ravana.

 

The irony of it all is that the Government was in deep slumber just as Kumbhakarna, the laidback brother of Ravana, was when Islamic terror hit us on Easter Sunday.

 

One passing thought. A good deed never goes unpunished. I stand by Mangala Samaraweera.

Media Coverage Of Easter Sunday Carnage: Inflamed Hatred & Contributed To Attacks On Muslims

By Latheef Farook –MAY 16, 2019

Latheef Farook

 Lanka’s mainstream media has traditionally been indifferent towards Muslim issues.On international affairs the local mainstream media has been depending on the western media which remains integral part of US-European and Israeli war machines destroying Muslim countries.

Thus the local media has been brainwashed to think on the lines of western media propaganda. This was clearly demonstrated in the coverage of Easter Sunday bombings and massacres.

The coverage blatantly provoked non-Muslims against the Muslim community. Country is passing through the worst ever political and economic crisis and in the midst came the Easter Sunday carnage due to the failure of President Maithripala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and the intelligence agents to prevent it for reasons better known to the three.

Therefore this is the time that the island’s mainstream media need to make its contribution to help bring the chaotic situation under control. Instead, mainstream media went into full swing demonizing Islam and describing every Muslim a terrorist inflaming hatred towards Muslims.

The island’s Muslim and Christian communities were living in peace and harmony. There was no conflict between them. However the two communities, both minorities, were subjected to periodic violent attacks on them by Sinhala racists, for no valid reason, often with government patronage.

This was the reason why, even today, no Muslim could understand why these lunatics who call themselves Muslims bombed churches, hotels and killed innocent people. 

Meanwhile many speculate that it is highly unlikely that these few bombers got the capacity to commit such a sophisticated attack within 20 minutes. The carnage began at 8.45 and was completed at 9.05. Thus within 20 minutes everything changed in the country

Leader of the House Minister Lakshman Kiriella said this cannot be done without foreign involvement.  

Many suspect that the carnage has all the hallmarks of US intelligence CIA and Israeli’s killing machine Mossad’s hand as it happened in the case of the 9/11 bombing of the World Trade Centre in New York. Though Al Qaeda was accused of bombing WTC, later it was proved that it was the joint work of US intelligence and Mossad to justify the invasion and destruction of Afghanistan.

This disaster was exploited by US-Europe and Israel to associate violence with Islam and started using the slogan Islamic terrorism. Western media went to town selling this deceptive slogan.

According to The Island newspaper on Wednesday 15 May 2019 Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith had said that the Easter Sunday attacks were the work some misguided local youths used by an international group to carry out multiple attacks. He also said ISIS is part of US war program.  He explained, how united States manipulate and create wars only to sell weapons, destabilize and loot countries

Here in the island too many suspect that Easter Sunday bombings were the work of United States and Israel as destabilizing the island is of great benefit to them in the context of the rivalry between China and the US European-Israel -Indian axis. 

The slogan Islamic terrorism was exploited by the local media mercenaries. They brought this slogan in full swing in the wake of Easter Sunday massacre to sow hatred towards Muslims in the island 

As part of this conspiracy mainstream media started accusing ISIS of involvement in the Easter Sunday attacks not realizing that the ISIS is a US-Israeli creation to justify their wars on Muslim countries.

I wrote an article on 3 January 2015, explaining in detail how US equipped, Mossed trained and Saudi funded ISIS was established during the destruction of Syria to demonize Islam and divide Middle East into small states to ensure Israel’s supremacy in the region.

I sent the article to local media. However none published it. Today this very same ISIS is accused of involvement in the Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka.  

President Sirisena could have acted swiftly to curtail this hate campaign in the media against Muslims. However he had failed to do so. After all it was under his watchful eyes Muslims were attacked in Gintota, Ampara, Digana, Akurana and the surrounding areas in March 2018 and the perpetrators taken to custody are yet to be brought to book.

Studying the coverage of the Easter Sunday massacre one was compelled to conclude that the island’s media was briefed and prepared in advance by powerful forces which were behind the carnage to demonize Muslims as violent people. 

Meanwhile the Easter Sunday massacre was reported to have been committed by a handful of people. The question is what the entire community has got to do with these individuals. Why bring their religion Islam into this carnage? Why unleash violence against Muslim community which has already suffered immense due to racist politics since independence in 1948. 

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Secularism or Barbarism

Featured image by Lakruwan Wanniarachchi/AFP, via The Jakarta Post

“And even here

Lies the other shore

Waiting to be reached.”

Tagore (My Reminiscences)

TISARANEE GUNASEKARA-05/16/2019

The blue, red, yellow, orange and white lights are on, as are the makeshift stalls selling lanterns. Yet few pause to see, haggle, buy. Vesak, so near chronologically, had never seemed so far away spiritually.

After the Easter Sunday Massacre, fears were raised about Vesak too being turned into a bloody spectacle by the IS, working through its local adherents. As it turned out, neither the IS nor its local adherents were necessary to turn Vesak into a season of violence. The Sinhalese managed the task on their own.

The outburst of anti-Muslims violence began on 12th Sunday in Chilaw (the inciting incident seemingly was a Facebook post by a Muslim trader with deficient English and a cavalier attitude towards punctuation; it was translated into Sinhala by a Sinhalese whose knowledge of English was even poorer). Within hours, the violence spread to other parts of the North Western Province and to Gampaha district. Undeterred by the curfew or the presence of the security forces, the mobs attacked and burnt, as they did in Digana in 2018, Aluthgama in 2014 and nationally during Black July.

As of now, the worse of the violence seems over. Even so, this is only a reprieve. If the perpetrators of this week’s riots are not brought before the law, fast, a new outburst is bound to follow.

The main suspects of the Digana anti-Muslim violence (including Amth Weerasinghe of the Mahason Balakaya) were arrested, and remanded. But they were never charged, despite the presence of ample evidence in the public domain. Three days after the anti-constitutional coup of October 26th, they were enlarged on bail. Afterwards, Amith Weerasinghe tried to ignite other religious flares. For instance, earlier this year, he attempted to fire up Buddhists by shouting about a Hindu takeover of the Sri Pada

The Mahason Balakaya and other Sinhala-Buddhist fanatics happily returned to the anti-Muslim groove after the Easter Sunday Massacre. A demonstration against ‘Islamic terrorism’ planned for 11th Saturday in Digana was banned by the courts. Responding to the ban, the Mahason Balakaya leader made no secret about his future plans. “I’m asking the leaders of this country, if in future a ten thousand Amith Weerasinghes are created can you issue ten thousand banning orders? If fifty thousand, sixty thousand monks of this country get on to the road, what will you do?”.

His threat turned into an actuality in less than 48 hours.

Had this man, and his cohorts, been charged, tried and convicted, perhaps this week’s violence might not have happened. When perpetrators of mob-violence go unpunished, it opens the door to Ochlocracy.

Speaker Karu Jayasuriya stated, “There is no difference whatsoever between those extremist traitors and suicide bombers killing children.” He was right. This week’s rioters are terrorists too and the government must treat them as such. If the government fails to act with speed and firmness, if it allows the incendiaries to walk, again, another outburst of violence would be unavoidable.

A Black May might have been avoided, but 2019 has seven more months left to go. Sri Lanka’s fate lies in balance. Ten years after the end of the last war, will we be plunged into a new –religious – war?

The not-so-new spectre

Ethnic-overdetermination was the term used by Dr. Newton Gunasinghe to describe the new divide in Sri Lanka in the aftermath of Black July. Using an Althusserian concept, he argued that in both Sinhala and Tamil societies, the ethnic factor had come to the fore, submerging class contradictions. The subsequent years were to prove him right.

Today, Sri Lanka is facing an even greater danger, that of religious-overdetermination. If the government fails to rein in forces of religious extremism on all sides, the dream of a Lankan nation will be replaced by the nightmarish reality of a country plagued by violent religious fissures. Religious identity will trump every other alignment, starting with our common humanity.

Interestingly, the first signs of a nascent religious overdetermination appeared during the long interregnum created by the third and final peace process. During the 2002-2005 period, Catholics, including Sinhala Catholics, were turned into the new enemy. The conversion of Buddhists into Christianity was depicted as an even greater danger than Eelam. The old crimes of Portuguese colonists gained a new immediacy in the extremist Sinhala-Buddhist discourse. The demand for an anti-conversion bill began to dominate the political debate.

The anti-Catholic hysteria reached its moral nadir when Soma Thero died suddenly during a visit to Russia. Catholics were accused of murdering the monk, as a part of a Western conspiracy to take over Sri Lanka. Churches were attacked by the dozen. The hysteria was such that the government was forced to appoint a commission to investigate the monk’s demise.  The anti-Catholic fires were stoked by the newly formed Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) to gain a considerable chunk of the electoral pie at the 2004 parliamentary polls.

The anti-Catholic hysteria vanished as suddenly as it began when the de facto Fourth Eelam War commenced. Tamils replaced Christians once again as the main enemy.

During the initial post-war years, Sinhala-Buddhist extremists targeted not Muslims but Christians. The newly minted BBS put forward five demands at its inaugural convention at the BMICH in July 2012. None of them made specific mention of Muslims. The resolutions demanded an end to family planning among Sinhalese, amending the current (Roman, Dutch and British inspired) laws to protect Buddhists, opposition to a political solution to the ethnic problem, implementing the recommendation of the Buddhasasana Commission Report of 1959 and appointing a regulatory authority to supervise Buddhist books (The Island – 29.7.2012). There was no halal demand or burqa hysteria.

Just six months later, it all changed. In January 2013, the BBS launched its anti-halal campaign. Suddenly the Muslims were the new enemy, their way of life an existential threat to everyone else.

After the Easter Sunday Massacre, many Muslim leaders came forward to denounce the carnage and the suicide bombers in unequivocal terms. And in a gesture that spoke louder than multiples tomes full of words, Lankan Islamic leaders refused to accept the bodies of the suicide bombers, thereby denying the killers a religious burial. Their purpose was to demonstrate their abhorrence towards suicide bombing and to send a clear warning to the entire Muslims community that such violence in the name of faith was unacceptable.

The leading Buddhist monks are yet to take a similar stand. They didn’t do it during Black July or the previous attacks on Tamils. They didn’t do so during Aluthgama and Digana anti-Muslim outbursts. They are still not doing it.

How hard is it to say that violence has no place in Buddhism? How hard is it to point out that no monk can advocate violence and remain a true disciple of the Buddha? How hard it is to denounce the rioting as anti-Buddhist, a disgrace to one of the greatest proponents of non-violence the world has ever known? How hard is it to tell the rioters not to desecrate Vesak with their violent orgy? How hard is it to say, Not in our name, never in our name?

Post-East Sunday Massacre, many have accused Muslims of insularity. Yet when Muslim progressives tried to lessen that insularity by abolishing such egregious practices as child marriage, they found themselves alone and defenceless. The other communities ignored their struggle, while the craven government abandoned them to the fury of their own fundamentalists. (Rajan Hoole’s Sri Lanka’s Easter Tragedy through the Eyes of Dissent in The Colombo Telegraph deals with this aspect at length).

In another inane and deadly repetition of the past, democratic Muslim leaders are being equated with the IS terrorists. This was exactly what happened with the Tamils; we found democratic Tamil leaders ‘too much’ and got Vellupillai Pirapaharan in their stead.

The Sirisena-Wickremesinghe administration had a rare window of opportunity to work with moderates and progressives of all communities to isolate and weaken the hardliners, the radicals, the fundamentalists. The government missed that opportunity. The tragedy and the danger of today stem from that unforgivable failure.

A different path?

Sri Lanka had a secular constitution up to 1972. It was changed by a supposedly left government for no reason other than political expediency.

There was no popular demand in the 1970’s to change the secular nature of the constitution, to give a special place to Buddhism. For the majority of people, economic considerations were paramount. Yet the United Front government, and specifically Dr. Colvin R de Silva, took that fateful step, thereby creating a new minefield for Sri Lanka.

After Easter Sunday Massacre, there are demands for reforms in Muslim society. But for these reforms to be implemented successfully, without further alienating a large swathe of ordinary Muslims, they must come as a part of a general political and societal transformation. Sri Lanka as a whole needs to move away from religious politics to non-religious politics. Political leaders and religious leaders must begin to focus on their separate spheres, ending the deadly practice of fusing the two for personal and parochial gains.

Secularism is often misconceived as being anti-religious. It is not. Secularism stands for the separation of religious institutions and state institutions, for freedom of religion and for equality for all faiths and none. Secularism is also denigrated as a Western fashion. But two of history’s greatest secular rulers came from the Orient, from India: Akbar the Great, and Maharaja Ranjith Singh, known to posterity as the Lion of Punjab. They both successfully led multi-religious empires by adopting policies of religious neutrality.

Extremism is fuelled by ignorance. In Sri Lanka, every religious community has ghettoised itself. We interact less with each other and know less about each other than we did fifty years ago. This separation starts at school and continues right to the grave. We boast that Sri Lanka is home to four great religions, but our children are not taught even the basics of other religions. We know next to nothing of each other’s history. This ignorance provides a fertile ground for extremists of all varieties. It makes the task of demonising and dehumanising the religious Other easier.

How much would a non-Muslim child know about the contributions made by Islamic scholars, philosophers and scientists to our common civilisation? How much would even a Muslim child, exposed only to Salafi influences, know about those contributions? Hasn’t that ignorance enabled the creation of a dangerously false stereotype, Islam and Muslims as joyless religious fanatics?

Eric Hobsbawm uses a phrase from Karl Kraus to define religious fundamentalists, calling them the symptoms of ‘the disease of which they purport to be the cure’ (The Age of Extremes). The solution to religious fantaticism is not to enhance the marriage between politics and religion but to lessen those bonds.

The 17th Century French Philosopher Pierre Bayle in his Historical and Critical Dictionary pointed out that given the bloody history of religious conflict and persecution, it is impossible to conclude that there is a correlation between religious faith and moral conduct. If the gory events of the last month proved anything, it did the correctness of Bayle’s argument. Absolute, uncritical, unquestioning faith in any creed, religious or political, paves the way to inhumanity and barbarity. Suicide killers or rioters are not born; they are made by a belief that killing the religious other is either no sin or opens a quick root to heaven.

When Andre Malraux asked Nehru to name his greatest challenge Nehru’s reply was “creating a just state by just means; perhaps too creating a secular state in a religious country” (Anti-Memoirs). As we stand on the brink of a new – and a worse – abyss, our challenge is no different – we need to create a Lankan nation in a country plagued by conflicting and contending tribal consciousnesses. That task can be undertaken only by a state that tries to stay above those divisions, and not immerse itself in them.

The crisis and constitutional violations

The constitutional violations by the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary, jointly and separately, have become an important factor affecting the deterioration of the Constitution, the system of

governance and the overall wretchedness of the country – Pix by Shehan Gunasekara 

 Friday, 17 May 2019

 Lanka was in a deep and complex crisis even before the outbreak of the Easter Sunday attacks. Now, in the wake of the Easter Sunday attacks, the country has plunged into a deeper and bigger crisis, which is more complex than it was before.

The economy of the country was on a downward trend heading for virtual bankruptcy even before the Easter Sunday bomb attacks. Now the downturn of the economy has aggravated further, reaching a level which is two to three times worse than it was.

The tourist industry is in dire straits of almost collapse. Nearly one million people depend on the tourist industry. Most of them are now in a miserable state in which their means of income has completely depleted. The process of contraction in the industrial and trading sectors has aggravated speedily.

The rapid decline in the economy will invariably render the very survival of not only the poor people but also those of middle class and well-to-do segments, more difficult and miserable.

Socio-political implications of the crisis 

Sri Lanka has been able to avoid large-scale reprisals against Muslim community in the aftermath of the deadliest bomb explosions on Easter Sunday. Nevertheless, the social division between Muslim and non-Muslim societies which lay underneath, have assumed a character of fossilised social divisions with the possibility of erupting at any moment in the form of a violent explosion.

The Easter Sunday attacks have also aggravated manifold the confusion prevailing in the political arena. The recent incident, apart from intensifying the disappointment of people in political parties and the leaders, has generated a strong protest as well as a deep contempt for them.

The comical nature of political leaders of the country was well reflected in their behaviour in the aftermath of the Easter massacre. Not even a mark of woe or remorse was to be seen in their faces. There was hardly any difference between their behaviour and that of the blue flies swarming around decomposed corpses.

The people perceive this tragedy as an outcome of irresponsible and opportunistic behaviour of political leaders, which could have been avoided, if timely measures had been taken.

It is now being revealed that the origin of the Islamic terrorist organisation responsible for these attacks goes back to about seven or eight years and Muslim society itself had made complaints against this organisation but neither the present Government nor the previous Government had taken them seriously and imposed laws against this terrorist organisation for narrow political gains and other selfish advantages.

The crisis is now flowing liberally, destroying the spate of recognition of all political leaders. It can be said that all political leaders, while becoming a laughing stock in the eyes of people at times and vessels of their contempt at other times, are being pushed in to the waste-bin of history while ushering a new era which can be for good or bad.

Apparently, the present state of confusion and crisis is a growing phenomenon that is likely to aggravate and persist rather than being contained soon. When one crisis is contained, it is possible for another crisis, which had been suppressed, to raise its ugly head again.

The public sector salary issue has reached explosive heights. Micro credit issue of rural women has also reached a similar stage. The economic pressure exerted on overall society by the downturn of the economy too will reach explosive heights. Moreover, it might impact adversely on the election timetable also while adding to the prevailing unrest and uncertainty in the country.  Holding of elections at this moment would not be a solution to this crisis; it might rather intensify the crisis. If the existing crises are to be overcome, what the country needs first and foremost is an overall structural transformation of the entire system before embarking on any other issues and recreating the Sri Lankan State and Sri Lankan society.
Sri Lanka’s crisis 
The present crisis in Sri Lanka, which has reached into an optimum level at the moment, is not something that fell from the sky, all of a sudden. It can be considered a scenario which commenced since independence and gradually developed over a long period of nearly 71 years before reaching the present heights.

Independence gained by Sri Lanka cannot be considered an outcome of a strong social struggle. It can be treated as an independence achieved through trickery and deceptive means. Had it been gained through a strong social struggle against colonial rule, it would probably have been possible to integrate the nation and build the modern nation by minimising the recognition accorded to ethnicity, caste and religious differences. It was without building the modern nation that we gained independence. Even after independence there had been no interest to build the nation.

Building of a modern nation is an essential prerequisite for the healthy survival of a modern nation state. In that sense, Sri Lanka has built the modern nation state without creating a strong foundation required for promoting internal harmony. Ethnic, caste and religious differences had their impact not only on society but on the leaders of the country as well.

Since independence, the rulers have governed the country without an appropriate and far-reaching vision for the country. The national leaders of Sri Lanka were not mature people who had emerged through strong independent movements. The parochial, short-sighted policies adopted by them have contributed largely to widen social differences and divisions in the country.

Sri Lanka, which gained independence without shedding even a drop of blood, 30 years after independence has turned out to be a land swimming incessantly in a river of blood for a long period of nearly 30 years. Ethnicity, caste and religion, all three factors have had an impact on the violent conflicts that broke out from time to time.

Now, having had just 10 years’ rest period after swimming for 30 years in a river of blood, the country seems to be moving towards a path of blood bath again. Unless we manage to arrest this trend and prevent the outbreak of large-scale conflicts and violence at this stage, certainly the price that the country will have to pay can be enormous. At the same time, it is also important that we understand the realistic situation of the crisis the country has faced.
Violation of Soulbury Constitution 
Our rulers not only lacked a strong and far-reaching vision for the development of the country, they didn’t have the most needed discipline, the hallmark of good governance and leadership, to govern the country in accordance with the Constitution and the law of the country.

The ink on the Soulbury Constitution was barely dry when D.S. Senanayake, the first Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, breached it by adopting two Acts of Parliament depriving the citizenship rights of Indian plantation workers. The issue of the Indian plantation workers should have been resolved soon after independence.

Prior to independence, all the people who lived in Sri Lanka were treated as British citizens. There were 800,000 plantation workers of Indian origin working in the estate sector. Of them a considerable number had lived for a long period in Sri Lanka continuously and they desired to stay in Sri Lanka rather than migrating to India.

Apart from them, there was another section, equally large in number, among them who used to live temporarily working in the estate sector and going to India from time to time. The Indian plantation labour was an essential requirement for the sustenance of the estate sector economy of the country.

The problem of plantation workers of Indian origin should have been resolved by two methods: (1) by identifying the people who had lived a longer period persistently in Sri Lanka and evinced interest to become citizens and granting them citizenship; (2) safeguarding the political rights of others who preferred a temporary stay in the country, by means of a special system of constituencies restricted only for them so that they could elect their representatives from these constituencies to represent their interests in Parliament.

But, D.S. Senanayake, the first Prime Minister of independent Sri Lanka, looked at this problem from a very narrow political angle. While seven members had been elected to the Parliament from the Congress of the Indian Plantation Workers at the 1947 Parliamentary election, the Indian Tamils opted to vote for the candidates of LSSP wherever the Congress of the Plantation Workers had not fielded a candidate of their own.

D.S. Senanayake regarded the leftist Lanka Samasamaja Party (LSSP) as his main rival and was angry over the Indian plantation workers as they had supported the leftist candidates in constituencies which were not contested by the Congress of the Plantation Workers at the general election.

D.S. Senanayake, as the hero of independence, anticipated an easy victory at the first Parliamentary Election. But, he was able to secure only 42 seats out of 95 seats in Parliament. Though there were seven members elected from the Congress of the Indian Plantation Workers at the General Election in 1947, they declined to support D.S. Senanayake in his attempt to form a government. They all ganged up with the Opposition. Thus, their refusal to support him and the close alliance they had developed with the LSSP met with his strong opposition.

In this backdrop, the Citizenship Acts promulgated by the Prime Minister intended to deprive the Indian estate works of their right to vote as well as to weaken the power of the LSSP. This situation caused the Indian Tamil community which had seven members in the 1947 Parliament to remain without a single representative until 1977.

The Sinhala Only Act, formerly the Official Language Act introduced by Bandaranaike in 1956, can also be considered a move against the Soulbury Constitution. By that time, there was a big language issue to be resolved. The recognition of vernaculars had been completely suppressed during the long period of colonial rule. There was no change in this situation even after gaining independence.

Until 1956, the text of a telegram, the most popular and essential mode of communication for many decades received by both Sinhala and Tamil peoples, was written in English, compelling the majority of them who did not know English to seek assistance of an English-educated gentleman to get the message read.

There was a pressing need to change this unpleasant situation faced by the users of native languages, Sinhalese and Tamil. Yet, what Bandaranaike did was to make Sinhalese the Official Language, depriving the Tamil of their right to work in their language. Henceforth, Tamil people received their telegrams in the Sinhalese language, compelling them to seek assistance to have the message deciphered.

The policy that deprived the Tamil people of reasonable language rights created serious disappointment in them. Disregarding their attempts to secure their language rights within a non-violent framework can be considered a major factor that pushed the younger generation of Tamil people into a path of terrorism.

If the compilers of the first Republican Constitution, adopted by the United Front Government in 1972 had an interest, they could have done justice to Tamils who had been deprived of their language rights. Not only did they fail to do that, they also incorporated the Sinhala Official Language ​​Act into the Constitution itself, to the consternation of Tamil people. In this sense, the Republican Constitution of 1972 can be considered as a statute which deprived Tamil people of their language rights.
Violation of constitution after 1977
The second Republican Constitution, adopted in 1978, despite being a constitution drafted with a narrow object of concentrating the entire power of the State around the Head of the State, can still be considered a relatively progressive one compared to the 1972 Constitution as far as the provisions incorporated in it to safeguard the rights of minority ethnic groups and human rights were concerned. But, it is the only constitution that has been violated the most within a short period of four decades.

President J.R. Jayewardene, the founder of the second Republican Constitution 1978, was the first culprit responsible for committing the biggest sin of violating it. The violations of the Constitution initiated by J.R. Jayewardene had always been supported by Parliament and at times by the Judiciary as well.

Of the 16 amendments added to the Constitution during his regime, five amendments can be considered as gross violations of the Constitution. The legendary Fourth Amendment (1982.12.23) introduced, extending the official term of Parliament elected in 1977 by another six years by a referendum, can be described as the most horrendous amendment which led to distort the system of governance and the political course of the country, eventually thrusting the country onto a violent path. Up to now, this amendment has not been revoked from the Constitution.

President Jayewardene carried out all his arbitrary practices during his regime by way of amendments to the Constitution. He commanded a five-sixths majority in the Parliament which enabled him to get any amendment passed conveniently and promptly. On the contrary, during the regime of President Chandrika Kumaranatunga, she did not possess the required majority in the Parliament to bring about constitutional amendments. However, she managed to overcome the obstacle by appointing Sarath Nanda Silva, a henchman of hers, to the post of Chief Justice and obtained through him the approval of the Supreme Court for unconstitutional measures adopted by her.

It was as a result of this practice that the system which permitted the MPs of the Opposition to join the Government without having to lose their parliamentary seats came into being. This can be described as an instance where the Constitution was violated jointly by the Parliament and the Judiciary. The aberration created by this change in the entire system of governance was enormous.

The 18th Amendment passed during the regime of Mahinda Rajapaksa can be considered another instance in which the Constitution was grossly violated. The 19th Amendment enacted thereafter, with the object of changing the presidential system of governance and revoking the 18th amendment, can be considered not only as a violation of the Constitution, but also a weird amendment that distorted the entire system of governance and rendered the Constitution a useless rag which can no longer be put to effective use.
Failure to rectify mistakes 
The uncivilised policy adopted by the rulers of the country since independence in regard to the Constitution, the supreme law of the country, alone is adequate to understand the extent of political vulgarity that prevails in the country.

The rulers, whenever they want to achieve their political needs, violate the Constitution with the approval of the Legislature when they command the required majority in the Parliament and with the support of the Judiciary when they do not have the required level of power in the Parliament. Thus, the Judiciary, which is responsible for protecting and safeguarding the Constitution, at certain instances has failed to perform its duty properly. The distortion and the complete impotency of the present Constitution can be considered as a logical consequence of this process.

Usually, civilised countries do not attempt to violate their constitutions. The judiciary will not allow it even if the rulers wanted it. The civilised countries hold that the violation of constitution, the supreme law of the country, is the biggest sin which can be committed in political sense.

Even if the constitution is violated in an unavoidable circumstance, the civilised countries will not allow it to be a stumbling block of the progress of the country and take appropriate measures to rectify the error.

I wish to cite an example from India, our immediate neighbour. Indira Gandhi, who ruled India for a long period under the emergency law, presented the 42nd Amendment to the Constitution in 1976 and got it passed through majority vote of Parliament. The 42nd Amendment is regarded as the most controversial constitutional amendment in Indian history. It led to create a great anomaly in the field of Fundamental Rights enshrined in the Indian Constitution. It came largely under public protest and constituted a critical factor that led to the defeat of the Government of Indira Gandhi at the 1977 general election.

The Janata Party Government which came to power in 1977 adopted two constitutional amendments (43 and 44) to rectify the anomaly caused by the 42nd Amendment. Some critics are of the view that though these two amendments helped mitigate the impact of the anomaly caused by the 42nd amendment, it was not possible to revoke it completely. However, the Supreme Court of India by a judgement passed (Minerva Mills V Union of India) in July 1980 annulled the 42nd Amendment completely and deprived the Legislature of its rights to pass constitutional amendments that can cause damage to the basic structure of the Indian Constitution.

How retrogressive is Sri Lanka’s position when compared to India, its immediate neighbour, so far as the subject of constitutional amendments is concerned? Sri Lanka has not made any attempt to revoke the amendments which distorted the Constitution. No attempt has been made to abolish even the 4th Amendment that permits the extension of the official term of Parliament by a referendum. There is no difference in regard to the court decisions made distorting the structure of the Constitution.

It is important that we realise that the constitutional violations by the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary, jointly and separately, have become an important factor affecting the deterioration of the Constitution, the system of governance and the overall wretchedness of the country. The present terrorist threat as well as the similar threats the country had faced earlier can be considered as calamities associated with the deterioration of the State.

The country needs a new constitution as well as a new system of governance and a complete transformation of the entire system because there is no other alternative to overcome the current state of wretchedness of the country. Accordingly, in making and adopting a new constitution and a system of governance for the country, it must be made with adequate provisions that would not leave space for the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary to commit such mistakes.

Cinnamon Grand bomber’s copper factory case takes a new turn

Inside factory where terrorists plotted the Easter Sunday attacks

17 May 2019  

Police OIC Gamini Senarath Hewawithana had complained to the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) early this week demanding an inquiry against Colombo Magistrate Court Judge Priyantha Liyanage over the release on bail of nine employees of the copper factory in Wellampitiya.
It was reported that the factory, which belonged to the Cinnamon Grand suicide bomber Inshaf Ahamed, has been used to manufacture the explosives which were used in the April 21st Easter Sunday terrorist attacks. Nine out of the ten suspects arrested on April 21, were remanded till May 6 and granted bail on two sureties of Rs. 500, 000 each due to insufficient evidence. However, Wellampitiya Police OIC has complained to the JSC, that despite objection from the police, the Magistrate has allegedly acted in a biased manner by taking his own decision to release the suspects.
The article is written on the complaint filed by the Wellampitiya OIC to the Judicial Services Commission (JSC).

How the search operation was launched

The OIC received a call from the Director of the Colombo Crimes Division (CCD) SP Udaya Hemantha on the night of Easter Day, ordering him to search the copper factory in Wellampitiya. After locating the factory, the OIC along with several other officers from the Wellampitiya Police visited the location and waited till CCD Director Hemantha arrived at the scene. The team of police personnel thereafter surrounded the factory following orders of the CCD Director and arrested 10 suspicious individuals among whom were 8 Muslims and a Sinhalese. Another worker identified as a suspect was also taken into the custody of the CCD and the 9 others were taken to the Wellamptiya police station for questioning. Meanwhile, another suspect arrested by the STF on April 22, for having close connections with the Cinnamon Grand bomber, was also handed over to the
Wellampitiya Police.

Charges filed Against Suspects

On the following day (April 22), the ten suspects were produced in court and the police requested the court to remand them in order to obtain telephone records for further investigations. Acceding to the request, the court ordered the suspects to be remanded till May 6.

When the case was taken up on May 6 before Magistrate Priyantha Liyanage at Colombo Magistrate’s Court, the Wellampitiya Police submitted a further report on the progress of the investigations relating to the arrested copper factory workers. Preliminary investigations caried out by the Police had found that the suspects had used 2-8 sim cards and that the suspects had an obvious connection with the Easter Sunday attacks. This was said in the court. Preliminary investigations have found that several suspects who were workers of the factory had travelled during the recent past to various places.

According to the telephone records, it was found that one of the suspects has had several telephone conversations with the factory owner and the Cinnamon Grand Hotel suicide bomber Inshaf Ahamed. It was also found that the monthly salary of the 10th suspect arrested by the Special Task Force (STF) was Rs.30, 000 and the monthly rent payment of his house is also the same amount.

The police version of what happened in court  

Nine out of the ten suspects arrested on April 21, were remanded till May 6 and granted bail on two sureties of Rs. 500, 000 each due to insufficient evidence. It was alleged that the workers were released because the Wellampitiya Police failed to mention the offences the suspects were alleged to have committed.

In the JSC complaint, the OIC alleged that even when the above mentioned charges and findings of the preliminary investigation had been presented before the court, the magistrate disregarded the facts and statements submitted by the police by releasing the suspects, who had been arrested on April 21 by the police.

Hewawitharana further alleged that the verbal and written objections of the police had also not been mentioned in the case file compiled by the magistrate. Therefore, attorney Don Wasantha who appeared on behalf of one of the suspects has submitted an affidavit to the JSC stating that the Magistrate made the decision despite objection from the police.

Filing the B Report, the Wellampitiya Police have also informed the Magistrate that releasing the suspects would create public unrest and therefore it was better to keep them detained pending investigations.

"One of the suspects has had several telephone conversations with the factory owner and the Cinnamon Grand Hotel suicide bomber Inshaf Ahamed"

Parallel to the police investigations, Terrorist Investigations Department (TID), Navy Intelligence Division and the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) had also initiated separate investigations into the alleged involvement of the suspects to the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks. Therefore, the Wellampitiya Police Officer requested the court to keep the suspects in remand owing to the fact that the Police, CID, TID and Navy Intelligence investigations into the case are still ongoing. The police referred to the Section 14 of the Bail Act (No. 30 of 1997) when requesting the court to keep the suspects in custody.

Reasons for which court may refuse bail or cancel a subsisting order for release14.

(1) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the preceding provisions of this Act, whenever a person suspected or accused of being concerned in committing or having committed a bailable or non-bailable offence, appears, is brought before or surrenders to the court having jurisdiction, the court may refuse to release such person on bail or upon application being made in that behalf by a police officer, and after issuing notice on the person concerned and hearing him personally or through his attorney-at-law, cancel a subsisting order releasing such person on bail if the court has reason to believe:”

 (b) that the particular gravity of, and public reaction to, the alleged offence may give rise to public disquiet.

 The SIU decided on May 9 to launch an investigation into the matter where the court granted bail to the workers. It was alleged that police may have erred by not filing the case under Prevention of Terrorism Act because the investigations were yet to reach that level. He said that was why they requested more time from the magistrate to complete the inquiry.

The complainant criticized that the officers of the Wellampitiya Police even had to testify before the SIU over the bailing out incident over the investigation initiated against them. The residents in Wellampitiya were still protesting outside the police station against the court decision. Due to the current situation, the police face difficulty in maintaining law and order in the area.

Last week, police Media Spokesperson SP Ruwan Gunasekara said disciplinary action would be taken against the personnel held responsible, no sooner the report from the SIU was produced.