Cardinal calls for banning of religious political parties … says Indians informed him they alerted SL authorities of impending attacks four times
Posted on December 6th, 2019
by Ratindra Kuruvit Courtesy The Island
Archbishop of Colombo, Malcom Cardinal Ranjith leaving after giving evidence before the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) probing the Easter Sunday attacks yesterday. Pic by Dharmasena Weliptiya
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Archbishop of Colombo, Malcom Cardinal Ranjith yesterday informed the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) probing the Easter Sunday attacks that Indian High Commission officials had informed him that it had warned relevant authorities of an imminent terror attacks four times before April 21.
The Security Council and other relevant institutions should have acted on this information without taking the warnings as a joke and there was weakness on the part of the leadership, the Cardinal said.
The Cardinal reiterated that the investigations into the incident had been carried out at a slow pace and he was not at all happy with them. The then government had attempted to wash its hands of the matter by giving one million rupees each to the families of those who had lost their loved ones.
The Cardinal said that the intelligence services should not be politicised and there should be an independent body to handle such situations. In other countries the intelligence services did not undergo changes when a government changed. Political interference should be stopped.
There should be only one line ministry to look after the interests of all religions and political parties based on ethnicity and/or religion must be banned, the Cardinal said, responding to Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Ayesha Jinasena, who asked if the Cardinal had any recommendations on improving country’s communal harmony
The Cardinal said he did not think race or a religion should be the basis for a political party as there were national political parties. When there were political parties catering to one community, it was an indication that things were not going well, said the prelate, noting that his personal opinion was that such parties should be banned.
Later on, the Cardinal gave the statement in camera to the PCoI.