Dilrook Kannangara

Seven Easter Sundays have passed since the 2019 Easter Sunday terror attack but none has been convicted in Sri Lanka. A few were convicted in the US but not in Sri Lanka. Former intelligence service chief Suresh Salley is currently being questioned to gain information of the attack solely because his unit was informed of the impending attack and given his long tenure he knows more than anyone else. Jumping into conclusions before the completion of his questioning is unwise.

A former parliamentarian has declared that Moulavi Zaharan Mohammed Hashim was the mastermind of the attack. If true, it raises more questions than provides answers. Moulavi Zaharan Hashim, Abdul Razik (another suicide bomber) and 24 others of their group were employed by the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development from March 2010 to December 2014. Four of them continued to serve until 2018. They were regular employees and were paid a monthly salary. This information was well documented by the Commission of Inquiry and even a former president stated this to the Sangha Nayakas when questioned in the presence of the media. Even when Zaharan was at school and soon after leaving school, he displayed signs of rebellion and extremism which landed him in trouble and lost education opportunities. Surely these were checked before recruiting to a unit under the management of the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development. If not, they are liable for criminal negligence. How many more were recruited without background checks?

While employed at the ministry of defence and urban development, Moulavi Zaharan Hashim along with like-minded people formed the National Thoweed Jamaath. It was banned as a terrorist organization following the attack. He constructed his own mosque in the East in January 2014. Despite expectations, Gulf countries refused to finance it. The cost was supplemented by a state grant from his employer – the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development – which also allowed the construction and allowed it to proceed to obtain registration as a place of religious worship despite stiff opposition from traditional Muslims.

In 2017 he went to South India and spent considerable time there learning and promoting extremism and collecting weapons. He freely returned to Sri Lanka in November 2018.

If Moulavi Zaharan Mohammed Hashim was the mastermind of the attacks, he becomes the world’s first and one and only terror mastermind to die in the attack he masterminded. Osama Bin Laden didn’t die in 9/11, 3/11 or 7/7 terror attacks; Hambali didn’t die in Bali terror attack; Parabharakan didn’t die in any of the attacks he masterminded; Wijeweera didn’t die in any attack he masterminded; Taliban, Hamas, Hezbollah or ISIS masterminds of various attacks didn’t die in their attacks.

In addition to Zaharan’s team, around the same time, another batch of 38 Muslims from Kandy district travelled to Syria in 2013 and joined ISIS according to former parliamentarian Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe. After losing a few of them in war, they returned to Sri Lanka in 2020. No investigation into their actions was done.

Declaring that Moulavi Zaharan Mohammed Hashim as the mastermind of the Easter Sunday terrorist attack has opened a can of worms. It implicates some bigwigs of the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development for further investigation. Salley’s evidence becomes even more crucial in connecting the dots. The country eagerly awaits that evidence to complete the puzzle. Hopefully the victims including the nation will get much delayed and much awaited justice before the next Easter.