KAMALIKA PIERIS
EASTER SUNDAY
BOMB BLASTS
There is
speculation that Western intelligence agencies had a hand in the
well-coordinated, precision-timed Easter suicide bombings in Sri Lanka, said
Lasanda Kurukulasuriya. How otherwise
could a little-known group ‘National Thawheed Jamaath’ have orchestrated such a feat.
The Easter
bomb attacks in Sri Lanka are a part
of a series of puzzling attacks by
little-known terror outfits , taking place in several countries. But there is one common factor. All the countries
facing such attacks have been states benefiting from China’s Belt and Road
Initiative, (BRI). They include Myanmar,
Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
In Myanmar in
2017 a little-known terrorist group called the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army
(ARSA) staged attacks on security posts in Rakhine state, sparking a crackdown
on the Rohingya community. Rakhine state is home to Sittwe port and a starting
point of BRI infrastructure projects linking Myanmar with China’s Kunming city.
The leader of ARSA is said to be a
Rohingya born in Pakistan and raised in Saudi Arabia.
The
Philippines, whose President Rodrigo Duterte in 2016 threatened to ditch its
longtime military alliance with the US and turn to China, faced an attack by
ISIS terrorists in 2017 in Marawi,
helping USA to further consolidate their military presence.
Five people
were killed in Pakistan’s Baluchistan province, in June 2019
in an attack on a star class hotel located near the port of Gwadar,
which is being modernized under China’s BRI. Baluch separatists claimed responsibility.
Thereafter Baluch Liberation Army carried out a dozen attacks in 2018 against
Chinese-linked projects. In November, the group attacked a Chinese consulate in
the major southern city of Karachi.
The targeting of
Sri Lanka was therefore not surprising. Two of the sea-front hotels that came under
suicide bomb attacks, Shangri La and Kingsbury, overlooked the $1.4 billion
Port City project, China’s single biggest infrastructure investment in Sri
Lanka.
All these
attacks had some sort of link to
ISIS. ISIS, like Al Qaeda before it, is
a creation of the US intelligence
agencies. ISIS sudden appearance everywhere China is
attempting to do business, fits the now
documented and admitted pattern of Washington’s use of extremism to manipulate situations wherever its standing armies
cannot afford to intervene. Also, such
attacks offer an entry-point for Western-sponsored counter-terrorism activity
or humanitarian assistance, said Lasanda.
There is ample evidence in defence related research
papers, to prove that ISIS was created, sponsored and used by US secret
agencies in pursuing the US foreign policy.
It was used to intervene in
countries of strategic importance. The interventions were for regime change,
weakening the state, disintegration of society and finally invasion/occupation
by US army.
Soon after
the bomb attacks, Western intelligence agencies rushed in to assist in the
investigations. A team from the Federal Investigation Bureau (FBI) of the
United States arrived in Sri Lanka on
April 23, two days
after the bomb blast, to assist in
the investigations. Britain sent in
ten or twelve Mi-5 Intelligence personnel. There were over 40 such foreign personnel in Sri Lanka
altogether, said Wimal Weerawansa in Parliament.
The FBI team
came reportedly at the invitation of the Government of Sri Lanka. All the
foreign agencies worked along with the CID. They did so on our request,” said Police
spokesperson, SP Ruwan Gunasekera. But President
Sirisena said we did not invite them. They came on their own. My people are
complaining that they cannot go ahead with their work since each group is
asking them for briefings”.
No information has been revealed, to date, on
the work carried out by the foreign agencies (said to be ‘technical’
assistance) or on how these inputs assisted the CID in its probe, observed
Lasanda .
An unnamed US
embassy official reportedly told a group of journalists that the FBI assisted
in analyzing the suicide bombers’ phone data, continued Lasanda. There is
reason to believe however that the FBI in fact REMOVED the suicide bombers
phones and other devices at an early stage, pre-empting the retrieval of vital
evidence by local investigators.
All the bombers
are dead. Their electronic devices have been taken away by the US Federal
Bureau of Investigation (FBI) which is helping the Lankans in the probe,” an
Indian Home Ministry official told the Indian Express. Unless the
data from these devices is made available, little will be known of the bombers
links”
This means
that Sri Lankan investigators too (nor the rest of the world for that matter)
would not get to know what was recorded
in those devices, that might have given a clue as to who the suicide bombers’
immediate handlers were, commented Lasanda.
The question then
arises as to whether the Americans in fact sabotaged the investigation, under
the pretext of assisting with forensic analysis of the phones and devices,
calling it ‘technical assistance.’ Asked whether the FBI had ‘taken away’ the
bombers’ phones, Police Spokesman SP Ruwan Gunasekera replied that he was ‘unable to give that
information.’
He also did
not say whether the Sri Lankan investigators had the opportunity to analyze the devices
before they were handed over to the FBI, and whether the devices had been
returned.
This was followed by two ‘clandestine US operations in
Colombo’. Soon after the April 21, 2019
Easter Sunday carnage, two US government employees were detected at the Hilton
Colombo Residencies with explosives detectors. Sniffer dogs had traced the
equipment in an apartment.
Thereafter, security staff at the Hilton
Colombo had thwarted an attempt by five US government officials to check in
along with six boxes on the night of July 30, 2019. The American delegation had declined to
allow the security staff to scan the boxes. The US delegation had then handed
over one of the six boxes for scanning and loaded the rest to a US embassy
vehicle and moved them somewhere else.
Wimal Weerawansa released visa photographs of the entire US
team to the media, alleging the group had arrived in a private aircraft. The
five-member team had left two days later without the controversial cargo. Weerawansa asked whether the boxes that were
sent away in a US embassy vehicle were still in the country or spirited out
when the team left for the Maldives. What those boxes contained remained a
mystery, the MP said.
These boxes had evaded checks at Customs too.
Nagananda Kodituwakku sought information from Director General, Customs
regarding the circumstances under which her officers exempted US military cargo
from mandatory checks.
Former UPFA MP M.M. Zuhair commented: “The alleged refusal by six US nationals
to subject five of their ‘mystery’ boxes to scanning and security clearance at
the Bandaranaike International Airport and also later at Hilton Colombo
Residences on 30 July 2019 comes as a shock at a time of heightened security
threats in the country and warrants a credible investigation to ascertain the
contents of the boxes and whether the US personnel were entitled to any
privileges of non-disclosure.
“Nothing prevented the six US military
personnel from subjecting their baggage to scanning even if they were
accredited diplomats. Diplomatic bags containing diplomatic communications and
correspondence are protected from being opened. Personal baggage of accredited
diplomats cannot be used for smuggling prohibited or restricted goods, said
Zuhair.
It is now
very clear, and beyond any doubt that the US government is contemplating a
military intervention in Sri Lanka, when
a suitable situation arises, said analysts. The Easter Sunday bomb explosions
were planned to provide such an opening.
According to the
“shock doctrine” theory, which
we are told has been successfully tested by CIA, a massive shock exerted on a
society through extreme violence will lead to a state of confusion and weakness
which will help the US to take over that
society. The concept
of ‘shock doctrine’ was applied to economic change, by its author, Naomi
Klein, but it is far more applicable to political change.
When disasters
take place, citizens are too emotionally and physically distracted by disasters
or upheavals to mount an effective resistance, and US will be able to push
through controversial policies, observed analysts. If there are any more suicide bomb
attacks or if wide spread communal violence could be instigated, the US Army
will get the chance to enter the country, said critics. They could use R2P,
added others.
The bombings,
which targeted Catholic churches and 5-star tourist hotels, came like a bolt from the blue. They
devastated the peace and relative stability that prevailed in the island,
observed Lasanda. The attacks were intended to bring the country to a standstill.
The country did come to a brief stand still. Shops and schools were closed, all
activities cancelled, people were asked to stay in their houses.
The attacks
on hotels affected the tourist trade and the economy of the country. Hoteliers said they were
heavily indebted to banks and would find it impossible to pay their dues. Small
and medium stakeholders in the industry, such as internal airlines, cabs , taxi
and three-wheel drivers, tour guides , tour operators and those engaged in the
sale of gem and jewellery to tourists,
small vegetable and fish suppliers to the hotels and restaurants, small
shop owners, surfing board suppliers and supporting labour, helpers and
material suppliers to the construction industry in the hotel sector, were
affected.
USA
thought that after the Easter attack
there will be more violence, extreme disorder and chaos. That did not
happen. The second set of bombs was prevented.
The bombers died at Senthamaru. Security
forces then started arresting those preparing for the third bomb blast.
Therefore these attacks did not create the anticipated
‘Shock’. Instead there was remarkable resilience . There was
fear as to where the next bomb would burst, certainly , but there was also
deep anger and a firm wish to see to that these attacks were
not repeated. An immediate message to
this effect was sent to the Muslim community through a silent boycott of Muslim
shops.
There was a
short-lived spell of politically-instigated violence in the North Western
Province and Gampaha district. Apart from this,
communal harmony was maintained. In a highly volatile situation where a
religious minority had been targeted by extremists of another religious
minority, the Sangha and the Catholic Church led by Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith,
head of the Catholic Church ensured that there was no religious rioting,
observed Lasanda.
Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith said openly and repeatedly that foreign forces were behind
the attacks, it was not a local development. He publicly and repeatedly asked
for a proper inquiry into the bomb blasts.
It is only then that the truth will emerge. The investigations conducted
by the government are a sham” he said.
Catholic MPs Johnston Fernando, Nimal Lanza, Indika
Anurudda, Sudarshini Fernandopulle, Sanath Nishantha and Arundika Fernando wrote to the President, asking for a proper
inquiry.
In this letter, they said that His Eminence
Cardinal Ranjith has mentioned on
numerous occasions that neither he nor the Christian community has any faith in
the manner investigations are carried out. The victims are thoroughly
disappointed about the manner in which certain political leaders in this
government provided political asylum to key accusers connected to extremist
acts. Therefore, it is important for the public to know who was responsible in
carrying out these attacks, who neglected carrying out their responsibilities and
what or who obstructed responsible authorities from taking necessary action to prevent
this attack on that day.
If the Mahinda Rajapaksa government set up in
October 2018 has been allowed to continue, then there would not have been an
Easter Sunday bomb blast. Mahinda
Rajapaksa and Gotabhaya Rajapakse would have seen the significance of
Mawanella, Vanatha villu and the Kattankudy motor cycle. They would have
responded promptly to the Indian alert. The Catholic Church would have been
informed. Hotels would have been alerted.
The Rajapaksa government was dismissed on the
grounds that it went against Fundamental Rights. The appointment of Mahinda
Rajapaksa as Prime Minister however,
was perfectly legal. Ranil
Wickremesinghe had to be freshly sworn in once the Rajapaksa government was
dismissed. (Continued)
