By Norman Palihawadana and Rathindra Kuruwita Courtesy The Island

Eastern Province Governor, M. L. A. M. Hizbullah’s driver and former cook were arrested, yesterday, following the detection of 48 rounds of ammunition in a building at Kattankudy.

The Police and Special Task Force officers had searched the building rented by the Governor, and detected the ammunition, a senior police officer of Kattankudy police said. 

The driver and the former cook of Hizbullah were arrested as the keys to the building were in their custody. 

Kattankudy police are conducting further investigations.  Security forces are conducting search operations throughout the country, police spokesperson, SSP Ruwan Gunasekera said. Hizbullah was accused by a number of persons for having links to the National Thowheed Jamath (NTJ) who are behind the Easter Sunday attacks. He has denied the allegation.

TNA spokesman MP M.A. Sumanthiran went to the extent of publicly urging President Sirisena to probe Hizullah’s connections with extremist elements in the aftermath of Easter Sunday carnage.

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, April 30 (newsin.asia): In a press release issued by the Sri Lankan Presidential Media Division on Tuesday, the government refuted Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith’s allegation that the Presidential Commission appointed to probe the Easter Sunday suicide blasts has not even started its work.

The Special Investigation Committee appointed by President Maithripala Sirisena on April 21, 2019 to conduct investigations into the series of incidents occurred in 08 places of the country due to the explosions, commenced its works on April 22. The Special Investigation Committee headed by Supreme Court Judge Vijith K. Malalgoda and former IGP N.K. Ilangakoon and former Law & Order Ministry Secretary Padamasiri Jayamanne have been appointed as members of the committee.”

At present, the Investigation Committee has recorded statements from several high ranking state officials including the former Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando and outgoing IGP Pujith Jayasundara. It is scheduled to obtain statements from many persons and through the paper advertisements published in several leading newspapers on April 25, requesting the public and institutions to submit their opinions and information in this regard to the Investigation Committee.”

Courtesy Ceylon Today

The Special Task Force (STF) raided Eastern Province Governor A.L.M. Hizbullah’s Kattankudy office today (30) and found 35 Type 56 bullets which the Governor claims belongs to the Police security officers working for him. 

According to the Police Media Unit, this office was shut down a month ago.

The STF detained two of Hizbullah’s office staff for further questioning.

By Amra Ismail Courtesy The Daily Mirror

laws could also have been swiftly amended to deal with any gaps

• Politicians are just trying to come up with excuses
• Emergency Regulations are overbroad and prone to abuse
• We could have made meaningful progress in preventing the attacks
• Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told Skynews that there were no laws in Sri Lanka to arrest those who joined foreign terrorist groups and returned to the country

In the wake of the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks, a question has emerged regarding the inadequacy of the existing laws to combat terrorism, and whether new laws should be brought in to counter international terrorism. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told Skynews that there were no laws in Sri Lanka to arrest those who joined foreign terrorist groups and returned to the country. 

Laws to arrest IS members 

Speaking to the Daily Mirror, Attorney-at-Law Thishya Weragoda said that those who joined foreign terrorist organisations could have been arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. The PTA clearly says whether it is done within Sri Lanka or outside Sri Lanka, if it is an unlawful act within the meaning of the PTA, it falls in. Unlawful acts are what falls within Section 2 of the PTA. So if a Sri Lankan commits terrorist activities in another country we can’t say we don’t have any laws. It is covered,” said Weragoda. 

Legal Expert Dr.Asanga Welikala said that the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Act 2007, Suppression of Terrorist Bombings Act 1999 and the UN sanctions against IS could have also been used. 

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Act 2007 makes it a criminal offence to incite religious hatred and to propagate war. This Act also makes it a criminal offence to attempt, aid, abet, or threaten to commit acts of inciting religious hatred or propagate war. There is the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings Act 1999 which again covers attempts to commit, or aid and abet terrorist bombings. There are also various provisions in the Penal Code in relation to murder, hurt, use of criminal force, and criminal conspiracy, as well as attempts to commit any of these offences, that could have been used,” Dr. Welikala told the Daily Mirror. 

According to Section 2 of the Penal Code the offense can be committed within or outside Sri Lanka and will fall under the Penal Code. Further, according to Section 9 (1) (f) of the Judicature Act, the High Court has jurisdiction to hear cases on offenses committed by a Sri Lankan outside its (Sri Lanka’s ) territory. 

Dr.Welikala also added that there are UN sanctions against IS which have been given effect to by domestic statutory instruments under the United Nations Act, 1968. These are regulations that give effect to Sri Lanka’s international obligations with regard to the UN anti-terrorism sanctions regime. They were first made in 2012 and subsequently amended in 2016 to specifically include Islamic State (or Islamic State of Iraq and Levant, or Da’esh). The regulations set out the domestic machinery through which UN sanctions against these terror groups can be upheld,” he said. 

The PTA clearly says whether it is done within Sri Lanka or outside Sri Lanka, if it is an unlawful act within the meaning of the PTA, it falls in

Banning extremist groups

Initially, President Maithripala Sirisena said that there were no laws to ban the National Thowheed Jamath. However, subsequently he banned both the National Thawheed Jammath (NTJ) and Jamathei Millathu Ibraheem (JMI) under Emergency Regulations No. 01 of 2019. The President’s Media Division further announced that activities of other extremist groups would be banned as well under the Emergency Regulations. 

Dr. Welikala said that Section 27 of the PTA could be used to proscribe the NTJ or any other such organisation. This provision gives the Minister the power to make regulations for the purpose of carrying out or giving effect to the principles and provisions of the PTA. When convenient, such regulations must be brought before Parliament for approval, and they are deemed rescinded if parliamentary approval has not been given,” he said.  

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was first proscribed in the wake of the bombing of the Temple of the Tooth in 1998 by emergency regulations. In 2001, when the Government lost its majority in Parliament and the state of emergency lapsed, so did the ban on the LTTE. The President then used Section 27 of the PTA to reintroduce the proscription. Even after the state of emergency was terminated after the war in 2011, PTA regulations were made to continue the proscription of the LTTE and the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO), which are still in force. So even without a state of emergency, the PTA provides a wide proscribing power to the Government in relation to organisations associated with terrorism,” he added. 

There is the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings Act 1999 which again covers attempts to commit, or aid and abet terrorist bombings

Are the laws sufficient? 

When the Daily Mirror queried whether the PTA is sufficient to counter internationalised terrorism, Weragoda responded by saying, Something is better than nothing. They could have used some obscure provision in the law to stop these people, if they really wanted to,” he said. 

Leave the law aside. Say that you know somebody who has engaged in terrorist activity is coming to Sri Lanka. You can still hold him for 24 hours and question him. Has any of these people been questioned at least for 24 hours? That’s the question everyone should ask from the Prime Minister. None of that has been done. They’re just trying to come up with excuses,” he said. 

He also said that akin to how the offenses against the Aircraft Act was brought in and applied retrospectively to penalise Sepala Ekanayake for hijacking an aircraft, new legislation could have been brought in. If it is not covered you can bring in new legislation. So if it was known that there were people who had joined foreign terrorists organisations what were they doing?” he asked. 

An AFP released picture of the ISIS members who were believed to have carried out the bombings in sri lanka 

According to Dr. Welikala existing laws are sufficient to detain, investigate and convict, and even to proscribe, the individuals and groups currently being identified with the Easter Sunday attacks. Had the evidence that had been emerging regarding these activities been taken seriously and acted upon, then we could have made meaningful progress in preventing the attacks. If it had proved necessary, laws could also have been swiftly amended to deal with any gaps,” he said. 

However, he pointed out that Sri Lankan laws needed to be updated to take account of the new globalised context of terrorism. One of the purposes of the Counter Terrorism Bill currently being considered by a parliamentary oversight committee was to modernise our anti-terrorism powers framework in the context of global terrorism. It is important to stress that several critical defects in the Bill need to be corrected so that there are effective and adequate safeguards against the abuse of anti-terrorism powers. However, the Government has been both opaque in the process of drafting and dilatory in enacting this legislation,” he said. 

Emergency Regulations No. 01 of 2019

President Maithripala Sirisena declared a State of Emergency on April 23. Emergency Regulations were issued on April 24. The Emergency Regulations relate to taking  into  possession  premises  and  requisitioning  of vehicles  and  of  personal  services, control of meetings, processions, publications, firearms and right of entry, supervision, search, arrest and detention. 
Dr. Welikala said that the emergency regulations are overbroad and prone to abuse, and potentially transgress the outer limits of the restrictions on fundamental rights permitted by the country’s Constitution. In combatting the clear and present danger of international terrorism, the importance of striking the proper balance between security and freedom cannot be overstated. For this, all counterterrorism measures must conform to the minimum standards established by both the Constitution and international law,” he said. 

In similar vein Attorney-at-Law Bhavani Fonseka said that emergency regulations should be proportionate. Otherwise Government critics would be targeted,” 

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Sri Lankan Muslims are the greatest strength in the country’s fight against Islamic extremism. However, their radicalization is also the greatest long term threat

On Friday, the imam of a Sufi mosque in Saindamarudu was alerted by the locals about a suspicious crowd in a house in the neighbourhood housing scheme called, Bolivia village. That is an exclusively Muslim housing scheme of 400 houses built after the Indian Ocean tsunami. The owner of one of the houses there had given his residence on rent to a man who claims to be a telecom engineer from Kattankudy; since new tenants moved in, he has observed a stream of unusual visitors to his house.   

A delegation from the local mosque, the Grama Sevaka and the owner visited the house to inquire and were confronted by the angry tenants.  

The locals then alerted a passer -by traffic cop. A police team was dispatched from Kalmunai Police , and was fired upon as they approached the house.   

Police Special Task Force and army were called in for help. As the troops encircled the house and evacuated residents in the nearby houses, around three gunmen kept firing. Later in the night, three explosions believed to be suicide blasts ripped through the house. Following day, troops found the remains of three men, believed to be gunmen, laying at the entrance of the house. Inside, charred bodies of 12 others, including six children, three women and three men were found. The men were believed to have blown themselves up killing the rest of the family members.   

 A woman and a child was recovered from wreckage and were later identified as the wife and the child of the mastermind of the suicide bomber Mohammed Zahran.   

The father and brother of Zahran, Mohammed Rilwan who was mentioned in the previous intelligence memo were also identified among the dead. Prior to the raid on their hideout, the three men had recorded a video in which they claimed the credit for the previous attacks and urged the Muslims to give up earthly responsibilities to wage Jihad.  Without the local help, the raid would not have been possible. In most part of the world, especially in the West, battle against Islamic extremism is fought with limited success exactly due to the lack of community cooperation. Instead, Muslims youth, mainly of immigrant origin give the middle finger to the police.  

The greatest strength in Sri Lanka’s fight against Islamic extremism is the local Muslim community. Their cooperation is crucial anywhere, and especially in the East, where Muslim majority enclaves have already insulated from the rest of the country to a great deal.   

Just like in Saindamarudu, the community is cooperating with the law enforcement authorities to help nab suspects. (One of the female suspects in police wanted list Fathima Lathifa, and the wife of one of the alleged vandals of Mawanella Budhdha statues was handed over to police by her parents)  

However, the greatest long term threat to Sri Lanka is also the radicalization of the same Muslim community. If the current level of radicalization persists that would erode the future prospects of cooperation. Similarly, mishandling the situation, leading to mass victimization of Muslims due to security measures may also result in a fall out of the Muslim community with the Sri Lankan state.   

Sri Lanka’s challenge would be to strike a balance. 

To begin with that the country should come to grips with the full scale of radicalization, both in terms of violent extremism and non-violent extremism. 

Last week, President Maithripala Sirisena belatedly banned National Thawheed Jammaath (NTJ) and Jamathei Millathu Ibraheem (JMI) in Sri Lanka as per powers vested in him. 

National Thawheed Jammaath is a breakaway group of Sri Lanka Thawheed Jaamaath (SLTJ). It was launched by Mohammed Zahran in 2012 after he broke away with a local mosque of the Sri Lanka Thawheed Jamaath. The first mosque of National Thawheed Jammaath was set up in a ramshackle hut in Kattankudy. Over the coming years, it grew in followers, resources and controversy it courted.   

The first mosque of Thawheed Jammaath in Beruwela was set up in 2002. It immediately triggered a major push back from local moderate Muslims

Zahran was reportedly removed from the leadership of NTJ in March this year after a clash with local Sufi followers. The clash sent Zahran and his brothers to underground. However, another brother of Zahran was appointed as the new leader of NTJ, which cast doubt over the sincerity of the decision to remove the hate preacher.  

Zahran and his followers then joined with a group from Jamathei Millathu Ibraheem (JMI). Local Thawheed Jammaath factions now claim innocence over the Easter Sunday Attacks and pin the blame on JMI.  

However this explanation is too simplistic.   

Thawheed Jammaath as a whole is propagating an austere form of Wahhabism based on literal interpretation of Quran and Hadith. It is this ideology of a recreation of medieval Islamic caliphate and a perceived clashed between Islam and the West that provides ideological inspiration for al Qaeda and Islamic State-led global Jihad. The only difference between other Thawheed Jaamaath factions and NTJ and JMI are their rationalization of use of violence- more specifically , the use of violence within Sri Lanka against Sri Lankan targets-to achieve their religious ends.  

The purported fallout of NTJ from the rest is due to this fundamental difference. Baring that all groups advocates an austere and militant form of Islam with reintroduction of Sharia and suffocating Arabized social and cultural norms. They all have more in common with Al Qaeda’s ideological vision than moderate local Sufi Islam.  

Their supposedly non-violent extremism is a stepping stone for violent extremism of global Salafi Jihad. Their followers travel back and forth between the two narratives.  

That radicalization happened due to the politically influenced indifference towards encroaching Wahhabism and sheer lack of political will to act against the looming threat. The spread of Thawheed Jammaath to Sri Lanka happened in 2002 on the back of Al Qaeda-led Salafi Jihad after 9/11 attacks.  

The first mosque of Thawheed Jammaath in Beruwela was set up in 2002. It immediately triggered a major push back from local moderate Muslims. Periodic sectarian clashes continued for the first decade. However, despite initial resistance, Thawheed Jammaath persisted, supported by large donations from Gulf states. More and more Muslims were lured into new Wahhabi brand of Islam. Financial and political calculations also led local Muslim political leadership to extend political patronage to creeping Wahhabism at the expense of moderate Sufi Islam. They may not have known the full scale of monstrosity that they were courting, however, their conduct effectively empowered Thawheed factions at the expense of moderate Islam.  
There are more than 200 Thawheed mosques in the country, of which only a few are registered as places of worship. Thawheed Jammaath followers have encroached positions of Ministry of Islamic Affairs and institutions that cater specifically to Muslims.  

Radicalization of Muslims is real and far reaching than one would assume. It cannot be combated merely by banning NTJ and JMI. Thawheed factions that are left out are not much different in terms of ideology they propagate. They may not espouse violence as of now, but, make no mistake, Islamic extremism is evolving and expansive ideology. They also provide sufficient radicalizing impetus. Suicide bombing is just a step away.  

The problem is Sri Lanka cannot ban all Thawheed factions. A good number of Sri Lankan Muslims, in some estimates around 20 per cent of the Muslim population in Beruwela, are followers of Thawheed Jaamaath. Some of them may already be cooperating with Police to nab the followers of their splinter group.  

 On the other hand, banning would drive them underground. Sri Lanka should launch an open dialogue with these communities, at the same time keeping a tab on their preaching and violent impulses of their more zealous followers.  

More importantly, the government should also launch a concerted programme to strengthen the moderate Sri Lankan Islam, empower their preachers, provide assistance to their Madrasas and encourage them to police their own communities for bad apple and to lead a counter radicalization narrative.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

New Zealand’s Deputy Prime Minister has criticised suggestions that Sri Lanka’s Easter Sunday bombings were retaliation for the Christchurch mosque shootings, saying his country is being misused, The Age reported today.

But New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters on Tuesday reiterated his government had seen no evidence of a link.

He said expert advice suggested the Sri Lankan bombings would have been planned well before the Christchurch terror attack.

It’s a slightly cheap shot, I suppose, to try to explain it away. Let’s see the evidence,” Peters has told Sky News.

“Sometimes it pays to … get the facts first before you beat your lips with an opinion.”

Peters said it was a “fair suspicion” the claim had been made to deflect away from intelligence failings in Sri Lanka.

“We’re not going to stand here and have our country misused,” Peters said.

While Islamic State has claimed responsibility, Sri Lankan police have in recent days raided the headquarters of a hardline Islamist group, the National Thawheedh Jamaath, founded by the suspected ringleader of the bombings.

The authorities believe Zahran Hashim masterminded and was one of the nine suicide bombers in the attacks.

More than 100 people, including foreigners from Syria and Egypt, have been detained for questioning over the bombings.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Referring to a statement made by a pro extremist Islamic Group in Britain that they would teach a lesson to all Sri Lankans, Archbishop of Colombo, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith told a news conference today the British Government should be keep a close tab on these groups.

We are not against Britain, Many Sri Lankans still respect the queen, and we appreciate all good things done by Britain in Sri Lanka. However, it should vary of extremist groups,” he said and pointed out that this Islamic group had intervened when some Sri Lankan Catholics staged a protest in London against the Easter Sunday attacks. The extremists are reported to have said that Sri Lankans should be taught a good lesson.

The Cardinal said the British government not forget that nine British citizens had died in the hotel bombings on Easter Sunday.

Venerable Omalpe Sobitha Thera who also participated in the news conference said the government should have a dialogue with the British High Commissioner and explain matters. The slogan of these Islamic extremists is to create an Islamic world. In such a scenario they are out to destroy Britain as well,” he said.

The Thera said concrete steps should be taken to regulate Madrasas. These schools do not come under the purview of Education Ministry. We have also been told that there are Thowheed Jama’at mosques registered under the Ministry of Muslim Affairs. Minister of Muslim Affairs should be questioned about it,” the Thera added.

The Cardinal said schools should not be based on religion and that a percentage of children belonging to other religions should be allowed to study at both private and government schools. He said political parties based on religion and ethnicity should not be allowed.

The two religious leaders said they were still not satisfied with the steps taken by the government to ensure security. While the Thera said mosques where arms were found should be sealed, the Cardinal said search operations carried out in Negombo particularly in Periyamulla was far from satisfactory because some houses had been bypassed during search operations.

The stressed the need for mainstream Islamic clergy to take the lead in freeing Muslims from the clutches of extremists. (Yohan Perera)

Pix by Kushan Pathiraja

Courtesy Adaderana

Sri Lanka Army through its seven formations encompassing the entire country is carrying out search operations to apprehend extremist terrorists. 

The successful operation in Santhamaruthu in the Eastern Province is a good example of the outcome of these search operations, the Ministry of Defence said. 

Arrested suspects and items are directed for investigations while troops have stepped up operations during the last 24 hours, the statement said. 

As the troops are widely stationed around the country people can direct any useful information to them as they could take swift measures under the Emergency Regulations, said the Military Spokesman and Director of the Media Centre, Brigadier Sumith Atapattu during a media briefing held on Monday (29).

He also requested the general public not get deceived by rumours or dis-information spread by social media and to be alert. 

He asked the general public to be cautious and provide any information to the authorities. Necessary action will be taken to disseminate Information regarding the latest developments without compromising public security. 

The Army is committed in its endeavor to protect the nation as it had done so in the past, the ministry said.

A total of 44 suspects have been placed under CID custody in connection with the Easter Sunday bombings up to date. Seven of these suspects held by the CID are females. 

In addition, fifteen other suspects are being held by the Terrorist Investigations Division (TID) including two females for investigations. 

Seven of the suspects being held for questioning by the TID were arrested in connection with the Dehiwela bomb blast. The remaining eight suspects had been arrested by the Army on suspicion of involving in terrorist related activities and handed over to the TID.

This was revealed by the Police Spokesman SP Ruwan Gunasekara at the media briefing held on Monday(29 April).

Information of six wanted suspects in connection with the Easter Sunday bombings was publicized in the media recently. Three of these suspects are women while the others are men. Out of these six, two suspects were arrested by the personnel of the Gampola Police Division. 

The suspects are brothers named Mohomed Iwuhaim Saadiq Abdul Haq and Mohomed Iwuhaim Shahid Abdul Haq. They have been handed over to the CID for questioning. 

Another suspect, a woman named Fathima Latheefa was arrested in the Mawanella area by the CID. She has been identified as the wife of Mohomed Iwuhaim Saadiq Abdul Haq.

A wanted female suspect receiving treatment at the Ampara hospital has been identified as Abdul Cader Fathima Sadiya alias Siddiya, the wife of the terrorist bomber Zahran.

Investigating officers suspect that the two remaining suspects of the six wanted suspects, Pulasthini Rajendran alias Sara and Mohamed Casim Mohamed Rilwan may have died during the explosion in Chavalakadi in Kalmune but  DNA examinations are to be carried out to ascertain their true identity.

The Police Spokesman also mentioned of the valuable information provided by the Muslim community in carrying out the combined investigations. 

Especially, the initial information of a suspicious house in Chavalakadi had been passed on to a Traffic Policeman by a Muslim resident. This information had enabled authorities to unearth much important information about this terrorist group.

Courtesy Adaderana

Courtesy Adaderana

The van bearing No 250-5680, which is believed to have transported explosives and suspects to Sainthamaruthu, has been taken into the custody of the Kekirawa Police.

The vehicle in question was seized at Ihala Puliyankulama in Maradankadawala today (30).

The vehicle owner, who was arrested by the police, revealed that the van was taken to Kalmunai area as per a request made by a clergyman, according to Ada Derana correspondent.

The arrestee was identified as Abu Salley Nazar residing in Maradankadawala.

Kekirawa Police said the suspect and the van are to be handed over to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

Meanwhile, the suspicious lorry wanted in connection with the Easter Sunday attacks was discovered at Sungavila in Polonnaruwa.

Police said that 03 suspects have been arrested along with the vehicle which bears the number plate ‘EP – PX 2399’.

Ada Derana reporter said the vehicle in question was found parked in the garden of a residence in the area and that investigations are being carried with the use of police dogs.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Batticaloa Campus Sri Lanka (BCSL) in Punanai should be brought under the authority of the government, says the National University Teachers’ Associations (NUTA).

The Secretary of NUTA Professor Channa Jayasumana stated this speaking at a press conference yesterday (30).

Batticaloa Campus was not initially registered as a university but a vocational training centre when it was constructed in 2013, he said.

Although it is said the BCSL is funded by the government of Saudi Arabia, the campus had so far been funded by one individual residing there, Prof Jayasumana said.

There are attempts to establish a faculty of medicine and a faculty that teaches only Sharia law, the Secretary of NUTA further commented.

Courtesy Adaderana

President Maithripala Sirisena says the report of the special committee appointed to probe the terror attacks on Easter Sunday will be made public.

On April 21st, in the wake of the attacks, the President appointed a special committee headed by a Supreme Court judge to conduct an inquiry into the explosions and their background.

The Committee will study other reasons that pave the way for these incidents as well and it will submit its report within two weeks to the President.

Future security measures will be decided after presenting the committee’s report to the Parliament, President Sirisena said.

He stated this addressing a meeting held with the senior security officials at the Ministry of Defence this morning (30).

Today’s meeting looked into the security operations that are currently underway and the arrests made in connection with the terror attacks.

The President emphasized that ensuring the country’s national security should be expedited and barbaric terrorism should be eradicated.

He commended the security forces for the massive effort rendered to the investigations on the terror attacks.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Special Investigation Committee appointed to probe Easter Sunday terror attacks has recorded statements from former Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando and Inspector General of Police Pujith Jayasundara, the President’s Media Division (PMD) stated.

The Committee appointed by President Maithripala Sirisena on April 21 to conduct investigations into the series of incidents occurred in 08 places of the country due to the explosions, commenced its works on April 22.

Headed by Supreme Court Judge Vijith K. Malalgoda, the Committee consists of former IGP N.K. Ilangakoon and former Law & Order Ministry Secretary Padamasiri Jayamanne.

The Committee has recorded statements from several high-ranking state officials including the former Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando and outgoing IGP Pujith Jayasundara, the PMD said.

It is scheduled to obtain statements from many persons and through the paper advertisements published in several leading newspapers on April 25, requesting the public and institutions to submit their opinions and information in this regard to the Investigation Committee.

The Special Investigation Committee kindly requests the persons who are interested to submit information to send those facts in writing to the following address.

P.O. Box 2306
Colombo.
Or Fax No. 011-2100446

Or email to:
Presinq@eastsun.gov.lk email address.

Courtesy Adaderana

Footage obtained by Sky News tracks the final hours of one of the Easter Sunday bombers as he prepares to commit mass murder.

It is the most detailed record yet to emerge of any of the attackers ahead of their coordinated strike against churches and hotels across Sri Lanka.

Islamic State has said it was behind the atrocity that killed more than 250 people.

Mohammed Nasar Mohammed Azar, 34, is pictured messaging and speaking on a mobile phone, praying at a mosque and scoping out his target.

The activity on his mobile phone offers evidence of a wider network possibly giving him instructions on when to mobilise.

He blew himself up at the Zion church in the east coast town of Batticaloa, a few miles from his hometown of Kattankudy.

The CCTV images capture Nasar Mohammed Azar arriving in the region on a bus just after 2am on Sunday morning.

He switches to a rickshaw, travelling for another hour until he pulls up outside the Jami Us-Salam mosque in Batticaloa.

The bomber leaves the vehicle and walks to the front gate of the mosque clutching two bags.

It is 3.13am. He can be seen waiting for the next two and a half hours, at times pacing up and down and checking his phone.

At one point a police car drives up, but the officers inside either do not see Mohammed Azar or he does not arouse their suspicions, and it pulls away.

At 5.42am the gate of the Jami Us-Salam mosque is opened, allowing the attacker to enter.

He can be seen walking inside the compound with his bags, presumably containing a suicide bomb, before finding a place to leave them, re-emerging with what looks like a washbag.

He enters a bathroom area to have a wash before striking up a conversation with someone else in the mosque.

Just after 6am he joins fellow worshippers to pray, before slipping away early, one hand in his pocket again.

Next, he is shown in colour pictures, in a bright blue T-shirt and black tracksuit bottoms, praying alone between two plastic chairs.

Then he changes into the outfit he will wear for the suicide mission – an orange top, a beige cap with an energy drink logo on it and a rucksack.

It is the same style of rucksack used by the other bombers.

He appears to be staking out his target, speaking on the phone and walking slowing.

It is only minutes until the first suicide bomb goes off in Colombo.

At around that time, Nasar Mohammed Azar is pictured back at the mosque, having switched back into his blue shirt.

He fetches what look to be a pair of laced shoes and socks, before going to the bathroom one last time.

Just after 9.30am he emerges again with the orange shirt, baseball cap and backpack.

As he exits the mosque, he digs a mobile phone out of his pocket, looking at the screen and seemingly writing a message.

He strides casually along the street, steps over a cordon, and disappears out of shot.

The moment of the attack is not shown in these images.

A week on, the faces of Nasar Mohammed Azar’s victims – including 13 children – stare out from banners pinned up in mourning outside the Zion church.

Nasar Mohammed Azar’s home town of Kattankudy is the birthplace of Mohammed Hashim Mohammed Zaharan, the suspected ringleader of the suicide bombers.

A security source said the two men were friends.

They had both been living away, but Nasar Mohammed Azar reappeared three days before Easter.

He travelled in and out of the area in the final stages of his assault.

His mother has since been arrested after she allegedly burnt documents, including photographs of her son, according to a source.

Source: Sky News

Courtesy Adaderana

An external lecturer of a university, who has allegedly conducted lectures at mosques belonging to the National Thawheed Jamaath (NTJ), has been arrested at Mundalama in Madurankuliya.

The arrest was made in a joint search operation conducted by the Police and the Army yesterday (30).

The 39-year-old arrestee is a father of four and it was revealed he is employed as an external lecturer at a university in the capital.

He was arrested along with 18 SIM cards, two laptop computers, two mobile phones and one iPad.

Investigations have been launched to discover if the equipment seized during the arrest were used for any terrorist activities

DHARSHAN WEERASEKERA

President Maithripala Sirisena must resign immediately and make way for new Presidential elections.  It is the decent thing to do, and more importantly is in the interests of the country.  Sri Lankans must have a chance to choose a leader capable of conducting a vigorous and sustained campaign against Islamist terrorism, the new existential threat that the country is facing. 

Sirisena was brought to power by a coalition of forces led by the U.S. to facilitate bringing fundamental Constitutional as well as economic changes to this country,  changes that would make the country more or less a permanent vassal of the U.S. and thereby prevent China from gaining a foothold here.  Under the Sirisena-Ranil regime that lasted from 8^th January 2015 to 26^th October 2018 many of those changes were made or were about to be made.    

To Sirisena’s immense credit, he did not sell-out the country completely.  Had he not sacked Rani Wickremasinghe as PM on 26^th October 2018 and subsequently ended the ‘National Government’ we might well be living under the ‘Urumiththa Nadu’ Constitution by now, a fate no less awful than living under an Islamic ‘caliphate.’ However, Sirisena is not the man to lead a campaign against the Islamist terrorists. 

This is evident from the way he has conducted himself in the very first week after the bombings.  To the best of my knowledge, he was taken three steps: first, appoint a Commission of Inquiry which is to report within two weeks on the reasons behind the bombings and any shortcomings in the Government’s response, second, call an All-Party-Conference and third, promise that he will solve the problem, ‘as soon as possible.’

Those measures will probably help Sirisena buy time and save his neck as usual, but they do not in any way help answer the fundamental questions as to how Islamist terrorists appear to have sunk deep roots in this country, including set up extensive networks of suicide bombers, safe houses, bomb factories, etc. and most importantly what the Government’s vision, plan or policy is on how to combat this. 

To digress a moment and turn to the LTTE, the previous terrorism that Sri Lanka successfully stamped out, to the best of my understanding we won the war only when we:  a) mobilized the full resources of the State for the war, in effect making it a national priority, b) stopped relying on foreign advisors and advice and instead devised our own strategies and tactics (certainly when we needed specialized equipment or training we turned to the foreigners—Pakistanis for Multi-Barrel Rocket launchers, the Chinese for tanks and assault rifles, the Americans and the Indians for intel on the LTTE’s ‘floating armories’ etc. but the strategy, tactics as well as personnel were our own—and c) put together a good team of commanders who could take the fight to the enemy. 

Sri Lankans cannot afford to make the same mistakes that prolonged the fight against the LTTE for nearly thirty years.  Not only do we need a leader who can militarily crush the Islamist terrorists as swiftly as possible, but just as important and perhaps more so, find a long-term solution to ensure that the people of this country have a semblance of a common cultural and national identity rather than be a collection of separate communities thrown together. 

Undoubtedly, to accomplish the above one would have to among other things make profound changes in the economic system, the educational system and the foreign policy of the country.  The educational system in particular would have to be thoroughly re-examined.  For instance, how is it that Sri Lanka can have universal free education according to national standards and curriculums but there appear to be groups of persons within this country who look and act as if they were born and bred in the tribal lands of Afghanistan or Pakistan? 

So, the next President of Sri Lanka, whoever he or she turns out to be, must have the vision, skill and tact to handle these issues.  He or she must also have a fresh and undisputed mandate from the people.  Sirisena has none of these things.  However, he still has about 6 months left in his term, and six months can be crucial to how the campaign against the Islamists shapes up. 

Six months is sufficient for the enemy to re-group, and also for, a) various countries to further entrench themselves in Sri Lanka under the pretext of helping fight terrorism, b) the enemy to try and assassinate our best leaders and potential leaders and thereby deprive us of their service, and c) the enemy to launch more attacks that ultimately trigger anti-Muslim riots.  In such a situation the problem will become quite intractable because the terrorists will start getting more and more recruits.

I admire Sirisena for what he did on 26^th October 2018.  He has an unparalleled capacity among Sri Lankan politicians to take bold decisions—except, those decisions have so far been to save his own neck!  Now, he has to make a decision on behalf of the country and the people he claims to love.  He must go, in order that the rest of us might live. 

BY EDWARD THEOPHILUS

Many people talk that under the constitutional reforms, a Muslim administration unit should be established in the Eastern Province and what is the logical base for this idea is a question when current experience in Sri Lanka is analysed and who created this idea is needed to discuss broadly.

Since the election of yahapalana regime in 2015, the existing constitutional structure of the country wanted to change converting to a federal system in which the hidden motive of the yahapalana advocates was to disunite the country and with a hidden objective of creating a Muslim administration unit in the Eastern province.  The aim of the proponents might have expanding IS terrorism to the South and South East Asia.   The hidden motive of the yahapalana advocates was strongly opposed by the Sinhala community in Sri Lanka without a religious difference. The yahapalana advocates attempted to define the vote base of the country using dubious points and arguments using unrealistic assumptions that Sinhala votes might divide basically Buddhists and Christians, then UNP and SLFP.  Mr. Mangala Samaraweera and Mr. Rajitha Senaratne in the yahapalana coalition pushed to achieve the objective eye washing of the president of Sri Lanka as well as prominent members of UNP. In fact, the secret agenda of Mr. Mangala Samaraweera was to achieve a UN position and Mr. Rajaitha Senarathne was to find a place for his son, who became an unpopular politician in Sri Lanka mainly because he is a popular figure, who lies to the public.  Mr. Mangala Samaraweera attempted to get a UN position before, but his qualifications for a UN position (A Tailoring Certificate) was not a foundation qualification for a senior UN position.

Historically, Sri Lanka had been governed by Kings, who treated the country as a unitary state with provincial administrative units like Municipal style governing bodies (Rata) at district levels. The district administrative units (Korala or pattu) was not entirely based on religions, ethnical races or castes. There was some historical evidence that Kings mentioned Demala Pattutu and Vedi Pattuwa as Tamil and Indigenous people lived in those areas, but they were not federal style constitutional units.  At present majority residents in those area are Sinhala people. There were not administrative divisions based on religions.

Current population of the country according to the census of 2012, 74.9% Sinhala, 11.2% Lanka Tamil, 4.1% Indian Tamil, 9.3% Muslim and 0.5% others.  This ethnic mixture of population assumes to be changed during the past ten years period, the major contributing factor could be considered as migration of Tamil and Christian population overseas and the current Sinhala population, could be assumed that has increased to 77% and Muslim Population also increased to 10% as the women fertility of Muslim women is higher than the average. The national average of women fertility in Sri Lanka is 2.3 (Sinhala 2.3, Sri Lanka Tamil 2.3, Indian Tamil 2.9 and Muslim 3.3), but Muslim women’s fertility is comparatively higher (3.3) than the national average (2.3).

Although the government had a policy agreement to change the women fertility, it has not been successfully implemented by the government and there is an informal view that Muslim women are given encouragement to have more babies.  Compared to other races in the country most Muslim women do not willing to go out of houses and work.  Muslim women stay at home and look after kids, when they go out wear burqa and walk on the road, no one can recognize them and maintain any relationship and association. Only few Muslim women married with Sinhala or Tamil men and the usual practice is when a Muslim female married to a Sinhala or Tamil person she would be expelled from the family.  It seems that Muslims want to increase their population, despite the government policy to control women fertility in the country.  The culture of Muslim people in Sri Lanka encourages women to stay in the house and live in a static society without an employment in outside and the purpose of the culture is to look after kids at home.  For education, marriage and divorce, Muslim people have more flexible legal provisions in Sri Lanka, which are not available to other ethnic communities in the country.

According to the census of 2012, 70.1% of population in Sri Lanka counts as Buddhist in religion, 12.6% Hindus, 9.7% Islam and 7.6 % Christian and others. It is quite easy to assume that 75% of current population is Buddhist and Islam has increased to more than 10% of population.  Within these religions there are sects and accurate statistics of sectoral population of each religion are not available.

The first official census of Sri Lanka was taken place in 1881 and the classification of population included Muslims as an Ethnic race in the country without clear anthropologic or biological evidence.  All other ethnic groups were identified based on language they speak. In other countries we cannot see that population is classified by religious basis and in the Middle Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia, UAE, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Iran do not classify on religious basis and why Sri Lanka did adapt such a fallacious classification system and it needs to be corrected as soon as possible. According to historical information, Sinhala speaking people converted to Islam in Upcountry and Sothern area and Tamil speaking people in the North, North Central and East, in fact, they should have classified as Sinhala Muslim and Tamil Muslim.  The Muslim religious people should have included to Sinhala and Tamil ethnic groups. Why this problem is not corrected by the government?

The historical information indicates that the major reason to Sinhala and Tamil people convert to Muslim was the flexible marriage and divorce legal provisions in the Muslim culture.  This reason caused to massively convert people in Indonesia and Malaysia.  In the history people in those countries were Buddhist and Hindus.  In a society where allowed to polygamy, Muslim religion did not expand rapidly.  For example, it can give Papua New Guinea and many South Pacific Countries.  In Sri Lanka, when men wanted to divorce and remarry, they converted Muslim as it was easier. When I was a law student in Sri Lanka, I read a new law report that a famous Sinhala political figure, Mr Anil Moonasinghe converted to Muslim to divorce his wife and marry another woman.   

The major concentration of this article is to consider the constitutional style of the country and uniting the country with different divisions.  As the ambassador of the United States in Sri Lanka it is correct that the unity of people in the country is a key factor to defeat terrorism whether it originated within the country or imported from overseas. The other important factor is that the unity of Sinhala people is vital factor to overcome terrorism issue in the country and to defeat fabricated constitutional reforms.

If Sinhala people are united without political deviations, majority of the parliament would be Sinhala, and Muslim and Hindus will be a minority, which need the consent of majority Sinhala community to make constitutional reforms.  Sinhala people divided on political party basis since the era of the State Council.  Later it was appeared that Sinhala people was divided by economic policy and it was changed after 1978. Now all Sinhala people agree with the market economic policy and why they have differences now is a question. The most conspicuous answer to the question is power and motive to be unduly enriched achieving political power.

Sri Lanka is a small country and the most appropriate constitutional style to the country is a unitary system with the unity of people. Any other style of a constitution will create never ending political, social and economic problems to the country.

The current problems clearly indicated that Sri Lanka needs anti-discrimination laws to control hate speeches and Muslim women are discriminated by male and the caste system among Tamil discriminate lower caste Tamils

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Baghdad, April 29 (AFP): The elusive chief of the Islamic State group Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has purportedly appeared for the first time in five years in a propaganda video released Monday by the extremist organisation.

It is unclear when the footage was filmed, but the man said to be Baghdadi referred in the past tense to the months-long fight for Baghouz, IS’s final bastion in eastern Syria, which ended last month.

The battle for Baghouz is over,” the man said, sitting cross-legged on a cushion and addressing three men whose faces have been blurred.

But he insisted that IS’s operations against the West were part of a long battle,” and that IS would take revenge” on members who had been killed.

There will be more to come after this battle,” he said.

Sky News✔@SkyNews

BREAKING: Video appearing to show Islamic State leader, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi emerges.

In the propaganda clip, he praises those behind the Sri Lanka attacks.

Full story here: http://po.st/IMAQVa 1166:13 PM – Apr 29, 2019239 people are talking about thisTwitter Ads info and privacy

Baghdadi, 47, had a long grey beard that appeared dyed with henna and spoke slowly, often pausing for several seconds in the middle of his sentences.

He appeared for the first and last time in public in Mosul in 2014, where he declared an Islamic caliphate” in the swathes of territory IS then held in Syria and Iraq.

He was reported killed or injured multiple times since then.

His last voice recording to his supporters was released in August, eight months after Iraq announced it had defeated IS and as US-backed forces closed in next door in Syria.

Courtesy Adaderana

Presidential hopeful, former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa says he is not a citizen of the United States anymore.

Joining the 360° political programme yesterday (29), the former Defence Secretary said nearly 99 percent of the process of withdrawing his US citizenship is completed.

Gotabaya said he does not dual citizenship as of now.

දීපිකා දිල්රුක්ෂි ගුණසේන

මම බෞද්ධයෙක්. හතර වරිගෙම බෞද්ධ අමු සිංහල බෞද්ධයෙක්!

 ඒත් මගේ රටේ කතෝලික බැතිමතුන් ගැන පුදුම ආදරයක් මට දැනෙන්නේ.මට විතරක් නෙවි, මේ රටේ හැම කෙනෙකුටම ඒ විදියේ හැගීමක් අනිවාර්යයෙන්ම ඇතිවෙලා ඇති. මගේ රටේ කතෝලිකයන් කියන්නේ කොහොමටත් රටට කරදරයක් නොවී… නිසිතැන-සමතැන ගන්න වද වෙන්නේ නැතිව… මේ රටේ මහා සංස්කෘතියට අභියෝග කරනු වෙනුවට යස අපුරුවට තමන්ගේ විශ්වාසයන් ඇදහීම් මේ රටේ සංස්කෘතියට… මුල්වලට… හද ගැස්මට ගලපාගෙන… මිශ්‍රවෙලා… සහයෝගෙන්, සමාදානෙන් තමන්ගේ පාඩුවේ ජීවත්වුණු සහෝදර ජනවර්ගයක්.

 ඒ වගේම මට කතෝලික බැතිමතුන් ගැන පුදුම ආඩම්බරයක් තියෙන්නේ. ඒ අයගේ කකියන ලේ කඳුලින් දියකරලා අයෙමත් කලින්ටත් වඩා ලෝකෙට ආදරය කරන්න පුළුවන් හදවතක් තියෙනවා කියන එක ලේසි පහසු වැඩක් නෙවි. ඒක ජිවිත කාලයක…පරම්පරා ගණනක හුරුවක්… උගැන්මක්… පුහුණුවක්.. කිතු සමිදාණන් ගේ ඉගැන්විමතුළ ලද ඔවුන් අපුරු ශික්ෂණය හා දෙවිඳුන් කෙරෙහි වූ අප්‍රමාන භක්තියක් එයින් අපුරුවට විදහා දක්වනවා.

 ඒ වගේම කතෝලික බැතිමතුනි, මට ඔයාලා ගැන පුංචි ඉරිසියාවක් තියෙනවා. ආත්මනුකම්පාවක් එක්ක කැටි වුනු පුංචි  ඉරිසියාවක්. මේක බෞද්ධ රටක් උනාට අපිට ඔයාලට වගේ පෙරටුගාමී, පරිණත, මධ්‍යස්ත ජීවමාන ආගමික නායකත්වයක් මේ වෙද්දී මේ රට ඇතුලේ අපිට නැහැ.අපි වෙනුවෙන්… රට වෙනුවෙන්.. කතාකරන්න.. හසුරවන්න ඉදිරිපත්වෙන තරුණ හිමිවරුන් කිහිප නමක් අතරින් පතර උන්නත් ආගමික සංවිධාන රාමුවේ බලය හා නිලය උසුලන කිසිම බෞද්ධ ආගමික නායකත්වයක් මේ වෙලාවේ රටේ ජනතාව හසුරවන්න…. ජනතාවත් එක්ක එකට හිටගන්න… එලියට වැඩියේ නැහැ. මේ කර්කශ ලෝකේ ජිවත්වෙද්දී ආගමික ශාස්තෘ වරුන් හා ඒ ඉගැන්වුම් විතරක් නෙවි මිනිසුන් හසුරවන්න ජීවමාන ආගමික නායකත්වයකුත් තියෙන්නම ඕනි. ඒ නායකත්වය යම් ආකාරයක සාර්ථක නායකත්ව ගුණවලින් අනුන විය යුත්තේද  … එකී සියලුම නායකත්ව ගුණෝපේත ලක්ෂණ ඔබේ ජීවමාන ආගමික නායකත්වය සතුයි කියල කියන්න මම අබමල් රේණුවකවත් ලෝබ වන්නේ නැහැ. ඒ වගේම වර්තමානය වෙද්දී බෞද්ධ අපිට ඒවගේ නිලයෙන් පැවරුණු වගකීම් ඉටුකෙරෙන ආගමික නායකත්වයක් පෙනෙන්නට ඇත්තේ නැති බවත් කියන්න ලජ්ජා වන්නේත් නැහැ

 අගරදගුරු හිමියනි, මගේ රට, ගැහුවොත් ගහන… මැරුවොත් මරණ කා කොටා ගන්නා ම්ලේච්ච ජන වර්ගයක් නොවන බව ලෝකයට පෙන්වන්නට මුල්වුණේ ඒ පසුපස උන්නේ ඔබ වහන්සේයි.තව තවත් ලෝකයේ අවමානයට, අපවාදයට, අසරණ භාවයට පත් වීම වළක්වාලූයේ ඔබ වහන්සේයි. නගර පුරා…කාණු දිගේ…වීථි දිගේ… ලේ ගලන මහා සංහාරයක් වළක්වාලූයේ ඔබ වහන්සේයි.  ත්‍රස්තප්‍රහාරයෙන් විනාශ වූ දෙහැර මිනිසුන් අනේක දුක් විඳ උපයා සපයාගත් දේපල සියල්ල මෙතරම් ව්‍යසනයකාරී තත්වයකදී පවා ඉතා සුළු ලෙසවත් විනාශ නොවුනේද… රැකුනේද… ඔබ වහන්සේ නිසාය. විපතට පත්ව ගිනියම්වූ හදවත් ඉවසීමෙන් නවතාලුයේ…  සන්සුන්වන්නට  කියන මේ එකම දේශපාලුවකු ගේ ඉල්ලීමකට නොව ඔබ වහන්සේගේ වචනයට ඔබේ බැතිමතුන් ගේ ඇති ආදරය හා ගෞරවය නිසාය.රටක ආගමික නායකයකුට ඉපයිය හැකි… හිමිවන… ඉහළතම ගෞරවය ඔබවහන්සේට ලැබී අවසානය.ඒ මේ රට වැසියන් පසුගිය පාස්කු ඉරිදා සිට අද වෙනතෙක් හැසිරුණු කටයුතු කල අයුරිනි. මේ ලෝකයේ කිනම් හෝ ආගමික නායකත්වයකට ලබන්නට මීටත් වඩා ඉහල පදවියක්… ගෞරවයක්… නිලයක් හෝ තානාන්තරයක් ඇත්දැයි මට හිතා ගන්නට බැරිය

 ඔබ වහන්සේගේ සභාවේ ඔබේ බැතිමතුන්ට මෙවන් අපරාධයක් කල ද්‍රෝහීන්ටත් ප්‍රේම කරන්න වෛර නොකරන්න. ආදරය කරන්නටයි ඉල්ලන්නට හැකි ඔබවහන්සේ ඔබේ බැතිමතුන්ට කෙතරම් ආදරය කරනවා ඇතිද? එකි බැතිමතුන්ට මේ ඇතිවූ ව්‍යසනය, ඔබවවහන්සේව කෙතරම් කම්පනයට පත්කරන්නට ඇතිද? එවන් අවස්ථාවකදී මෙතරම් පරිණත ඉවසීමක්… සුපේශල හික්මීමක්…ඇතිව වචන මාත්‍රයක පරොස් බවක්… අංශුමාත්‍රයක තරහවක්… ඉස්මතු නොකරන්නට තරම් ඇති ඔබේ බුද්ධිමත් ඉවසීම මනුෂ්‍යත්වය ඉක්මවා ගිය දේවත්වයකි

 ගෙවුණු  සතියේ මේ රට පාලනය කලේ අතිඋතුම් අගරදගුරුහිමිපාණන් බව කිවහොත් මේ රටේ කිසි කෙනෙකු විරුද්ධ වන්නේ නැත. උන්වහන්සේ එසේ පිළිගන්නට අකමැති විය හැකි වුවද මේ රට පාලනය කළ නිහඩ හඬ අගරදගුරු හිමිපාණන් ය . කිතුණු බැතිමතුන් පමණක් නොව රටක් හැටියට අපි සියල්ලෝම උන්වහන්සේගේ වචනයට ලබ්ධීන් ගේ බෙදීමක් නැතුවම අනුගත වුනෙමු.එකී අනුගත භාවය නායකයකුට ලේසියෙන් උපයා ගතහැක්කක් නොවේ.ඉවසීමෙන් නැවතිල්ලේ කතාකරන… කියන හැම වචනයකටම වගකීමෙන් බැඳෙන ලෙස අදහස් ප්‍රකාශ කරන…ඒ හැම වචනයකම තමන්ගේ ශාස්තෘවරයාණන් ගේ ඉගැන්වීම පිළිඹිබු කරන… ශාන්ත නිවුණු ප්‍රතිරූපය තුල වූ අභිමානවත් නායකත්ව පෞරුෂයට අපි සියල්ලෝම අනුගත වුනෙමු.ආගමික නායකයෙකුට අනුගාමිකයන් අනුගත කරගැනීම එතරම් අමාරු නැති බව  කෙනෙක්ට කිව හැකි වුවද… මෙවැනි උඩු ගං බලා පීනන්නට අවශ්‍ය අවස්ථාවක අනුගාමිකයන් අවනතකරගැනීම ලෙහෙසි නැත. උන් වහන්සේ ලද දිනුම එයයි. ඉවසීම යනු වචනයක් නොකියා සිද්දිය කර ඇරීමක් නොවන බවත්… අවදිකරවන හඬේ ස්වරයද… අන්තර්ගතයද… තමන්ගේ ශාස්තෘවරයාගේ ඉගනුම අභිබවන්නේ නැතිව ඊට අනුකුල වීමද ආගමික නායකයකු ලබන ප්‍රසාදයට හේතුවන බව පෙන්වා දුනි. උන්වහන්සේගේ අනුපමේය නායකත්ව පෞරුෂය … මනුෂ්‍යත්වය ඉක්මවන ජිවන ස්වභාවය අගයන්නට මම කිතුණු දහම දන්නේ නැත. මගේ බුදුපියාණන් වහන්සේගේ ඉගැන්වීම තුළ ඇති මිනිසා බ්‍රහ්මයකු කරවන නොහොත් මනුෂ්‍යත්වයේ ඉහලම තලයකට පමුණුවන විහරණය අගරදගුරුහිමිපාණන් තුලින් දුටිමි. ඒ මෙත්ථා-කරුණා-මුදිතා-උපේක්ඛා ගුණයි.එකී සතර බ්‍රහ්ම විහරණය වචනයේ පරිසමාප්ත අර්ථයෙන්ම අනූනව උන්වහන්සේ තුළින් ජීවමානව දුටිමි.

 තවත් ඉතා දිගු කාලයක් ඔබේ බැතිමතුන්ට පමණක් නොව මගේ රටේ සියලුදෙනාට ආදරය කරන්නට මග පෙන්වන්නට ඔබ වහන්සේට තිසරණ සරණේ බලෙන් ජය ශ්‍රී මහා බෝසමිඳු පිහිටෙන් උතුම් ශ්‍රී දළදා වහන්සේගේ අනුභාවයෙන් නිරෝගී සැප…දිගාසිරි ප්‍රාර්ථනා කරමි.

 ©️ දීපිකා දිල්රුක්ෂි ගුණසේන

By ; A.A.M.NIZAM – MATARA

Amidst a scathing attack and continuous fish market behaviour by the Ministers and MPs the delinquent government, the former President and the Leader of the Opposition Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa blasted the the government inParliament on 23^rd April over the previous day’s Easter Sunday ISIS terrorist attack which killed over 300 innocent people and injured more than 500 persons.

 Given below is the full text of his speech..

Hon Speaker,

We are gathered here today, to discuss the future of our country following the bomb attacks that took place on Easter Sunday. More than 300 people were killed and more than 500 people were injured in those attacks. I wish to take this opportunity to once again convey my heartfelt condolences to the families of all those who have lost their lives and to wish those injured a speedy recovery.

After we ended the 30 year war on 19 May 2009, we all thought we had seen the last of such attacks. We were to mark the 10^th anniversary of the ending of terrorism next month. Even during that 30 year war, no single attack carried out by the terrorists targeting civilians ever resulted in as much carnage as the Easter Sunday attacks. The LTTE also carried out co-ordinated simultaneous attacks on multiple targets but even they were not able to wreak the same amount of destruction. The Easter Sunday attacks in Sri Lanka is said to be the biggest single terrorist attack targeting civilians ever to take place in South Asia. So many people did not lose their lives even in the Mumbai attacks of 2008.

This House has to look into the circumstances that enabled terrorism to once again raise its head in this country with such virulence. In November 2005, when I became President for the first time, there was a nominal ceasefire in operation. But the LTTE was carrying out attacks on a daily basis and killing two or three armed forces personnel in each attack. During that period a bomb attack on a bus resulted in a large number of civilian deaths.  When I went to St Anthony’s Church last Sunday following the attacks, I was reminded of the Kebithogollewa incident. The people of that area expressed a great deal resentment at our government over the Kebithogollewa incident.

The people have no use for a government that cannot assure them of the safety of their lives. In July 2006, we recommenced the war because the LTTE closed the Mavilaru anicut and blocked the water supply to a large number of villages in that area. It is the duty of the government to at the very minimum, to uphold the right of the people to live and to create an environment where they will be able to go about their day to day lives. That is why we never looked back after recommencing the war following the Mavilaru incident.

In January 2015, I handed over a completely secure and peaceful country to the new President. We had strengthened the intelligence services so that there would be absolutely no threat to the national security of the country. Our intelligence services worked closely with other intelligence services of neighbouring countries and other international intelligence services to ensure the security of the country. Whenever we got wind of a threat to national security, we acted on it. The Easter Sunday attacks would never have taken place under our government.

The present government is squarely responsible for the terrorist attacks that took place last Sunday. The police had issued early warnings of an impending attack.  However what action did the government take with regard to those warnings? They never informed the Church leaders about those warnings and neither did they provide extra security to the possible targets. All that the leaders of the present government did was to ensure that they themselves were nowhere near a possible target. On important occasion such as Easter, representatives of the government usually attend Mass, but this time there were no such representatives in the Churches.

When I went to the scenes of the attacks on Sunday, one government minister said that the opposition is trying to make political capital of the situation. I must remind them that I also visited Kebithigollewa in the same way in 2006. I am not speaking here as someone spewing forth empty words but as the individual who gave leadership to the government that defeated the terrorists that no one thought could ever be defeated.   From the moment this government came into power in January 2015, they have been persecuting the members of the armed forces and the intelligence services that ended that war.  How many of our armed forces personnel have they jailed over the past four years? How many times have they hauled former army commanders and commanders of the navy and airforce to the CID to be questioned?

Our war time defence secretary was relentlessly persecuted because he was my brother. They were not able to imprison him due to the intervention of the courts.

I have told this government on many occasions that this is not the armed forces of the Rajapaksas but the armed forces and intelligence services of the Republic of Sri Lanka. Regardless of which political party is in power, it is they who will have to ensure the security of the nation. This government never understood the point. Due to the political leadership that we gave them, our armed froces were able to win the war that was deemed unwinnable.

The armed forces personnel who carried out their duties on behalf of the nation were harassed and hunted down by this government. The government should at least now realise that you cannot run this country according to the dictates coming from foreign countries. We have to solve our own problems. The government was preparing to repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act on the instructions of their foreign masters. If that Act had been repealed, what kind of a position would we be in today? Because the government was engaged in relenetlessly persecuting its own armed forces, we became an easy target for terrorists. No other country in the world has persecuted and weakened their own armed forces and intelligence services in this manner. Terrorists observe these things and plan accordingly.

The Sunday attacks did not take place due to the negligence of one or two officials.  We can now see that the government is preparing to sacrifice some official and wash their hands of the matter. This incident occurred because of the conduct of this government from the time they came into power in January 2015. If anyone is to resign over these incidents, it should be the government. Despite the persecution that the intelligence services had been subject to, they did obtain prior intelligence relating to this attack and conveyed the information to certain quarters. But nothing happened thereafter.  That warning had been sent to my security officers as well, but they did not keep me informed about the threat.

If I had known that there was an imminent threat of this nature, I would have immediately informed His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith and also curtailed my own movements. Instructing officials on the manner in which they should conduct themselves in relation to matters involving national security, is the task of the government. That is what people elect governments for. The signal sent by this government to officials at all levels is that national security is not important.That is the reason for all this mayhem.  These incidents did not occur without warning. The recent destruction of Buddha statues in Mawanella, the attempt on the life of a close supporter of a Muslim Minister from that area, the discovery of over 100 kilos of explosives from Puttlam, are all connected. So this attack did not just come from the blues. Having received information that an attack can take place, all that the government did was to ensure that they themselves were safe. 

This terrorist attck is very different to similar attacks that took place during the 30 year war. The terrorists of that time did not target foreigners because they had people living in those countries and funding the terrorist campaign in Sri Lanka. But this new terrorism targets locals as well as foreigners. That strikes a death blow not only to the tourist industry but to foreign investment as well. This terrorism has to be conclusively defeated.  I request the government to halt the persecution of the armed forces at least now. The Council of Religions headed by the Ven. Ittepane Dammalankara Mahanayake Thera and His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith has also called upon the government to desist from weakening the intelligence services further.    

The arrests of armed forces and intelligence services personnel that took place after this government came into power was very often not based on solid evidence. In order to please the yahapalana government the CID obtains statements from certain people using various stratagems and then uses these statements to arrest members of the armed forces and intelligence services. Some of these so called witnesses have made special statements to Magistrates explaining how the CID obtained statements from them implicating various people. Stop this filthy practice at least now.

As the opposition, we will extend our fullest cooperation to the law enforcements authorities and the armed forces to ensure national security. I request the people not to take the law into their own hands and to extend their fullest cooperation to the law enforcement authorities and the armed forces to solve this problem. We must remember that terrorists have no religion. The public needs more information about some matters and I would like to address the following questions to the government.

1. When did the SIS and the Security Concil first get to know of the organisation that is said to be behind these attacks?
2. According to the information available to the government, since when has this organization taken to terrorism?
3. What action was taken in respect of these reports?
4. Who investigated the Wanathaviluawa incident where over 100 kilos of explosives were found?
5. Who were the suspects arrested in this regard? Was this brought to the notice of the Security Council? If so when and by whom? What action was taken in this regard?
6. How many persons were arrested in this regard? Who were they? How many of them sere produced in courts?  How many were released?
7. Were any of these suspects released at the request of any person? If so who was the person who made such a request?
8. Was there an intelligence report of a threat to national security in the month of April? Was this brought to the notice of the Security Council? If so, when and by whom? Who attended the security council on that day?
9. Has the involvement of a foreign party in these attacks been established? If so what is the foreign party involved?

Thank you.

Addressing a meeting of religious and political leaders in the parliamentary complex, the former President Nr.Mahinda Rajapaksa has said that  priority should be given to religious reconciliation in the country and that religious reconciliation was as important as communal reconciliation and ahas ssured that neither he nor his party would try to gain political mileage out of the present situation in the country. The Opposition Leader said all those concerned with safeguarding the country should take the responsibility for the Easter Sunday bombings.

On 28^th Sunday evening Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa held a special meeting with former Security Chiefs on the current security situation in the country, and inj this meeting he requested the participants to provide short term and long term solutions that need to taken at this moment.  

the meeting was attended by the former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, formerChief of the Security Division Jagath Jayasuriya, former Army Commander Daya Ratnayake, former Air Force Chief Roshan Gunatilleke, former Navy Commabders Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda, Admiral Mohan Wijewickrema, Admiral Jagath Kolombage, former IGPs Mahinda Balasuriya, Cyhandra Fernando, former Governot Major General G.A.Chandrasiri, MPs Dalas Alahapperuma, Vasudeva Nanayakkara, Bandula Gunawardene, Udaya Gammanpila, and former Ministers Basil Rajapaksa and prof. G.L.Peiris

MEP Leader Dinesh Gunawardena, lashed out at the government for its failure to prevent the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks. He scoffed at claims that its leaders were unaware of intelligence reports in the days leading up to the attacks.

Speaking in Parliament during the debate on State of Emergency, Mr. Gunawardena noted that before the commencement of a debate on a state of emergency, the government

would usually present all available information that necessitated the declaration of a state of emergency. “Yet, this government is incapable of doing even that,” he said.

Commenting on claims that both the Prime Minister and State Minister of Defence were unaware of intelligence reports warning of an impending attack, the MP pointed out that as both claimed to be leaders of the government, they could not claim ignorance.

He said that “We have never in our history, ever had a Prime Minister who claimed he did not know. How can he say he didn’t know? You admitted that information (of attacks being planned) was available from April 4. There was information about this group from 2016, when the PM was in the National Security Council,” MP Gunawardena remarked.

MP Gunawardena said he was saddened to see his classmate, the PM, trotting out such excuses. “A Royalist should stand up, not just dodge and run,” he said.

In a separate address in Parliameny MP Gunawardane told  the government that it should not by any circumstance allow foreign security forces to enter this country at this moment.

He urged the government to conduct an investigation into the issuance of Visas to thousands of foreigners under lax conditions.

He said that investigations into the matter should be carried out immediately and said it was pointless asking the IGP to do so.

He said if the government could not defeat this extremist terrorist groups, it should quit and hand over this country to someone who could do it and added that the country could not be governed when there was a crisis between the President and the Prime Minister and stressed the need to pay way for a new government.

(To be copntinued)  .

අද දින පැවැති ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුනේ මාධ්‍ය හමුව

අද දින පැවැති මාධ්‍ය හමුවට සහභාගි වූ නියෝජිතයින්

■             ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුනේ සභාපති මහාචාර්ය ජි. එල්. පිරිස් මහතා 

■             පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී සුසිල් ප්‍රේමජයන්ත මහතා 

■             පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී රෝහිත අබේගුණවර්ධන මහතා 

■             පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී කෙහෙළිය රඹුක්වැල්ල මහතා 

■             නීතිවල අඩුපාඩුවක් නෙවෙයි ලැබුණු තොරතුරු වලින් ප්‍රයෝජන ගෙන ජනතාව ආරක්ෂා කිරීමට රජයේ දෙපාර්ශවය අපොහොසත් වීමයි සිදුවුනේ. 

■             රටේ වාසනාවට තව මාස හයයි තියෙන්නේ. ඒ කාලයේ අවම වශයෙන් ජනතාවගේ ජිවිත ආරක්ෂා කර ගැනීමට උත්සුක විය යුතුයි.

ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුනේ සභාපති මහාචාර්ය ජි. එල්. පිරිස් මහතා

මෙවැනි සිද්ධියක් නැවත සිදුනොවිමට වගබලාගත යුතුයි. ඒ සදහා ආණ්ඩුව එකක් ලෙස වැඩ කළ යුතුයි. රටකට ආණ්ඩු දෙකක් තියෙන්න බැහැ. රජයේ පාර්ශවයන් දෙක එකිනෙකාට ඇගිලි දිගු කරනවා පමණය’. එකට එකතු වෙලා රට පාලනය කරන්න වරමක් මොවුන් ජනතාවගෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටියා. අද ජනාධිපති ශ්‍රීලනීපයේ. අගමැති එජාපයේ. මොවුන් එකතු වෙලා සාමුහිකව රට පාලනය කරන්නයි ජනතාවගෙන් වරමක් ගත්තේ. ජනාධිපතිතුමා බුද්ධි අංශ දුර්වල කිරීමේ වගකීම රජය භාරගත යුතු බව කියනවා. කවුද රජය. ජනාධිපති ඇතුලු කැබිනට් මණ්ඩලය. රජයේ උච්ඡතම ස්ථානය ජනාධිපතිවරයායි. ජනාධිපතිවරයාට රජයෙන් බැහැර වෙලා රජය විවේඡනය කරන්න බැහැ. 

නිව්යෝක් ටයිම් පුවත්පතේ පළවෙනි පිටුවේ තියෙනවා ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජයට බුද්ධි අංශවලින් තොරතුරු ලැබුණු බව. පුද්ගලයින්ගේ නම් දුරකතන අංක, සාකච්ඡා පැවැත්වූ ස්ථාන පවා එහි සදහන් වෙනවා. මේ තොරතුරු රජය අතට පත්ව තිබුණත් පියවරක් ගත්තේ නැහැ. මේ තොරතුරු අගරදගුරුවරයාට දිලා තිබුණා නම් කිසිදු දේව මෙහෙයක් පවත්වන්නේ නැහැ. යුද හමුදාපතිවරයා කියන්නේ මේ ගැන තොරතුරක් තිබුණා නම් ඔවුන් ක්‍රියාත්මක වෙන බවයි. හොටල් ක්ෂේත්‍රයේ අයට මොන යම් හෝ තොරතුරක් ලැබී තිබුණානම් හෝටල් ආරක්ෂා කර ගන්නවා. මේකට ජනාධිපතිතුමා අගමැතිතුමා වගේම සමස්ත රජයම වගකිව යුතුයි. රජයේ ස්ථාවරය මෙහි වගකීම භාරගෙන ආරක්ෂක ලේකම් හා පොලිස්පතිවරයා ඉවත් වීමයි. අපි එය පිළිගන්නේ නැහැ. දේශපාලන අධිකාරියම වග කිව යුතුයි. මෙවනි නිලධාරීන් පත්කිරීමේදී රජය වගකිව යුතුයි. සිද්ධ වුනු ඛේදවාචකය වගේම හිටපු ආරක්ෂක ලේකම්වරයාගේ ප්‍රකාශයත් රටට බලපෑවා. සිද්ධි එකක් දෙකක් වෙයි. මෙතරම් දෙයක් වෙයි කියලා හිතුවේ නැහැයි එතුමා කළ ප්‍රකාශය ලොව පුරා ප්‍රචලිත වුනා. හදිසි නිතිය නොතිබුණු නිසා හමුදාවෙන් ප්‍රයෝජන ගැනීමේ හැකියාවක් රජයට තිබුනේ නැහැු කියලත් හිටපු ලේකම්වරයා කිව්වා. හදිසි නීතිය තත්ත්පර 30න් ක්‍රියාත්මක කරන්න පුලුවන්. ජනාධිපතිවරයා ලියවිල්ල අත්සන් කිරීම පමණයි ප්‍රමාණවත්. ගැසට් කරන්නේ ජනතාවගේ දැන ගැනිම සදහායි. හදිසි නීතිය නොතිබු බව කියමින් කෙදිරි ගෑමෙන් ප්‍රයෝජනයක් නැහැ. අවශ්‍යතාවය තියෙනවා නම් ඒ බලතල ලබා ගන්න පුලුවන්. නිතියේ අඩුපාඩු නෙවෙයි දේශපාලන අධිෂ්ථානය නැති එකයි වුනේ. 

පොලිස්පති ගැන මුලු රටම දන්නවා. පළමු දවසේ සිට තනතුර දරන්න නුසුදුසු බව එතුමා මැනවින් ප්‍රදර්ශනය කළා. ව්‍යවස්ථා සභාවේ නිර්දේශය මත මිසක් හැකියාව හා ජ්‍යේෂ්ඨත්වය අනුව නෙවෙයි ඔහු පත්වුනේ. කරූ ජයසූරිය මහතාගේ ප්‍රධානත්වයෙන් රැස්වුනු ව්‍යවස්ථාදායකයයි මේ පත්කිරිම කලේ. පටු දේශපාලන වාසිගැන නොහිතා රටේ ජනතාවගේ ජිවිත ගැන සිතා දැන්වත් ජනාධිපති හා අගමැතිවරයා කියන දෙපාර්ශවය සාමුහික වගකීමෙන් කිසියම් විදිමත් වැඩපිළිවෙලකට පැමිණිය යුතුයි. නිලධාරීන් දඩමිමා කරගැනීමකයි මොවුන් යෙදී ඉන්නේ. ඒ අතර අගමැතිවරයා ස්කයි නිව්ස් සමග සම්මුඛ සාකච්ඡාවකදී නීතිවල අඩුපාඩුවක් තියෙන බව ප්‍රකාශ කර තිබෙනවා. ඒක සම්පූර්ණයෙන් වැරදයි’ එතුමා වගකීමෙන් මිදෙන්න කරන ව්‍යාජ තර්කයක්. ත්‍රස්තවාදය ආරක්ෂා කිරීමේ පනත, මහජන ආරක්ෂණ පනත හා දණ්ඩ නීති සංග්‍රහය කියන පනත් තුනේම ප්‍රමාණවත් විදිවිධාන අඩංගුයි මෙ තත්ත්වය සම්බන්ධයෙන් කටයුතු කරන්න. මිහිපිට තිබුණු භයානක ත්‍රස්තවාදී කණ්ඩායමක් මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගේ රජය සමයේ මර්දනය කලේ  මේ නීතිවලින්. ඒ කියන්නේ නීතිවල අඩුපාඩුවක් නෙවෙයි ලැබුණු තොරතුරු වලින් ප්‍රයෝජන ගෙන ජනතාව ආරක්ෂා කිරීමට රජයේ දෙපාර්ශවය අපොහොසත් වීමයි සිදුවුනේ. 

රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා කියනවා මේ සියලු ප්‍රශ්න ඇති වුනේ ප්‍රති ත්‍රස්තවාදි පනත පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ සම්මත නොවුනු නිසා. පොල් ගාන්නේ නැතිව ඉක්මනින් මෙය සම්මත කරන්නලු. ත්‍රස්තවාදය වැළැක්වීමේ පනත අහෝසි කරන්නයි මේ යන්නේ. එහෙම කරනවා කියලා ජාත්‍යන්තරයට පොරොන්දුවක් දීලා තියෙනවා. මේ ඛේදවාචකය ඇති වුනාම රජය යොදා ගත්තේ ත්‍රස්තවාදය වැළැක්වීමේ පනතයි. අද වෙන කොට 150ක් පමණ සිරභාරයට අරන්. ඒ ත්‍රස්තවාදය වැළැක්වීමේ පනත යටතෙයි. පනත අහෝසි කරලා තිබුණා නම් මේ ක්‍රියාමාර්ග කඩිනම් වෙන්නේ නැහැ. ඒ වගේම ත්‍රස්තවාදය වැලැක්වීමේ පනතේ සමහර වගන්ති හදිසි රිති රෙගුලාසිවලටත් යටත් කළා. ප්‍රති ත්‍රස්ත පනතින් වෙන්නේ ත්‍රස්තවාදින් නලවලා පෝෂණය කිරිමයි. මිනි මැරුමකදි දෙන්නේ මරණිය දණ්ඩනය. හැබැයි මෙම්පනත යටතේ 350ක් මැරුවොත් සිද්ධ වෙන්නේ ජිවිතාන්තය දක්වා සිරදඩුවමට යටත් කිරීම පමණයි. ත්‍රස්තවාදින්ට පුදුම දයාවක් කරුණාවක් මේ පනතින් දක්වනවා. පනතේ දෙවැනි උපලේඛණය අනුව ත්‍රස්තවාදියෙක් අත් අඩංගුවට ගත්තොත් වහාම ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ මානව හිමිකම් කොමිෂමට දැන්විය යුතුයි. තුන්වැනි උපලේඛණය අනුව පොලිස්පතිවරයාට වහාම දැන්විය යුතුයි. මන්ත්‍රීවරයෙක් අත් අඩංගුවට ගත්තොත් එවැනි අවශ්‍යතාවයක් නැහැ. මේ පනත ගේන්නේ ත්‍රස්තවාදය වළක්වීමේ අරමුණින් නෙවෙයි. වෙනත් අරමුණකින්. විශේෂයෙන් මාධ්‍ය, වෘත්තීය සමිති සිවිල් සංවිධාන මර්දනය කිරීමේ අංග සම්පූර්ණ වැඩ පිළීවෙලක් මේ පනතේ ගැබ්වෙලා තියෙනවා. රාජ්‍ය දේපල වලට හානි කිරීම ත්‍රස්තවාදී ක්‍රියාවක් කියලා තුන්වැනි වගන්තියේ සදහන් වෙනවා. මේ පනත යටතේ අත්‍යවශ්‍ය සේවාවලට බාධා කිරීම ත්‍රස්තවාදී ක්‍රියාවක්. අවුරුදු 20ක් බන්ධනාගාර ගත කරන්න පුලුවන්. එයට අනුබල දීම වසර 15ක් බන්ධනාගාර ගත කරන්න පුලුවන් වරදක්. එවැනි ක්‍රියාවකට තොරතුරු සැපයිමත් ත්‍රස්තවාදයට සම්බන්ධ ක්‍රියාවක් කියලා 10 වැනි වගන්තියේ සදහන් වෙනවා. මේවා බෝම්බ පුපුරන ත්‍රස්තවාදින්ට ගේන නීති නෙවෙයි. ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදි සමාජයක තමන්ගේ නිත්‍යාණුකූල අයිතිවාසිකම් වලට පෙනි සිටින මිනිසුන් නිහඩ කිරිමයි. අද රටේ මැතිවරණ නැහැ. පළාත් සභා අකර්මන්‍යයි. මැතිවරණ ඉල්ලා අපේ හිටපු මහ ඇමැතිවරු දෙන්නෙක් අධිකරණයට ගිහින්. මැතිවරණ ඉල්ලා ජනතාව පාරට බැස්සොත් ගන්න දරුණු ක්‍රියාමාර්ග තමයි මේ පනතේ අඩංගු වෙන්නේ. 62 වැනි වගන්තිය පොලිස් රාජ්‍යයක අඩිතාලමයි. අගමැතිවරයාගේ අත්සාහය මෙරට පොලිස් රාජ්‍යයක් බිහිකිරීමයි. 62 වගන්තියෙන් යමම්නිෂ්චිත ප්‍රදේශයකට හෝ පරිශ්‍රයකට ඇතුල් නොවන ලෙස, නිශ්චික ල්‍රදේශයකින් පිට නොවන හෝ රැදදිසිටින ලෙස, යම් මාර්ගයක ගමන් නොකරන ලෙස, නිෂ්චිත ස්ථානයක රැස් නොවන ලෙස එක පෑන් පහරකින් කිරීමේ හැකියාව පොලිසියට ලැබෙනවා. 95 වගන්තිය තවත් භයානකයි. මේ යෝජිත නිතිය සමග ගැටෙන වෙනත් නිති තියෙනවා නම් ඒවා අහෝසි වෙනවා. මේ නිතියයි බලාත්මක වෙන්නේ. එවැනි භයානක පනතක් තමයි අවශ්‍ය වෙලා තියෙන්නේ. මාධ්‍යවේදින්ට කිසියම් ස්ථානයකට ගිහින් ජායාරූප ගැනීම සටහන් තබා ගැනීම පවා තහනම් වෙනවා. මේ හදන්නේ ආඥාදායකත්වයක් රටේ ඇති කරන්නයි. ජිවිත 350ක් බිලි දීලා භයානක පනතක් සම්මත කර ගැනීමේ උත්සාහයකයි රජය ඉන්නේ. 

පළමු දවසේ ඉදන් අදක්ෂභාවය හා තනතුරට නුදුසුදු බව පෙන්වූ පොලිස්පතිවරයා පිට වගකිම පවරලා මෙයින් මිදෙන්න රජයට හැකියාවක් නැහැ. දැන් මේ රජයේ 6 වැනි ආර්කෂක ලේකම්වරයා පත්කරනවා. හිටපු ලේකම්වරයා පත්කලේ කවුද. පත්කරන අයගේ වගකීම මොකක්ද. ජනතාව තමන්ගේ ආරක්ෂාව භාර දුන්නේ පොලිස්පතිටවත් ආරක්ෂක ලේකම්ටවත් නෙවේ. දැන්වත් එකිනෙකාට චෝදනා කිරිම් නතර කරලා ජනාධිපති හා අගමැති එකතු වෙලා රට කරන්න වෙනවා. රටේ වාසනාවට තව මාස හයයි තියෙන්නේ. ඒ කාලයේ අවම වශයෙන් ජනතාවගේ ජිවිත ආරක්ෂා කර ගැනීමට උත්සුක විය යුතුයි. 

■             පොලිස් මාධ්‍ය ප්‍රකාශය ප්‍රහාරය එල්ල වී පැය කිහිපයක් ඇතුළත කරපු ප්‍රකාශයේදී නියෝජ්‍ය පොලිස්පති නිකුත් කරපු චක්‍රලේඛණය ගැන දන්නේ නැහැ කිව්වා. ඒ බොරුකාරයෝ තමයි අදටත් මාධ්‍ය ප්‍රකාශයක කිය කිය ජනතාවට කරුණු දක්වන්නේ

■             අගමැතිතුමාට වගකීම ගන්න බැරිනම් පොල් ගාන්නේ නැතිව අයින් වෙන්න.

■             අපරාධ නඩු විධාන සංග්‍රහය හා දණ්ඩ නිති සංග්‍රහයට අනුව මනුෂ්‍ය ඝාතනයට සහාය දුන්නේ කවුද කියලා හොයලා නඩු දාන්න. ත්‍රස්තවාදය වැලැක්වීමේ පනත, අපරාධ නඩු විධාන සංග්‍රහය, දණ්ඩ නිති සංග්‍රහය තියෙනවා

■             මගේ තාත්තා කිව්වා. මම ගියේ නැහැ කියන්නේ සාක්ෂි තමයි. තොරතුරු සැගවීම යටතේ නඩු පවරන්න පුලුවන්.  

පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී සුසිල් ප්‍රේමජයන්ත මහතා 

මේ ආන්ඩුව තොරතුරු ජනගත විම වළක්වන්න සමාජමාධ්‍ය තහනම් කරලා, ආන්ඩුවට එන ප්‍රකෝපය හා අවලාද වෙනතකට යැවීමට දරපු උත්සාහය අපි හෙළා දකිනවා. රාජ්‍ය ආරක්සාව සම්බන්ධයෙන් එවැන්නක් කළාට ප්‍රශ්නයක් නැතත් ජනතාවට යම් යම් සත්‍ය තොරතුරු දැන ගැනීමට තිබුණු හැකියාව වැළැක්වූවා. පොලිස් මාධ්‍ය ප්‍රකාශය ප්‍රහාරය එල්ල වී පැය කිහිපයක් ඇතුළත කරපු ප්‍රකාශයේදී නියෝජ්‍ය පොලිස්පති නිකුත් කරපු චක්‍රලේඛණය ගැන දන්නේ නැහැ කිව්වා. බොරු කිව්වා. ඒ බොරුකාරයෝ තමයි අදටත් මාධ්‍ය ප්‍රකාශයක කිය කිය ජනතාවට කරුණු දක්වන්නේ. ත්‍රස්තවාදය වැලැක්වීමේ පනත 1978 අංක 48. වත්මන් අගමැතිවරයා ඇමැති ධූරය දරපු ජේ. ආර්. ජයවර්ධන ආණ්ඩුවෙන් තමයි මේ පනත ගෙනාවේ. ඒ පනත හා ඊට පස්සේ ගෙනාපු සංශෝධනත් එක්කයි අවුරුදු 30ක් තිබුණු ත්‍රස්තවාදයක් නැති කරන්න හැකිවුනේ. ඒ පනත ඉතා කෙටි පනතක්. ඒ යටතෙ පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට බෝබ්ම ගහපු විත්තිකරුවන් වෙනුවෙන් පෙනි හිටපු එක නිතීඥවරයෙක් මම. මම අගමැතිවරයාට අභියෝග කරනවා. ඒ අත්දැකිම තියෙන එක පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රීවරයෙක්වත් අද ඉන්නවාද. ඒ පනත යටතේ නඩු සිය ගණනකට වඩා මම කතා කරලා තියෙනවා. මේ ත්‍රස්තවාදි ව්‍යාපාරයට එකතු වුනු සැකකරුවන්ට,තවත් ඉන්නවා නම් අල්ල ගන්න, මේ කර මර්ධනය කිරීමට මේ පනත ප්‍රමාණවත්. දැන් අගමැතිවරයා කරන්න හදන්නේ මොකක්ද?පුර්විකාවේ ප්‍රතිත්‍රස්ත පනත කියලාවත් නැහැ. දැනට තියෙන පනත ඉවත් කිරීම පිණිසද කියලා තියෙන්නේ.මේකකාගේ වුවමනාවක්ද. මංගල සමරවිර ඇමැතිවරයා විදේශ ඇමැතිවරයා විදියට 2015 සැප්තැම්බර් මාසයේ ජිනිවා වලට ගිහින් 30 යෝජනාව සම්මත කරන්න සහාය දැක්වූවා. එහි කොන්දේසියක් තමයි ත්‍රස්තවාදය වැලැක්වීමේ පනත අහෝසි කිරිම. ත්‍රස්තවාදින්ට පනත දියාරු කරලා සාමාන්‍ය ජනතාවගේ පුරවැසි අයිතිවාසිකම් මැඩ පවත්වන්නයි මේ පනත ගෙනත් තියෙන්නේ. වෘත්තීය සමිති වලට කිසිම ක්‍රියාමාර්ගයක් ගන්න ලැබෙන්නේ නැහැ. මාධ්‍යවේදින්ට තොරතුරු වාර්තා කරන්න ලැබෙන්නේ නැහැ. අගමැතිතුමාගේ පළවෙනි කතාවෙන් කිව්වේ ගෝලීය ත්‍රස්තවාදයක් කියලා විශ්වීය ත්‍රස්තවාදයට සම්බන්ධයි කිව්වා. ඊට පස්සේ ස්කයි නිව්ස් එකට කියනවා මෙම්පනත ගෙනාවේ නැත්නම්නඩු පවරන්න බැහැලු. මම අභියෝග කරනවා අගමැතිතුමාට පුලුවන් නම් පෙන්වන්න තියෙන පනතෙනක් කාටද නඩු පවරන්න බැරි කියලා. පාර්ලිමේන්තුව පොල් ගහන්නේ නැතිව මේක සම්මත කරන්නලු. අගමැති එතුමා. කමිටු පත්කලේ පාර්ලිමේන්තුව. පොල් ගාන්නේ නැතිව සම්මත කරන්නලු. අපිට කියන්නෙ වෙන්නේ පොල් ගාන්නේ නැතිව අයින් වෙන්න කියලයි. 

වගකීම ගන්න බැරිනම් පොල් ගාන්නේ නැතිව අයින් වෙන්න. එතුමාගේ ඇමැතිවරු දෙන්නෙක් ආරක්ෂක ලේකම්වරයා, පොලිස්පතිවරයා කරුණු දැනගෙන හිටියේ නැහැ කියන්න බැහැනේ. පිළිඅරන් තියෙනවානේ. මේ අයට පුලුවන්නේ දැන් තියෙන ත්‍රස්තවාදය වැළැක්වීමේ පනත යටතේ නඩු පවරන්න තොරතුරු වසන් කිරිමට එරෙහිව. ඇමැතිවරු දෙන්නෙක් දැනගෙන හිටිය බව කියනවා.ආරක්ෂක ලේකම් දැනගෙන හිටියා. මේ තරම් දෙයක් වෙයි කියලා හිතුවේ නැහැලු. පොලිස්පතිවරයා දැන නොසිටියා කියන්න බැහැ. චක්‍රලේඛණය යැව්වේ පොලීසියෙන්. ජනවාරි 8 වැනිදා මේ විනාශය කරන්න යහපාලනය ගෙනාපු රාජ්‍ය නොවන සංවිධාන නඩයත් මේකට වගකියන්න වෙනවා. අද කෝ ඒ එන්. ජී. ඕ නඩය. 

මේ සිද්ධීයෙන් කියන්නේ ආන්ඩුවට සහාය දෙන අයගේ යෝජනා ක්‍රියාත්මක කරන බවයි. ජිනිවා වලට සහාය දෙන්නේ කොටි ඩයස්පෝරාවේ හා බටහිර වුවමනාවට. ආන්ඩුව පවත්වා ගෙන යන්නේ සමහර ජනවර්ගවල සහාය ඕනේ වෙනවා. විශ්වාස භාගයේදිදිනුවේ කොහොමද. හොයලා බලන්න. බහුතරය පෙන්නුවේ කොහොමද. හොයලා බලන්න. ඒ අයට අත තියන්න කැමැති නැහැ. නොරතුරු දැන ගෙන හිටියත් අත් අඩංගුවට ගන්න හෝ අත් අඩංගුවට ගන්න හැකියාවක් තිබුනේ නැහැ. එහෙම කළා නම් ආන්ඩුව වැටෙනවා. රට බිල්ලට දුන්න ආන්ඩුවක් ඉතිහිසයේ තියෙනවා නම් රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහගේ මේ ආන්ඩුවයි. අපරාධ නඩු විධාන සංග්‍රහය හා දණ්ඩ නිති සංග්‍රහයට අනුව මනුෂ්‍ය ඝාතනයට සහාය දුන්නේ කවුද කියලා හොයලා නඩු දාන්න. ත්‍රස්තවාදය වැලැක්වීමේ පනත, අපරාධ නඩු විධාන සංග්‍රහය, දණ්ඩ නිති සංග්‍රහය තියෙනවා. දැන් දේශපාලන සිරකරුවෝ කියලානේ කියන්නේ. එහෙම කියන්නේ ලක්ස්මන් කදිරගාමර්, ජෙයරාජ් ප්‍රනාන්දුපුල්ලේ මහත්වරුන්ට බෝම්බ ගහලා මරපු පිරිසට. මේ අයට සහාය ලැබෙන්නේ රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතාගේ පනත ගෙනාවොත් පමණයි. මේ උත්සාහ කරන්නේත්‍රස්තවාදින්ට උඩගෙඩි දීමට මිසක් ත්‍රස්තවාදය අවසන් කරන්න නෙවෙයි කියන දේ හොදින්ම පැහැදිලියි. 

මේ පනතේ 85න්, සන්නද්ධ හමුදා කැදවීම කරන්න වෙන්නේ මේවගේ අවස්ථාවකදී මහජන සාමය පවත්වා ගෙන යන්න බැරි බව පොලිස්පතිවරයා ප්‍රකාශ කලොත් විතරයි. මේ පොලිස්පති ඉන්න වෙලාවක මෙම්පනත අද තිබුණා නම් ජනාධිපතිතුමාට සන්නද්ධ හමුදාව කැදවන්න වෙන්නේ මේ විහිලුකාර පොලිස්පතිවරයා යටතෙයි. උසාවිවල නඩු කතා කරපු අපිව මෝඩයාට අන්දන්න ද යන්නේ.ජනතාව වගේම ජනතාවත් මුලා කරන්නයි හදන්නේ. බැරිකම හා නොහැකිව හැරෙන්න ිසිවක් අගමැතිගේ මුවින් පිට වෙන්නේ නැහැ. දැන් ඉන්නේ මාරපන විදේශ ඇමැතිවරයා. මේ ජායාරූප අරන් ගිහින් අපේ රටේ මානව හිමිකම් අහිමි වෙන හැටි පෙන්වන්න පුලුවන්. අපිට කටු ඔටුනු දාන්න එනවා වෙනුවට අපේ මානව හිමිකම් අහිමි වීම් දැකගන්න කියන්න පුලුවන්නේ. අපේ ජනතාව මියගියාම මැනව හිමිකම් වලට යන්න මැලිද කියලා අපි ආණ්ඩුවෙන් අහනවා. එහෙම කලොත් රණ විරුවන්ට” බුද්ධි අංශවලට ප්‍රශ්නයක් වෙන්නේ නැහැ.ප්‍රශ්නයක් වෙන්නේ අගමැතිතුමාටයි ඔහුව බලයේ තියාගන්න හදන අයටයි. මගේ තාත්තා කිව්වා. මම ගියේ නැහැ. කියන්නේ සාක්ෂි තමයි. තොරතුරු සැගවීම යටතේ නඩු පවරන්න පුලුවන්.  

■             ලෝකේ දරුණුම ත්‍රස්තවාදින් කියපු අයව, රටවල් 193ක් එක්ක සම්බන්ධකම් තිබුණු ධනවත්ම ම්ලේඡ්ඡ සංවිධානයක් අවුරුදු දෙකහමාරක් ඇතුළත පාලනය කලේ මේ ත්‍රස්තවාදය වැලැක්වීමේ පනතෙන්.  අගමැතිතුමාට ඒ පනතෙන් වැඩක් කරන්න බැහැලු. 

■             දැනගෙන පුරවැසියන් ගැන අනුකම්පාවක් නැතිව ඡන්ද පදනමට හානියක් නොවන විදියට වැඩ කිරීම නිසයි මේ ඛේදවාචකය වුනේ.

පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී කෙහෙළිය රඹුක්වැල්ල මහතා 

මෙවැනි අවස්ථාවක රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ අගමැතිවරයා හා ජනාධිපතිවරයාගේ හැසිරිම දිහා බැලුවම හිතෙන්නේ මේකියන කරුණු ඇත්තද කියලයි. මේකරුණු සත්‍යයද, ඇයි මෙහෙම හැසිරෙන්නේ. 2015 ජනවාරි 8 වැනිදා ජනතාවට අහසක් උසට බලාපොරොත්තු දිලා මේ ආන්ඩුව පත්කර ගත්තේ. තිස් අවුරුදු යුද්ධය අවසන් කරපු හමුදා සහ බුද්ධි අංශ වගේම මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ රජය ලෝකය ඉදිරියේ අවමානයට ලක්කිරිමයි සිද්ධ වුනේ. මානව හිමිකම් යෝජනාවේ සිට රටේ ස්ථාවරත්වය බාල්දු කිරීමට මොවුන් කටයුතු කරලා තියෙනවා. අතුරුදන්වූවන්ගේ පනත හරහා ගෙනයන වැඩපිළීවෙල වගේම ප්‍රතිත්‍රස්ත පනත කියන එක ගේන්න යන ගමන් කියන කතා බලන්න. ලෝකේ දරුණුම ත්‍රස්තවාදින් කියපු අයව, රටවල් 193ක් එක්ක සම්බන්ධකම් තිබුණු ධනවත්ම ම්ලේඡ්ඡ සංවිධානයක් අවුරුදු දෙකහමාරක් ඇතුළත පාලනය කලේ මේ ත්‍රස්තවාදය වැලැක්වීමේ පනතෙන්. ජිනීවා වලට දුන්න පොරොන්දුවක් මේ ඉටු කරන්නේ. ඒ වගේම ත්‍රස්තවාදියෙක් අල්ලගත්ත ගමන් මානව හිමිකම් කොමිෂමට දැන්වීම වගේම නිතිපති දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවට අධීචෝදනා නැගීම වසර 10ක් පමා කරන්න පුලුවුන්. දේශපාලන වශයෙන් ඛේදනිය තත්ත්වයකට මේ වෙද්දි රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා මුහුණ දිලා තියෙනවා. වොක්ස්වැගන් සිට සාවද්‍ය තොරතුරුයි කිව්වේ. සීතලයි කියලා කියන යුද්ධයක් එජාපයේ තියෙනවා. එහි දුර්වල තැනකයි රනිල් අගමැතිවරයා ඉන්නේ. ඔහුගේ ස්ථාවරය ඇති කර ගන්න නම් මෙම්සිද්ධිය වෙස් වලාගත්ත ආශිර්වාදයක් විදියට යොදා ගන්න උත්සාහයකයි ඉන්නේ. මේ වනවිටත් විදේශිය හමුදාවන් මෙරටට ඇවිත්. සිරියාවේ හිටපු අගමැතිවරයා පවත්වා ගෙන යන මුවාවෙන් කරන විනාශයයි අද සිරියාවේ දකින්න තියෙන්නේ. එවැනි විනාශයක් වුනත් තනතුර ආරක්ෂා කරගැනීමයි රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහය අවශ්‍ය. මේ ප්‍රහාරය සම්බන්ධයෙන් ආරක්ෂක අංශ හා පාලකයින් දැනුවත් නැති බව කියන්න පුලුවන්ද. පවතින පාලනයට ඇලුම් කරන අයට වුනත් හෘද සාක්ෂියෙන් අහලා බලන්න පුලුවන්. දැනගෙන පුරවැසියන් ගැන අනුකම්පාවක් නැතිව ඡන්ද පදනමට හානියක් නොවන විදියට වැඩ කිරීම නිසයි මේ ඛේදවාචකය වුනේ. මේ ඛේදවාචකය කොහොන් කොහොම නැවත ඇරfඹිදිද කියන්න බැහැ. 

දෙමුහුන් ආණ්ඩුව රජය නම් රජය එකිනෙකාට චෝදනා කරන්න බැහැ. ආරක්ෂක මණ්ඩලයට මාස 6ක් තිස්සේ කැදවුයේ නැත්නම් ඒක පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට කියන්න තිබුණා. වෙන දෙයක් වෙන්න කියලා බලන් හිටියා. අපි ඒකාබද්ධ විපක්ෂය විදියට අපිට හැකි උපරිම පරිත්‍යාගයක් කරමින් නැවත නගා සිටුවීම්වලට සහාය දෙනවා. අපි දැවැන්තම මැයි රැළිය කරන්න සූදානමින් සිටියා. නමුත් මේ තත්ත්වය මත අපිට මැයි දින රැළිය පවත්වන්න වෙන්නේ නැහැ. 

■             ත්‍රස්තවාදයක් තුරන් කරපු හමුදාවක් බුද්ධි අංශයක් හිටපු රටක් වෙලත් අගමැතිතුමාට ජාත්‍යන්තරය තමයි විශ්වාස.

■             මේ සම්මත කරගන්න හදන පනත තිබිලාද 30 වසරක යුද්ධය අවසන් කලේ. තිබුණු නිතියයි, හැකියාව හා නායකත්වය තිබිලයි යුද්ධය අවසන් කලේ. මීට වැඩි පනතක් ගෙනාවත් මේ ආන්ඩුවට කවදාවත්ම බැහැ. මේක නොහැකියාව.

■             අල්හාජ් මොහොමඞ් ඉබ්‍රහිම් අපේ ජාතික ලයිස්තුවේ ඉබ්‍රහිම් හිටියා නම් මොකද වෙන්නේ.

පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී රෝහිත අබේගුණවර්ධන මහතා 

මේ අවස්ථාවේ රටේ වගකීම දරණ ආන්ඩුවේ අගමැතිතුමාගේ හැසිරීම රටම බලා සිටිනවා. ගිය ඉරිදා බෝම්බ ප්‍රහාරය එල්ල වුනා. කතෝලික දේවස්ථාන වගේම හෝටල්වලට බෝම්බ ප්‍රහාරය එල්ල වෙද්දි අගමැතිතුමා හිටියේ කොහෙද කියලා අපි දන්නේ නැහැ.නමුත් බෝම්බ ප්‍රහාරයේ ශබ්දයෙන් දැන් එතුමා කම්පනයට පත්වෙලා. යම් අනතුරක් වුනාම ඒ කම්පනයෙන් කරන්නේ මොනවාද කියලා දන්නේ නැහැ. විදේශීය හමුදාවන් ගෙනත් මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් හොයන්න පුදුම වුවමානවක් තියෙන්නේ. ත්‍රස්තවාදයක් තුරන් කරපු හමුදාවක් බුද්ධි අංශයක් හිටපු රටක් වෙලත් ජාත්‍යන්තරය තමයි එතුමාට විශ්වාස. මේ ඊළග තුරුම්පුව. මේ තුළින් විදේශීය හමුදාවන් ගෙන්වා ගෙන රට තළ අස්ථාවරභාවයක් තියෙන්නේ කියලා මේ ආන්ඩුවම ගෙනියන්නයි හදන්නේ. අගමැතිතුමනි මේ සම්මත කරගන්න හදන පනත තිබිලාද 30 වසරක යුද්ධය අවසන් කලේ. තිබුණු නිතියයි, හැකියාව හා නායකත්වය තිබිලයි යුද්ධය අවසන් කලේ. මීට වැඩි පනතක් ගෙනාවත් මේ ආන්ඩුවට කවදාවත්ම බැහැ. මේක නොහැකියාව. තමන්ට රට ආරක්ෂා කරගන්න බැරි බව එතුමා පිළීගන්න වෙනවා. 

දිගන සිද්ධයේදී මාධ්‍ය වාර්තා කළා දිලුම් අමුණුගම මන්ත්‍රීවරයාව පැය 18ක් ප්‍රශ්න කිරිම ගැන.  මොන විදියකින් හරි දේශපාලන දඩයමක් කර ගන්නයි බැලුවේ..මේ සිද්ධි දෙක අහසයි පොළවයි වගේ. ආන්ඩුවේ අයගේ නම් තුනක් ප්‍රසිද්ධියේ කියැවෙනවා. එක රිෂාඩි බදියුදීන්. දෙක අසාත් සාලි ආන්ඩුකාරවරයා. තුන මුජිබර් රහුමාන්. අද වෙනතුරු මොවුන්ගෙන් එක ප්‍රශ්නයක් ඇහුවද. ඒ ඡන්ද මල්ලට. ගෙනත් ප්‍රශ්න කලොත් ඔවුන් ඡන්දෙ දෙන්නේ නැහැ. ආන්ඩුව ඉවරයි. දේශපාලන පොතෙන් සිද්ධිය වැහෙනවා. ජවිපේ නායක අනුර කුමාර දිසානායක කට අල් කරගෙන ඒක වුනේ කොහොමද. කියලා කියනවා. ඒ අනුර කුමාර දිසානයක නායකයාගෙන් අපි අහන්නේ එතුමාලාගේ ජාතික ලයිස්තුවේ 11 වැනියා අල්හාජ් මොහොමඞ් ඉබ්‍රහිම්. අපේ ජාතික ලයිස්තුවේ ඉබ්‍රහිම් හිටියා නම් මොකද වෙන්නේ. දැන් කියනවා එතුමාට සම්මානයක් මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහත්තයා දීලාලු. එතුමාලාගේ ජාතික ලයිස්තුවට දාන්නේ මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහත්තයා සම්මාන දුන්න අයද. මේ කන්න ඕනේ වුනාම කඹරගොයා තලගොයා කර ගන්න උන්නැහැලා ටිකක්. මේවාට වගකියන්න ඕනේ නොහැකියාව තියෙන රූකඩ පාලකයින් රටට දායාද කරපු ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණත්. රාජ්‍ය ආරක්ෂාව බිංදුවට දාලා අද වැඩිය ශබ්ද නැහැ. මාධ්‍ය ඉස්සරහට වැඩිය එන්නෙත් නැහැ. මහානායක හාමුදුරුවෝ ප්‍රකාශ කළා චෝදනා විරහිතව ඉන්න බුද්ධී අංශ නිලධාරින් නිදහස් කරන්න කියලා. රට අස්ථාවර කරන ස්වාධිනත්වය නැති කරන තින්දුවක් ගත්තා නම් ඒ මංගල සමරවිර තමයි. අපේ ගෙවල්වල දරු පැටව් ඉන්නවානේ සමරවිරට පැවැත්මක් නැති වුනාට. බුද්ධි අංශය විනාශ කිරීමේ වගකිමත් මේ රජය ගන්න වෙනවා. රජය බලයට පත්වුනු දා ඉදන් බුද්ධි අංශවල චිත්ත ධෛර්යය වැටෙන දේ කලේ. අපි කියන්නේ මේ ආන්ඩුවට ඉදිරියට යන්න බැහැ. රටේ ආර්ථිකයත් දැන් කඩා වැටිලා. සංචාරයට එන්න හිටපු සංචාරකයෝ සියල්ල අවලංගු කරලා. මිනිස්සු රුකියාවට එන්නේ නැහැ. 

GREG SHERIDAN FOREIGN EDITOR Courtesy The Australian

In every one of these terrorist atrocities there is something new, some lesson to prepare us better to prevent the next one, and to try to break the syndrome. With 359 now confirmed dead in Sri Lanka, this is one of the biggest single terror attacks in history. Two moments, before the carnage, were striking. One of the bombers, walking towards the church where he was to commit mass murder, paused for a nanosecond to pat a child on the head. Another bomber lined up at the breakfast buffet in the hotel where he was to commit mass murder, waiting to be served.

Both the terrorists looked completely calm. There was not the feverish agitation and nervousness that fictional presentations of suicide bombers typically present. Boffins talk of the martyrdom mindset” , which Islamist terror leaders can instil in followers, the gripping conviction that what they are doing is right and will be rewarded. It indicates the tenacious power of the extreme Islamist ideology that lies behind these atrocities.

Everything about these murders suggests the strength of the underlying belief system. There has been no serious hostility between Christians and Muslims in Sri Lanka. Muslims make up a little under 10 per cent of the nation’s population, Christians a bit less than that. The attacks on Christian churches and five-star cosmopolitan hotels instead reflect the agenda of Islamic State and al-Qa’ida .

Both these terror groups hate the West and very specifically hate Christianity. Islamic State has now claimed responsibility for the attacks and released a photo of a group of men, allegedly the bombers, of whom only one has his face uncovered, pledging allegiance to the group. It would seem impossible that a Sri Lankan Islamist group with no previous experience in mass terrorism could organise such a big, sophisticated attack on its own.

If it does turn out Islamic State was involved, it is not so remarkable that it was able to get its Sri Lankan adherents to attack targets even where there was no previous local hostility. After all, Islamist groups have got terror attacks organised in such peaceful countries as Canada and motivated attempted attacks in equally peaceful Australia. The news that one of the bombers had studied in Australia will lead to intense investigation of his experience and associates here.

While it is right to try to probe and understand the path young men take to radicalisation, the key factor really is the powerful ideology the Islamists propagate. It is hateful and full of falsehood but it contains an inner logic and a compelling though fraudulent narrative.

Islamic State claims the attack was revenge for the Christchurch killings. We surely should not credit everything it says. And it seems impossible that such a big operation could have been organised from scratch in little over a month. However, if Islamic State attributes the attack to Christchurch, the propaganda effect is the same as if it really was a response to Christchurch.

Still, is it possible that Christchurch was the motivation for the Sri Lanka attacks? The answer is no, but it is still possible Christchurch played a critical role. Islamic State does not need any new specific motivation to carry out murderous attacks. Islamic State, al-Qa’ida and other Islamist groups have been doing so for decades. However, it is possible the Christchurch atrocity played into the psychology of motivating a goodly number of young men with sufficient hatred that they would go to the extreme of suicide bombing. All extremists feed off each other.

The other feature that suggests the power of ideology is that at least some of the bombers were very well educated, high achievers. It is absurd to attribute any of their motivation to social disadvantage or alienation as normally understood.

Another striking feature of the past few days was the Sri Lankan government’s decision early on to shut down social media after the bombings had occurred. Concerns about censorship are understandable but this was a prudent decision and probably designed to protect Sri Lanka’s Muslim community.

There had been some anti-Muslim abuse and violence against property last year carried out by extreme nationalist Buddhist groups. Social media played a key role in transforming rumours and lies into physical violence.

This is common in many parts of the Third World especially. An accusation against some group is made of conduct that touches some especially sensitive religious or communal nerve. The accusation is then magnified in the dishonesty and hysteria of social media. Someone issues a call to action and someone else publishes the addresses of individuals in the targeted group. And then you can very easily get deadly mob violence.

This shocking sequence of events has also led people to question whether Sri Lanka is peculiarly disposed towards violence and communal conflict. The long civil war between the Hindu Tamil Tigers and the predominantly Buddhist Sinhalese government was indeed very savage. The Tigers pioneered suicide bombers and child terrorists.

But this latest violence involves neither Buddhists nor Hindus. I think it is a gross defamation of Sri Lanka to suggest it remains uniquely prone to large-scale violence. Like many Australians, I have spent time in Sri Lanka I travelled to different regions within the country and found nothing but hospitality, kindness and friendship.

The civil war ended 10 years ago and Sri Lanka has been at peace — not perfect and not without problems, but at peace — for the past decade. There is only one way the civil war and its aftermath may have played into this terrorist outrage.

When the war ended, Sri Lankans yearned for a normal life in which security concerns played a much smaller role. The previous government was thought to overemphasise the security state when the threat had passed, and so a new government moved to de-emphasise security. This doesn’t explain the shocking failure to act on Indian and US intelligence that an Islamist terror attack was likely. It does show there is no country on earth that can ignore this threat.

It is a gross defamation to suggest Sri Lanka remains uniquely prone to largescale violence

Courtesy Shanghai Daily

AS Sri Lanka’s civil war ended in this once-contested region along its eastern coast, Muslim women eager to show their piousness began wearing the black veil to hide their faces.

Now in the wake of Easter suicide attacks by Islamic State group-linked militants that killed over 250 people, Sri Lanka’s president has used his emergency powers to ban the practice previously unheard of in the island nation off the southern coast of India.

The ban, which took effect yesterday, has been touted as a security measure. However, it criminalizes a practice associated with an ultraconservative form of Islam, one that more closely adheres to the strict beliefs common in Saudi Arabia.

It also focuses public attention on women who practice their religious beliefs peacefully, while the government and foreign diplomats say IS-linked militants armed with explosives still roam the island.

As we have seen in Afghanistan and elsewhere, Muslim women will become a convenient cover for military action,” wrote Nimmi Gowrinathan, a professor at the City College of New York. Sri Lanka’s pain from the Easter attacks should not be used to promote failed policies.”

The niqab is a black veil made of thin fabric, often with a small opening from which a woman’s eyes can peer out. It’s far more concealing than the hijab, a scarf covering the hair that some Muslim women wear. Most Islamic scholars and experts say a woman is not religiously required to cover her face with a niqab.

However, strictly orthodox Sunni Muslims known as Salafists who advocate a literal return to centuries-old Islamic law believe women must cover their faces.

Such ideas previously were unknown in Kattankudy, a city 220 kilometers northeast of the capital, Colombo. But gradually, foreign money and ideas have entered the area.

The population grew more conservative, reflected in the current construction here of a massive copy of Jerusalem’s famed Al Aqsa mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam. The alleged mastermind of the Easter bombings, Mohammed Zahran, also preached an increasingly extremist version of Islam in Kattankudy glorifying the killing of nonbelievers.

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe acknowledged that authorities wanted to investigate the role of foreign money in the Easter attacks, saying in particular that money from Saudi Arabia had been going to religious organizations.

Saudi Arabia or the Middle East has been the source of many of those funds and some of it has gone into these extreme organizations,” Wickremesinghe said. These are what we are investigating.”

The Saudi government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

However, the niqab ban wouldn’t have stopped the suicide bombings of the three churches and three hotels on Easter, as all were carried out by men. But some Muslim women acknowledged the need to follow the government’s laws amid the ongoing crisis.

It’s good (the ban on face covering) but some people will feel some hurt because that’s the Islamic culture,” Fathima Musthaque said. When they are dressing (without covering their face), they get a guilty feeling. All Muslims are not a terrorist. The terrorists are doing this kind of work and it has affected all.”

REBECCA SPEARE-COLE Courtesy Evening Standard

Sri Lankan Christian devotees pray in Colombo, a week after a series of bomb blasts targeting churches and luxury hotels in Sri Lanka ( AFP/Getty Images )

Sri Lankan security officials have warned that Islamist militantsbehind Easter Sunday’s suicide bombings are planning further attacks and could be dressed in military uniform.

Security sources say the militants were targeting five locations for attacks today, as the archbishop of Colombo complained about insufficient security around churches.

In a letter to the government and officials on Monday the head of the police ministerial security division said: “There could be another wave of attacks.”

“The relevant information further notes that persons dressed in military uniforms and using a van could be involved in the attacks.”

There were no attacks on Sunday and security across Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka has been ramped up.

Scores of suspected Islamists have been arrested since the April 21 attacks on hotels and churches that killed more than 250 people, including 40 foreign nationals.

The government has also banned women from wearing face veils under an emergency law that was put in place after the attacks.

There were concerns within the Muslim community that the ban could fuel tensions in the multi-ethnic nation.

But government officials said it would help security forces identify people as a hunt for any remaining attackers and their support network continues across the Indian Ocean island.

The Archbishop of Colombo, Malcolm Ranjith, said that security had not been sufficiently stepped up around churches.

We are not satisfied with the security arrangements and urge authorities to ensure our safety,” he told reporters.

Authorities suspect members of two little known groups – National Thawheedh Jamaath (NTJ) and Jammiyathul Millathu Ibrahim – of carrying out the Easter attacks, though Islamic State has claimed responsibility.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said a tight-knit group of people was involved, mostly close friends and families. They spoke face-to-face, possibly to evade electronic surveillance.

“They were small enough that they were not using normal communications, instead meeting each other,” Wickremesinghe told Reuters.

He added the coordinated bombings, the type of explosives used and the tightly guarded plot suggested the bombers had guidance.

“ISIS has claimed, we also felt there has to be some international links,” he said, referring to Islamic State.

Authorities believe Zahran Hashim, the founder of NTJ, was the mastermind and one of the nine suicide bombers.

One military source told Reuters that five sets of white attire commonly worn by Buddhists when visiting temples were recovered from a safe house in the east, the site of a gun battle on Friday that killed Zahranâ’s father and his two brothers.

His wife and daughter escaped an explosion with minor injuries, hospital staff and police said.

Susan Ormiston · CBC News ·

Security officials trying to root out any remaining members of extremist group

Susan Ormiston · CBC News · Posted: Apr 29, 2019 5:00 PM ET | Last Updated: an hour ago

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe acknowledges that ‘the government machinery was faulty’ and warnings from intelligence agencies were not implemented before the Easter Sunday attacks. (Lily Martin/CBC)

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe vows his country can eliminate the threats extremists pose following the Easter Sunday attacks but admits his greatest immediate fear is that a “lone ranger” may evade authorities and blow himself up in a public place.

“The organization is broken, people are on the run,” he told CBC News in a wide-ranging interview, “but some of them do have explosives and someone may out of desperation do an act.”

Wickremesinghe said that for the next few days or weeks, he worries most that one of those individuals may not turn up in surveillance inquiries or isn’t detained before acting independently.

“My fear is that one of the guys on the run, the lone ranger, doesn’t appear and decides to … commit suicide by blasting himself in public”

Sri Lankan security officials warned lawmakers recently there could be other attacks and militants may be dressed in uniforms and using a van. A letter seen by Reuters News said there could be “another wave of attacks Sunday or Monday.”

Security and army officials are sweeping the country trying to root out any remaining members of the extremist group, which killed more than 250 people on Easter Sunday in six separate attacks.

In Negombo Monday, an army truck pulled up in front of a small supermarket. About a dozen soldiers jumped out, lining the street as five others entered the shop.

Security forces gather outside a supermarket in Negombo on Monday after searching the premises and questioning staff. (Lily Martin/CBC)

With the entire country on edge, staff at an international hotel across the street watched with worried expressions. At least one man was questioned, his identity details recorded before the authorities left the scene.

“The nets are closing in and let’s hope and pray that the security forces succeed,” Wichremesinghe told the CBC during the half-hour interview Sunday at his official residence, Temple Trees, in central Colombo.

“Then we’ve got to put into effect measures to ensure it doesn’t happen again, that information comes to be acted upon.”

Leaders criticized

The prime minister and President Maithripala Sirisena have come under intense criticism for mishandling repeated warnings from intelligence agencies, notably Indian, that an attack might be imminent.

“The security warnings were issued by the Ministry of Defence to the relevant security agencies and the circulars went down,” Wickremesinghe said. “The real issue is why were they not implemented.”

Wickremesinghe said that is being investigated.

Catholic churches across Sri Lanka remain closed and the archbishop of Sri Lanka decreed no public mass on Sunday following the leak of a security document that stated churches were a major target a week after the Easter Sunday attacks. (Lily Martin/CBC)

But pressed as to why, as prime minister, he did not know about repeated serious warnings, he accepted accountability.

“My being aware is separate from the fact that the security system had failed to implement it — some of them didn’t take it seriously.

“But yes, we have to acknowledge the fact that the government machinery was faulty.”

A personal and political rift between the prime minister and the president is being blamed by many Sri Lankans for undermining national security. The president fired the prime minister last year but was forced to reinstate him after pressure from the Supreme Court. An election is expected before year’s end.

‘Cohabitation governments’

Questioned about the ongoing feud and its possible effect on national security, Wickremesinghe said: “Look, we have cohabitation governments. You all have had coalition governments. You know how it is.

“The fact is all that has strained our cohabitation government would not have mattered if the relevant instructions were carried out and implemented properly. If the tourist hotels were aware, if the churches were aware.”

Worshippers arriving at Mount Lavinia Mosque in Colombo face a security check before being allowed to enter for Friday prayers on April 26, 2019. Muslim leaders had urged people to pray at home amid fears of retaliatory violence. (Lily Martin/CBC)

Sri Lankan Archbishop Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith criticized top leaders in government for feuding during the crisis.

“At a time when the whole country has been affected by a major catastrophe, politicians should stop finding fault with each other,” he said.

• Faith leaders in Sri Lanka fear reprisals but vow to unite country after Easter Sunday attacks

The economic impact of the attacks could cripple the tourism industry — at least for awhile.

Sri Lanka’s Tourism Bureau warned Monday that tourist arrivals in Colombo could drop by 50 per cent over the next two months, with 30 per cent fewer travellers predicted in other parts of the country, according to chairman Kishu Gomes.

‘Look at the travel advisories’

But the prime minister predicted a smaller impact long-term. Sri Lanka is in its low tourist season. He could not, however, firmly recommend that travellers come now.

“We aren’t saying not to come. Neither are we pushing them to come. It’s up to them to look at the travel advisories.

“You have to take your own decision but in the next few weeks we will stabilize the situation and then we can look forward to the next tourist season in August.”

Damage from the blast surrounds a statue of St. Jude at St. Sebastian’s Church in Negombo. More than 100 people were killed here in the terrorist attack on Easter Sunday. (Lily Martin/CBC)

In an otherwise dark week, Wickremesinghe said he took relief from the fact there was not significant community backlash causing more violence in the critical first three days after the attacks.

But he shook his head sadly, saying: “It’s been terrible.” People are angry and worried, recalling the ongoing violence and corresponding security measures during Sri Lanka’s nearly three decades of civil war that ended in 2009.

• ‘They have no humanity’: This woman lost her parents to Sri Lanka’s deadliest blast

“We’ve gone through this before so let’s get into it, but let’s hope we get out of it quickly. I certainly don’t want 30 years to take place before the end of this,” said Wickremesinghe.

“We are not on the sidelines of jihadi terrorism. We’re in the middle of it. We are the last of our region to suffer this. India has had it, Pakistan has had it, Bangladesh, Maldives and Sri Lanka has now been affected. But we want to root it out.”

WATCH | The full interview with Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe:

CBC News’They are on the run’ WATCH00:00 21:15Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe discusses the ongoing search for suspects associated with the Easter Sunday suicide attacks that killed more than 250 people and the possibility of another attack in an interview with CBC’s Susan Ormiston. 21:15

by Eyal Zisser / Israel Hayom / JNS.org

The jihadist war being waged by radical Islamist groups across the globe has never stopped at the gates of holy sites and places of worship. Indeed, worshipers in these places have become legitimate and convenient targets for jihadists in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia — as we learned from the recent massacre in Sri Lanka, and in recent years in Europe as well.

Minority communities, mostly Christians, are persecuted in large portions of the Islamic world, and the tolerance once shown to Jews and Christians has now been replaced by extremism, threatening the continued existence of Christianity and other religions in these places. Some 70 years after the end of Jewish life in Iraq and Syria due to persecution and expulsions, the Middle East’s Christian community is now disappearing.

The Islamic State has engaged in the systematic destruction of churches in the territories it has held, but churches are attacked and often burned as a matter of routine in other Arab and Muslim countries, which are struggling, despite the efforts of their rulers, to protect their Christian minorities. The extremists also destroy mosques that don’t share their radical views and have targeted them in hundreds of attacks within the framework of jihad.

In light of these attacks, Europe’s voice has barely been heard. Due to their desire to maintain political correctness, European governments have failed to stand in defense of Christian and other communities in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa, out of fear they will be perceived as enemies of Islam.

APRIL 29, 2019 3:26 PM0

New York Times Is ‘Cesspool,’ Israeli Ambassador to US Says

Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Ron Dermer, has called The New York Times a cesspool of hostility towards Israel.” In remarks…

It’s interesting to note that radical Islam has found a partner in the form of the neo-Nazi far-right, whose members are behind hate crimes against Jewish synagogues, but also against Muslim mosques, the most recent case being in New Zealand. In the Israeli context, these two camps are joined by the far-left, which is flooding Europe with a tidal wave of anti-Israel and antisemitic sentiment.

Jihad, however, made its way to European shores a while ago. It has been reported in recent years that in France alone, many churches have been attacked by extremists, the majority of them Muslim. The authorities in Europe are silent on this too. They apparently believe the most effective way to contend with extremism and terrorism is to ignore and contain it, in the hope that it will simply disappear.

The question of Europe’s approach to radical Islam has resurfaced in the wake of the fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, one of France’s most important historical and religious symbols. The reason for the blaze is still unknown, and it could be that a technical mishap — the site was under renovation — was behind the fire.

Yet it was fascinating to see the outrage in Europe toward anyone who hinted at the possibility of arson, perhaps by extremists. No one is allowed to suggest this possibility, despite the track record of church attacks. This is also the approach, particularly in France, to any terrorist attack that takes place on the continent, where the jihadist aspect is blurred and disregarded.

Europe still believes that burying its head in the sand is the best way to cope with the challenge posed by radical Islam, but time and again we see that denying the existence of a problem doesn’t solve it.

We can assume the problem will only worsen in light of Europe’s failure to absorb the waves of Muslim immigration to the continent. These immigrants currently represent less than five percent of the entire population of Europe, but that could spike due to low natural birth rates among native Europeans. And the ratio of Muslims in some large European cities, such as Paris or Brussels, is already around 20 percent or higher. An effort to absorb these immigrants and accommodate them across the continent — while also fighting radical Islam with determination — is the order of the day, but in Europe, no one is ready to acknowledge this challenge, let alone tackle it.

Eyal Zisser is a lecturer in the Middle East History Department at Tel Aviv University. A version of this column first appeared in Israel Hayom.

By Samiha Nettikkara Courtesy BBC

A ban on face coverings in public has come into effect in Sri Lanka, following a series of suicide attacks on Easter Sunday, in which at least 250 people were killed.

Any face garment that “hinders identification” was being banned to ensure national security, the office of President Maithripala Sirisena said.

• Sri Lanka attacks: Face coverings banned
• Hijab, niqab, burka: Guide to Muslim headscarves

Those who support the ban say it’s vital for public safety and encourages assimilation of ethnic and religious minorities.

But rights groups say it discriminates against Muslim women, some of whom view these garments as a religious obligation.

Where else in the world has adopted similar bans?

Europe

France was the first European country to ban the full-face Islamic veil in public places, in 2011.

The ban was upheld by the European Court of Human Rights in July 2014.

A ban against a full-face veil led to protests in Denmark when it came into effect, in August 2018. The law says that “anyone who wears a garment that hides the face in public” will have to pay 1,000 krone (£118; $157), with fines 10 times higher for repeat offenders.

The Senate in the Netherlands passed a law in June 2018 banning face coverings in public buildings such as schools and hospitals, and on public transport. It does not apply on public streets.

In Germany it’s illegal to have any face coverings while driving. Germany’s lower house of parliament has also approved a partial ban for judges, civil servants and soldiers. Women wearing a full-face veil are also required to uncover their faces for identification purposes.

A ban on full-face veils in public spaces such as courts and schools came into force in Austria in October 2017.

A law banning the full-face veil came into effect in Belgium in July 2011. The law bans any clothing that obscures the identity of the wearer in places such as parks and on the street.

A bill was passed in Norway in June 2018 banning clothing covering the face from being worn at educational institutions.

Bulgaria‘s parliament passed a bill in 2016 to fine and cut the benefits of women who cover their faces in public.

There are also some restrictions in Luxembourg, in specific public locations such as hospitals, courts and public buildings.

Some European countries have bans in specific cities or regions.

This includes Italy, where several towns have bans on face-covering veils, including Novara, run by the anti-immigration Northern League, which imposed its ban in 2010.

In Spain, the city of Barcelona announced a ban on face coverings in 2010, in some public spaces such as municipal offices, public markets and libraries.

Face veils are also banned in public areas in some regions of Switzerland.

Africa

In 2015, multiple suicide bombings by women wearing full-face veils in the region prompted full-face coverings to be banned in public places in Chad, Gabon, Cameroon‘s northern region, Niger‘s Diffa region and the Republic of Congo.

In Algeria, public officials have been banned from wearing full-face veils in the workplace since October 2018.

China

The wearing of veils in public places – and “abnormally” long beards – are prohibited in China’s Xinjiang region.

Xinjiang is home to ethnic Uighur Muslims, who say they face discrimination.

The region has seen violent clashes, which the government blames on Islamist militants

Written by Deeptiman Tiwary |New Delhi Courtesy The Indian Express

Investigators, meanwhile, suspect that Hashim broke away from the Lanka-based National Thowheeth Jamaath, which has been blamed for the blasts, to form his own outfit recently.

INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES are tracking over a dozen men from Tamil Nadu and Kerala whose phone numbers were found in the Call Detail Records (CDRs) of Zaharan Hashim, the suspected mastermind behind the Easter Sunday blasts in Sri Lanka, a security official told The Indian Express.

Hashim is believed to have spent close to three months in India, possibly from late last year, and the CDRs pertain to this period and the months since his return to Lanka, the official said. Hashim was among the group of suicide bombers that targeted churches and hotels across Sri Lanka, killing over 250 people.

On Monday, as part of its probe into Hashim’s India links, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested one of the three men from Kerala, who were detained Sunday, on suspicion of being an Islamic State (IS) recruit and for conspiring to commit a terrorist act”.

The agency identified the man arrested as Palakkad resident Riyas Abubakar alias Abu Dujana. He has disclosed that he has been following speeches/videos of Zaharan Hashim… for more than a year and has also followed the speeches of (Islamic preacher) Zakir Naik. He admitted that he wanted to carry out a suicide attack in Kerala,” NIA IG Alok Mittal said.

Investigators, meanwhile, suspect that Hashim broke away from the Lanka-based National Thowheeth Jamaath, which has been blamed for the blasts, to form his own outfit recently.

The group was named Nation of Thowheeth Jamaath, perhaps alluding to the idea of a Caliphate. He got around 35 young men to join him. The suspicion is that it is these people who carried out the attack,” a security official said. The NTJ had issued a statement condemning the blasts.

On Sunday, the NIA arrested Riyas after raiding his house in connection with the 2016 case of 22 Kerala youths leaving for Afghanistan to join the IS — and found that he was allegedly in touch with one among that group.

He has disclosed that he has been in online contact with absconding accused Abdul Rashid Abdulla @ Abu Isa for a long time and has been following his audio clips, including the clip which he had circulated on social media instigating others to carry out terror attacks in India,” an NIA statement said. Abdulla is believed to be in Afghanistan.

According to the NIA, Riyas was also chatting online with Abdul Khayoom alias Abu Khalid who was believed to be in Syria”. Khayoom is an accused in the IS case from Valapattanam linked to the group that left for Afghanistan.

Sources said the Hashim video with Riyas was similar to the one retrieved from the phones of six IS suspects detained in Coimbatore last September. In the video, Hashim is seen asking Muslims to join his cause of forming an Islamic Wilaya (province) in the region,” sources said.

The Coimbatore case was transferred to the NIA last December, and the agency found the video while drafting the chargesheet this year.
The suspect had deleted the video, which was retrieved by forensic experts. The input was shared with the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), which developed it and gave Sri Lanka the specific input on April 4 of an impending attack,” an intelligence official said.

Apart from Riyas in Palakkad, the NIA searched the houses of two others in Kasaragod for their suspected links with the group that left for Afghanistan — some of them via Sri Lanka and Iran.

Apart from the Hashim video, the NIA claimed to have recovered several digital devices, including mobile phones, SIM cards, memory cards, pen drives, diaries with handwritten notes in Arabic and Malayalam, DVDs of Dr Zakir Naik, besides untitled DVDs, CDs with religious speeches, books of Dr Zakir Naik and Syed Kutheb”.

DECCAN CHRONICLE. | BALA CHAUHAN

 This NIA had registered a case in July 2016 after 15 youths has fled away to ISIS. (Representional Image)

Bengaluru: Kerala may reportedly have been the next destination of suicide attacks by the Islamic State of Iraq & Syria (ISIS) homegrown cadres in the southern state, who were reportedly radicalised by the Sri Lanka suicide bomber Hashim Zafran and fugitive preacher Zakir Naik. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday arrested Riyas A. alias Riyas Aboobacker alias Abu Dujana (29), a resident of Palakkad, Kerala in Kasargod in the ISIS (RC No. 02/2016/NIA/KOC) case for conspiring to execute terrorist attacks in Kerala.

Riyas was reportedly inspired by Hashim and Naik. He was in contact with absconding accused Abdul Rashid Abdulla alias Abu Isa for a long time and has been following his audio clips including the clip, which he had circulated on social media platform instigating others to carry out terrorist attacks in India,” said the NIA spokesperson IGP Alok Mittal. Riyas was in touch with Abdul Khayoom alias Abu Khalid, who was also involved  in Valapattanam ISIS case and is believed to be in Syria.

The NIA had earlier received inputs that a group of four persons has been in contact with Abdul Rashid, Ashfaq Majeed, Abdul Khayoom and others, who had earlier migrated to Afghanistan and Syria. After verification, NIA carried out searches at three places (two in Kasaragod and one in Palakkad). Three group members have been interrogated for their ISIS links and their plans.

This NIA had registered a case in July 2016 after 15 youths has fled away to ISIS. Out of them 14 people went to Afghanistan and one person to Syria so far.