{"id":88555,"date":"2019-05-10T17:03:43","date_gmt":"2019-05-11T00:03:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=88555"},"modified":"2019-05-17T16:21:51","modified_gmt":"2019-05-17T23:21:51","slug":"easter-sunday-bomb-blast-in-sri-lanka-part-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/05\/10\/easter-sunday-bomb-blast-in-sri-lanka-part-4\/","title":{"rendered":"EASTER SUNDAY BOMB BLAST IN SRI LANKA Part 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Revised\n12.5.19. 17.5.19<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

India had sent three alerts about the Easter\nSunday bomb blasts. The first alert was on April 4.  The second alert was sent on the 11th<\/sup>.\nA third alert was sent\ntwo hours before the first suicide blast, it had the names\nof three churches. According to Hindustan Times  there\nwas also a fourth alert sent\non the 16th, <\/sup>the day the\ndevice was tested in a motorcycle In Kalmunai\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The alerts gave\nspecific information. They indicated the targets and the day of\nthe attack. The targets\nwould be churches and    hotels. The  \nday would be Easter Sunday. The method would be suicide bombers. The\nnames of those who would be carrying out the attacks were given, such as Zahran\nHashim.  The exact locations were also\ngiven,   said Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith,\nwho had been shown one of the alerts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These alerts were\nsuperb actionable\u201d Grade A intelligence. It identified the group that was\nplanning the attack, the name of the leader and the modus operandi of the\nattack, which was suicide bombers. It was received 17 days prior to\nthe attack. There was plenty of time to prevent the attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The State Intelligence Service of Sri Lanka,\non receiving the alerts, had added other names from their own files, with\ntelephone numbers, addresses and ID numbers and forwarded the alert to Chief of\nNational Intelligence, who sent it to Inspector General of Police who sent it\nto the DIGs. DIG Special Security Range has sent a Memo to the Security\nDivisions of the Ministers, Diplomats, Judiciary and the Retired Presidents\nalerting them to possible attacks. The purpose apparently had been to protect\nthose persons. The Army Commander was not informed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The intended\ntarget is usually the first to be informed.  Yahapalana government however, had totally\nneglected to inform the targets. The information was not conveyed to Cardinal\nMalcolm Ranjith, or to the management of the affected hotels, so that action\ncould have been taken to avoid the damage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Archbishop of\nColombo Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith expressed his deep displeasure about this.\nEaster Sunday attacks could have been avoided had the Government dealt with the\ninformation seriously without passing letters to one another, he said. Had he\nknown about the threats he would have cancelled the Easter Mass services, and\navoided the carnage.  \u2018When I got\nto know the incident, I immediately instructed all churches to stop Holy Mass\nand send people home.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In view of the grave nature of  the intelligence received and the need for immediate\naction, Chief of National intelligence and Secretary of Defence should have met\nand discussed security measures required, said experts. They should  have summoned the chiefs of the armed\nservices and the police and their intelligence heads, for a conference.\nNecessary safeguards should have been put in place,  such as strengthening security at the\nairport, the hotels and the churches. Yahapalana\ngovernment did not do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The defense authorities took the matter\nlightly. Hemasiri Fernando, Secretary of Defence,  said\n in response to a query from a foreign\njournalist , “We never expected an attack of this magnitude. We expected a\nfew attacks but not this.”Clearly they were not going to take any action\nto prevent those few attacks either.\nFernando\nrepeatedly smiled as he answered questions, said critics. Fernando\u2019s\ncallous attitude shocked me said  DEW Gunasekera \n.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there is\nevidence that some at least of the Cabinet ministers knew of the  planned attacks. Catholic cabinet\nministers  did not go to  \nchurch on Easter Sunday. This is very significant. They are usually seen\nprominently, in the very first pew. Mano Ganesan said at a   media briefing that his Chief Security\nOfficer  had warned about a Easter Sunday\nattack, several days before  the\nattack.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harin Fernando told a news conference that his\nfather had told him not to attend Easter mass because he had been told by an\nretired CID friend of his that churches would be attacked on Sunday. He\nspecifically mentioned St. Anthony\u2019s church in Kochchikade. Harin brushed this advice aside, but did not\ngo to Kochchikade and did not warn anybody else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dinesh\nGunawardena, scoffed at claims that our leaders were unaware of intelligence\nreports in the days leading up to the attacks. It is clear that the Government\nknew. Chief of National Intelligence (CNI) reports to the Defence Secretary,\nobserved Sarath Fonseka. We know that the CNI had  notified the IGP. If so, then it would have\nbeen sent to the President and the Defence Secretary as well, he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a\n“distribution list” at the National Intelligence Agency. The first\ntwo copies would be sent to the President and the Minister of Defence.  Copies would also be submitted to the\nSecretary of Defence and the Chief of National Intelligence. Further copies would\nbe distributed among Chief of Defense staff (CDS), service commanders and the\nIGP, depending on necessity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sheer commonsense\nwould tell us that much of this was known beforehand. No other explanation is\nconceivable, said Kishali Pinto Jayawardene. Jayadeva Uyangoda, speaking the\nfirst anniversary of Sinhala weekly Anidda frowned on President Sirisena and\nPremier Wickremesinghe\u2019s repeated claims that they weren\u2019t aware of impending\nEaster Sunday attacks\u201d. We have never in our history, ever had\na Prime Minister who claimed\nhe did not know, said critics.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2019,    months before the April blast ,a delegation\nfrom the All Ceylon Jamiathul Ulema, the main \norganization of Muslim clerics, met the President  to warn him and the government of the\nimpending danger from terrorist groups backing the ISIS. They named Mohamed\nCassim Mohamed Zahran, as the leader of the local group and gave a detailed\nmemorandum listing their activities.  President\nSirisena handed  over the information to\nSecretary of Defence, Fernando  who it\nappears did nothing about it. Therefore,\nYahapalana cannot say they were not warned. The Muslim community itself, by then\nquite desperate,  had gone to the highest\nauthority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Yahapalana\ngovernment has failed  to heed an early warning\nand caused over 200 deaths and many injured. This  is criminal negligence, observed Don\nManu. Yet no preventive action was taken. The brushing aside of specific\nwarnings by Indian intelligence, seems to indicate far more than mere\ncarelessness, said Kishali Pinto Jayawardene. Was it a deliberate decision, not\ndisseminating the information given by India and not acting on those warnings,\nasked Rajan Philips. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

President was\naway in India and Singapore on a private visit from 16 April.  No Acting Defense Minister had been\nappointed. President  said  he  was\nnot officially informed even in Singapore. I learnt  the news from others in Singapore,\u201d President\nSirisena said. President  returned only\nat midnight  on Sunday, in spite of two\nearlier flights being available. Why did it take 15 hours for him to return\nfrom Singapore which is only four hours away. Prime Minister Ranil\nWickremasinghe also said that  he was not\ninformed.  The President  and the\nPrime Minister owe this country an explanation, beyond their asinine \u2018I did not\nknow\u2019 stories,  said Kishali .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yahapalana \ngovernment  is not \na normal government and  in this\ncase, it certainly did not  behave like a\nnormal government .Twenty government ministers and MPs participated in a   telecast press conference  on 22.4.19 to speak about the bomb blast.  The\nMPs  were smiling and laughing  as they  \nspoke of the bomb blasts. We are very sorry as a government and want to\napologize to the people and other affected parties about this incident,\u201d they\nsaid, cheerfully. \nGrinning Ministers  spoke to us\non national television at  a press\nconference after the attack\u201d said Kishali. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These MPs   focused on \nmoney  not life. They kept repeating\nthat those affected would be given money. The government has decided to pay Rs.100,000\nas funeral expenses and Rs. one million for the families of those who died as\ncompensation. Those who have injured will receive compensation ranging\nfrom Rs.100,000 to Rs.300,000 according to the severity of the injury, they\nsaid.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nforeign  interviewers were  openly startled by this callous  attitude. In one interview, Ranil\nWickremasinghe was asked, but how did you feel when all this happened, did it\nnot affect you. He  thought a bit and\nsaid \u2018I was shocked\u2019. For the PM, the loss of a human life would appear to be\nsomething to be shrugged upon as tough luck ,commented Sanjeewa  Jayaweera. Rajan\nPhilips referred to the Prime Minister\u2019s insouciance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The public are furious over the bomb blasts\nand the many deaths and want the government to go, reported the media.\nThis government is part of the problem.\nIt is a security threat to the entire population, said Malinda Seneviratne.\nThis government  is not acting in the\nnational interest. It  must go, the\nquicker, the better, said the LSSP. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The President and the PM of this country\nshould resign forthwith, said critics. In any other country, the government\nwould have resigned in the wake of such a national calamity. Here no one took\nresponsibility.   After a disaster of this scale,, not a\nsingle person has willingly resigned, said Ryp Van Winkle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The country is\nangry but instead of <\/strong>the hysteria ,panic\nand  confusion the western powers hoped\nto see,  the  country is lookingforeffective\nstrategies to contain the situation. For instance, SriLankan Airlines has asked\nThe Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) to deploy sky marshals on SriLankan Airlines\nflights. The Air Force  is looking into the existing regulatory\nframework and international legal obligations on the matter. The SLAF has also\nbeefed up security measures in and around BIA. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was a massive response for blood:\naround 4500 people had thronged the\nblood banks of hospitals. Blood was taken from 3,700 of them. The others, he\nsaid, were sent back after details of blood group types, name and contact\nnumbers were taken down. Over 2500 turned up at the National Blood Centre in\nNarahenpita.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The elite\ncharged that  certain Muslim MPs\nwere  associated with NTJ and JMI. They\nnamed Rishard Bathiudeen,   Azath Salley, Mujibur Rahaman  and\nM.L.A.M. Hizbullah.  UNP Colombo\nMunicipal Councilor Noordeen Mohamed Thajudeen \nwas arrested over the discovery of 46 swords in a Mosque, at Slave\nIsland.  The National Joint Committee\nwanted  all military camps that were in\noperation on 19th May 2009 be re-established.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The resilience of a shocked and angry nation has\nbeen remarkable, said Kishali The courage of police officers and security\nforces conducting relentless investigations, despite loss of lives, has been\ncommendable. This exemplifies the best of Sri Lanka.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The country is  very much aware of the possibility of foreign\nintervention. The Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) wondered\nwhether  the bomb blasts were simply   Islam, \nor whether it was something far more sinister involving the CIA. This\nwhole attack has similarities with events abroad that have been attributed to\nthe CIA of the USA. It is known that the CIA and USA think tanks are operating\nhere with the support of the Government. USA has had a long history of hand-in-glove\nassociation with terrorism. They have created terrorist groups and fought\nagainst them, sometimes creating other terrorist groups for this purpose.\nISIS  was created by USA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

US and the UK sent teams here soon after the bomb blasts. Many\nan eyebrow was raised over the swift  arrival of \nthese two teams, said Shamindra. USA sent not one, but two separate teams.\nOne was from the FBI, USA\u2019s secret service and the other was from the US navy\nPacific Command. Both were viewed with great suspicion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 The FBI landed here\nwithin two days, evidently they were ready for the call, commented LSSP. Why \ndid a team some from the US navy. This is part of the US military, said\ncritics. The USA and its intelligence services are not\nrequired and are a positive danger. They must go, said the LSSP. They can now\ntake over our intelligence set up, take over \u2018the fight against terrorism\u2019 and\nthe end result will be to make Sri Lanka a battle field like Syria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command  of the UK \nalso sent a team of specialists. Britain\u2019s Minister for Security and\nEconomic Crimes, Ben Wallace, came on a two-day visit. Archbishop of Colombo\nMalcolm Cardinal Ranjith and Ven Omalpe Sobitha \nwere suspicious and said so at a media conference from Bishop\u2019s House, Borella.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

India’s offer\nof assistance was also met with suspicion. The offer comes at a time when Sri\nLankan police and military are doing brilliant work in swiftly tracking down\nsuspects, detecting weapons, explosives and information in almost every province\nsaid Lasanda Kurukulasuriya . There is\nno need for the Indian National Security Guard, NSG to come in. We don\u2019t need\nforeign soldiers. Our forces are capable enough. We just need to give them\npowers and freedom,\u201d said  Mahinda\nRajapaksa . <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This essay closes with a statement by\nMahinda Rajapaksa:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In January 2015, I handed over a completely\nsecure and peaceful country to the new President. We had strengthened the intelligence\nservices so that there would be absolutely no threat to the national security\nof the country. Our intelligence services worked closely with other\nintelligence services of neighboring countries and other international\nintelligence services to ensure the security of the country. Whenever we got\nwind of a threat to national security, we acted on it. The Easter Sunday\nattacks would never have taken place under our government. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The present government is squarely\nresponsible for the terrorist attacks that took place last Sunday. The police\nhad issued early warnings of an impending attack. However what action did the\ngovernment take with regard to those warnings? They never informed the Church\nleaders about those warnings and neither did they provide extra security to the\npossible targets. All that the leaders of the present government did was to\nensure that they themselves were nowhere near a possible target. On important\noccasion such as Easter, representatives of the government usually attend Mass,\nbut this time there were no such representatives in the Churches. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the moment this government came into\npower in January 2015, they have been persecuting the members of the armed\nforces and the intelligence services that ended that war. How many of our armed\nforces personnel have they jailed over the past four years? How many times have\nthey hauled former army commanders and commanders of the navy and air force to\nthe CID to be questioned? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The armed forces personnel who carried out\ntheir duties on behalf of the nation were harassed and hunted down by this\ngovernment.. The government was preparing to repeal the Prevention of Terrorism\nAct on the instructions of their foreign masters. If that Act had been\nrepealed, what kind of a position would we be in today? Because the government\nwas engaged in relentlessly persecuting its own armed forces, we became an easy\ntarget for terrorists. No other country in the world has persecuted and\nweakened its own armed forces and intelligence services in this manner. Terrorists\nobserve these things and plan accordingly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sunday attacks did not take place due to\nthe negligence of one or two officials. We can now see that the government is\npreparing to sacrifice some officials and wash their hands of the matter. This\nincident occurred because of the conduct of this government from the time they\ncame into power in January 2015. If anyone is to resign over these incidents,\nit should be the government. Despite the persecution that the intelligence\nservices had been subject to, they did obtain prior intelligence relating to\nthis attack and conveyed the information to certain quarters. But nothing\nhappened thereafter. That warning had been sent to my security officers as\nwell, but they did not keep me informed about the threat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If I had known that there was an imminent\nthreat of this nature, I would have immediately informed His Eminence Malcolm\nCardinal Ranjith and also curtailed my own movements. Instructing officials on\nthe manner in which they should conduct themselves in relation to matters\ninvolving national security, is the task of the government. That is what people\nelect governments for. The signal sent by this government to officials at all\nlevels is that national security is not important. That is the reason for all this\nmayhem. These incidents did not occur without warning. The recent destruction\nof Buddha statues in Mawanella, the attempt on the life of a close supporter of\na Muslim Minister from that area, the discovery of over 100 kilos of explosives\nfrom Puttalam, are all connected. So this attack did not just come from the\nblues. Having received information that an attack can take place, all that the\ngovernment did was to ensure that they themselves were safe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The arrests of armed forces and intelligence\nservices personnel that took place after this government came into power was\nvery often not based on solid evidence. In order to please the Yahapalana\ngovernment the CID obtains statements from certain people using various\nstratagems and then uses these statements to arrest members of the armed forces\nand intelligence services. Some of these so called witnesses have made special\nstatements to Magistrates explaining how the CID obtained statements from them\nimplicating various people. Stop this filthy practice at least now. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 neighboring 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.\u201d Rajapaksa \u00a0concluded. \u00a0(Continued) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS Revised 12.5.19. 17.5.19 India had sent three alerts about the Easter Sunday bomb blasts. The first alert was on April 4.  The second alert was sent on the 11th. A third alert was sent two hours before the first suicide blast, it had the names of three churches. According to Hindustan Times  there […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kamalika-pieris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88555"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88555\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}