Easter Sunday terror attack Former IGP and former Defence Secy should take responsibility

By Yoshitha Perera   

Former IGP Pujith Jayasundara and former Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando have to take the responsibility for not preventing coordinated terror attacks which occurred on  Easter Sunday, former President Maithripala Sirisena yesterday informed the PCoI probing Easter Sunday attacks.   

A representative from the AG’s department questioned the former President on having a strong bond beyond a father and son relationship, with former State Intelligence Service (SIS) Director SDIG Nilantha Jayawardena during the former Government’s period. 

 
The former President said that the former IGP and former Defence Secretary visited him several times before the attack but none of them had informed him about the initial foreign intelligence regarding the possible terror attack which was received on April 4, 2019.   The witness added that no country had pointed a finger at the Head of State for not preventing terrorist activities.   

He informed that National Thowheed Jamaat (NTJ) Leader Zahran Hashim’s ISIS ideology and its spread across the country was reported to the National Security Council (NSC) in January 2019 and he had advised the former IGP to take necessary action to arrest Zahran immediately. 

• No country had pointed a finger at the Head of State for not preventing terrorist activities