23 December 2020 12:00 am
By Yoshitha Perera
The tenure of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) probing Easter Sunday attacks has been extended till January 31, 2021, for the third time by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
The Presidential Secretariat issuing a Gazette Extraordinary Notice on December 18 said that the extension of term was to complete the final report of the PCoI.
The PCoI was established on September 20, 2019, for a period of six months and during the proceedings it had obtained three extensions.
It was extended till September 20, 2020, in March and again till December 20, 2020.
The Commission source informed that 436 people had testified before the Commission within the above mentioned period.
Meanwhile, the PCoI yesterday recorded evidence from Fatima Shifana Omar Katta, the wife of Jamil Mohommad, who detonated himself at Dehiwala Tropical Inn on April 21, Easter Sunday.
She is being held at the Bogambara Prison and was brought before the Presidential Commission by prison officials yesterday morning to give evidence.
The witness had provided evidence using Skype technology while staying at the Police Unit attached to the Commission.
However, the Presidential Commission did not allow the testimony of the wife of the bomber Jamil Mohammed to be disclosed to the media.
Earlier, the Commission had recorded evidence from Zahran Hashim’s wife Fatima Hadiya, and it was also not open for the media.
The Commission authorities who handled the media had several times failed to inform the above media restrictions when recording evidence from a suspect arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).
Due to the above situation the reporters representing several media institutions had to waste their time at the Commission premises.
Point- Commission had recorded evidence from Zahran Hashim’s wife Fatima Hadiya