06 Feb 2025 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Maulana alleges former Director State Intelligence Service Suresh Sallay worked hand in glove with Pillayan
Maulana has already made revelations to Channel 4 and the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva
It is alleged that Sallay had personally asked Maulana to help in bringing Gotabaya Rajapaksa to power as the President of Sri Lanka
By Nirmala Kannangara
A senior defence official, conducting a probe into the Easter Sunday attack told the Daily Mirror that according to Azad Maulana, former Coordinating Secretary to Pillayan has alleged as to how Pillayan arranged the Easter Sunday attack from the Batticaloa jail whilst serving a jail term for the murder of MP Joseph Pararajasingham.
Maulana has already made these revelations to Channel 4 and the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
Maulana, a key witness to the Easter Sunday attack investigation, who is to be brought down from Switzerland in the near future, had allegedly accused Gotabaya Rajapaksa and former Director State Intelligence Service Suresh Sallay in working hand in glove with Pillayan in connection with the Easter attack as Gotabaya Rajapaksa wanted an ‘unsafe’ country to help him come to power, the defence official said.
Maulana, who regularly visited Pillayan in jail, was once allegedly introduced to a group of Muslim prisoners, who were involved in a murder. Zaharan’s brother, Saine Moulavi, was one of these prisoners. Pillayan had told Maulana that he had provided training to this Muslim group; the training including LTTE tactics on how to carry out suicide attacks, the official alleged. Pillayan wanted Maulana to request Rs. 50,000 from Sallay and give it to Zaharan as they were in a spot of trouble. The defence official alleged that Sallay meanwhile had allegedly given Rs 200,000 to Maulana to give it to Saine’s wife as legal fees to arrange bail for these prisoners.
These Muslim prisoners received bail on October 24, 2017. Following this, on the request of Pillayan, Maulana had allegedly arranged a meeting between Sallay and the Muslim group. Zaharan too had attended this meeting in late January 2018 at Lactowatte in Puttalam. After this meeting, it is alleged that Sallay had personally asked Maulana to help in bringing Gotabaya Rajapaksa to power as the President of Sri Lanka, the defence official said.
It is alleged that later Gotabaya Rajapaksa, on February 11, 2019, had wanted Maulana to visit his residence for a meeting and there he had wanted the latter to carry out what Sallay said and that Pillayan can be released only if he comes into power. Two months after this meeting and 13 months after the Lactowatte meeting, the Easter attack was carried out.
After seeing the photos of the suicide bombers, it is alleged that Maulana had identified them - as those whom he met at Lactowatte in the presence of Suresh Sallay.
In November 2019, Gotabaya Rajapaksa became the President and Sallay was appointed as the Director SIS. The defence official alleged that since both of them failed their promise to get Pillayan released after the election victory, the latter had allegedly sent a threatening letter to Sallay stating that he and the President to be ready to join him in jail as they did not get him released.
It is alleged that this led Sallay to introduce Maulana to Basil Rajapaksa who got three sitting Judges to get Pillayan acquitted from all charges in 2020 and to compensate him for the help given to carry out the Easter attack, which made the country an unsafe place and for helping Gotabaya Rajapaksa to become the President of the country, Maulana told the UNHRC and Channel 4, the official said.
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“Please read the Presidential Commission report” - Gotabaya Rajapaksa -
Rajapaksa’s text message states, ‘Please read the Presidential Commission report including the evidences given by the CID officers. I don’t know anything apart from what is in that report’. |
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Easter Sunday Attacks: Elusive Mastermind and Political Chessboard By Kelum Bandara Sri Lanka was shocked when a series of bombings ripped through on Easter Sunday in April ,2019 since it had been lulled in a sense of complacency after the end of 30-year-old cruel war against the LTTE in 2009 and did not have any experience of Islamic terrorism. In the attack, the perpetrators deliberately targeted foreigners and the Catholic and Christian communities in the Buddhist majority country. The attack that rocked the country took place towards the tail end of the Yahapalana government. The country’s economy suffered with the tourism sector dropping to its lowest ebb. Since then, a presidential commission,two committees of inquiries and a parliamentary select committee were appointed to find the actual culprit behind it despite the ISIS claiming responsibility and its local arm National Thowheeth Jamaat even releasing a video of the suicide bombers pledging their allegiance to ISIS prior to the execution of bomb blasts . The series of bomb blasts were also blamed on security lapses on the part of the then government. It was criticized for not taking action based on intelligence provided by the Indian intelligence regarding the impending attack. The Yahapalana government was voted out the same year, and the next government proceeded with litigation. Subsequent investigations, the court ordered former President Maithripala Sirisena to pay Rs. 100 million from his personal funds to family members of victims who brought the civil case before the court. The police chief, two top intelligence officials and the secretary to the ministry of defence at the time were ordered to pay Rs. 210 million rupees. The Catholic church led by Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith demanded justice since majority victims were Catholics. Cardinal Ranjith insisted on further investigations to trace what he always called ‘Mastermind’ behind the attack. Since the Catholics form a sizable chunk of the vote base , the Cardinal’s call for the tracing of the elusive mastermind gained traction among those voters. It became a political football, so to speak vote bank politics. The current government led by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake secured power with the promise to launch a fresh probe into the attacks. He announced a probe on October 8, 2024 into 2019 Easter bombings. The matter has again begun to dominate news following Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU) leader Udaya Gammanpila made fresh remarks about the purported moves to arrest former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and then State Intelligence Service (SIS) Chief Maj. Gen. Suresh Sallay. According to him, that is to be done through recording a statement from Azad Maulana whom Channel 4 had introduced as a whistle-blower in its documentary on the Easter Sunday attack. After such an attack, Sri Lanka may be the only country in the world that focuses the debate away from the main issue-religious extremism. It is not only the Catholics who got killed but many foreign nationals including Americans and Chinese. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Australian Federal Police (AFP) are two leading international investigative bodies that carried out investigations in the aftermath of the Easter attacks. Justice should prevail for those foreigners who died for no fault of theirs. It is true that the findings by these investigative bodies helped in dismantling the network of Zaharan Hashim who led the suicide squad. It is now important to place on record the findings of these two leading organizations to know the truth. The otherwise mastermind will be elusive and political victimization continues. |
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“I don’t want to give comments to the media” - Suresh Sallay
“I was a professional intelligence officer and worked for 38 years out of which I served five years as Director Military Intelligence Service and another five years as the Director SIS. Throughout my career I have never given comments or interviews to the media. Although I am not in service now, I still do not want to give comments to the media,” Sallay said. |
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“Maulana is fabricating stories. It’s good that the government is planning to get Maulana back” - Pillayan
“This attack took place six years ago. Why couldn’t he expose this at that time without taking four years to go to Channel 4 and HRC in Geneva? The present Secretary Ministry of Public Security Ravi Seneviratne- who was the former Head of the CID at the time of the bomb blast, the President and the CID are stupid. Can’t they understand the difference between those who have given up arms and the work of ISIS and Muslim extremism? As I didn’t like the armed struggle I entered the political mainstream and became a Chief Minister. How can a person who was in jail from 2015 to 2020 plan such a devastating attack? It is good that the government is planning to get Maulana back to the country. I will cooperate with the CID and let law enforcement authorities arrest Maulana for fabricating stories,” Pillayan said. |
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In response to a text message forwarded to former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa by this newspaper regarding the allegation Maulana has levelled against him for conspiring to carry out the Easter Sunday attack to come into power, the former President claimed that he doesn’t know anything regarding these allegations. 
When this newspaper contacted former Director State Intelligence Service Suresh Sallay to obtain a comment in connection with the allegations Maulana had revealed on Channel 4, he declined to make a comment. 
Meanwhile the Daily Mirror contacted Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan who is accused of conspiring the Easter attack. He said that Maulana, who is seeking permanent residency in a foreign country in the guise of receiving life threats, is levelling baseless allegations. 
