Masterminding the mastermind

Family member of a victim who succumbed to the deadly Easter Sunday carnage seen commemorating the loss of their loved one at the Katuwapitiya mass grave site.

Pic by Pradeep Pathirana

In spite of more than ten local and foreign investigations into the 2019 Easter Sunday terrorist attacks targeting Christians which have been conducted for the past six years, the victim community has not been content yet. Similarly, certain political groups are also not happy with the outcomes of these investigations. 

The reason for the disappointment in some groups is the failure of the investigations to prove their theory that the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) led by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa was behind these terrorist attacks in order to create an atmosphere that was conducive for them to win the Presidential election held in the same year. 

Starting from the day after the macabre crime committed by the National Thawheed Jama’ath (NTJ) led by Zahran Hashim, one of the suicide bombers who attacked three tourist hotels and three churches, three Presidential committees, a Presidential commission, a Parliamentary Select Committee have been appointed to investigate into these terrorist attacks. Besides that a fundamental rights case too has been concluded. 12 men have been indicted. Another 108 cases have been filed seeking compensation to the victims.

Apart from these, investigative arms of the US, UK, Australia, India, China, Pakistan, New Zealand, Denmark, Germany and Interpol have also carried out probes on the matter, according to various reports. 

Yet, there are groups including the Catholic Church that are not fully content with any one of them. Hence, every April after 2019, the Catholic community led by Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith insist on meting out justice to the victim families of the terrorist attacks that was carried out during one of their holiest days. 

The Cardinal called on the government of the day in 2019 to hand over the powers to any capable group unless it cannot do justice to the victims and mobilised his people to support Gotabaya Rajapaksa who pledged to trace those who planned and executed the crime, at the Presidential election in the same year. He, after election, expressed satisfaction over the investigations but only to withdraw their support to the Rajapaksa government within months.  

In the same way, when National People’s Power (NPP) leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake promised to expose those who were instrumental in carrying out the Easter Sunday carnage during the last Presidential election, the majority of the Catholic community supported him to come to power. However, few weeks ago Cardinal warned that they would have to agitate against the government if it failed to reveal before April 21 those who were behind the terrorist attacks which happened six years ago. 

Yet, no such demonstrations were held, apparently due to a statement by the President that new developments could be expected in the investigations into the tragedy, before April 21. The Opposition parties twisted his statement as him promising to reveal the mastermind of the terrorist attacks. 

Nevertheless, no new developments were announced before 21st of this month, except for the Presidential Secretariat handing over all documents pertaining to the terrorist attacks, including the Report of the Commission appointed by President Sirisena and those that were deemed by the previous governments as ‘secret documents’. 

Fixing dates for new developments in the investigations by the President and setting deadlines for the government to reveal the masterminds by the Catholic Church is unrealistic as the legal process should take its own course without any outside interference. 

Fingers have been pointed at the leaders of the SLPP for these terrorist attacks since 2020 without any valid grounds, but the notion is now well established among a section of the society.  President Dissanayake also told at a rally held in Polonnnaruwa in view of the May 6 local government elections that the greatest tragedy ever carried out to seize political power took place on Easter Sunday in 2019. He was clear to have targeted the SLPP as it was the party that exploited the situation to the core, in the run up to the 2019 Presidential election. 

Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, better known as Pillayan, a one-time top leader of the LTTE in the Eastern Province who later became the Chief Minister of the province after his defection to the government was arrested on April 8 over the disappearance of former Vice-Chancellor of the Eastern University, S. Raveendranath in 2006. However, two days later Public Security Minister Ananda Wijepala told Parliament that lots of information about Pillayan’s involvement in the Easter Sunday attacks have been revealed. 

Two unusual and incomprehensible incidents occurred after this arrest. Former President Ranil Wickremesinghe has sought permission from the CID - where Pillayan is being held, to talk to the terror leader turned politician. The CID had turned down his request on the grounds that it is illegal. Then Pivithuru Hela Urumaya leader Udaya Gammanpila who is well known for his views towards Tamils and Muslims had obtained permission to meet Pillayan as the legal counsel of the latter. An interview in a Sinhala weekly indicates that Gammanpila had become Pillayan’s lawyer without any request from the latter. Why these two politicians were so keen to speak to a person arrested for the disappearance of a man is not clear. 

They might have been prompted to discuss with Pillayan after Minister Wijepala’s statement connecting Pillayan with Easter Sunday attacks as they might also have thought that Pillayan’s arrest might lead to arrest of some other powerful politicians. The former Secretary to Pillayan Azath Mawlana had told the Britain’s Channel 4 in 2023 that on the instruction of Pillayan he had arranged a meeting between NTJ leader Zahran Hashim and State Intelligence Service (SIS) chief Suresh Salley in 2018, few months before the Terrorist attacks. 

Mawlana had also said that Salley wanted an unsettled situation created to facilitate Gotabaya Rajapaksa to come to power. This is one theory about the mastermind of the Easter Sunday attacks. However, he had not substantiated this statement. 

Yet, Pillayan in a book titled ‘Easter Padukolai’ (Easter killings) published last year states that he had met Zahran’s brother, Zaini while both were in remand prison in 2017 and had discussed matters pertaining to Islamic extremism. Mawlana had also referred to these meetings in prison during interviews with Channel 4.   

Gammanpila seems to have sensed a situation like Pillayan’s arrest some time ago. He, during a press conference in February stated that NPP government has hatched a plot to arrest former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and former SIS chief Suresh Salley. 

Against this backdrop, in an apparent challenge to Mawlana’s mastermind theory, media has started to speak about an affidavit the FBI had filed in an American court which says the mastermind of the Easter carnage was Zahran Hashim. Though this is an affidavit filed in 2020, it has not drawn the attention of Sri Lankans for the past five years. It also must be recalled that Sarath Weerasekara who served as Public Security Minister at the time told Parliament four years ago that one Nawfer Mavlavi was the mastermind. 

What is disheartening is that the illusive mastermind has become a political football eclipsing the justice to the victims.