The mastermind who eternally eludes identity

More than six years after the Easter Sunday Terrorist attacks in 2019 targeting Christians,  yet another adjournment debate on the incident was held in Parliament on 9th of this month. With political parties trading charges against each other as usual, it was concluded without any fresh evidence or significant information being shared. 

However, some Opposition politicians seem to have found a new issue out of the debate to annoy the National People’s Power (NPP) government leaders. They have been holding media conferences to question a statement made during the debate by Transport, Highways, Ports and Aviation Minister and the Leader of the House Bimal Rathnayake that former DIG Ravi Seneviratne and former Director CID Shani Abeysekara have been entrusted to lead investigations into the terrorist attacks on the request of Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith. 

Ravi Seneviratne has been appointed the Secretary to the Ministry of Public Security while Shani Abeysekara has been reappointed as the Director of Criminal Investigation Department (CID) by the NPP government. 

General Secretary of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Sagara Kariyawasam question the rationale and the ethicality of these two appointments citing that both the individuals have been prominent figures of the Retired Police Collective formed by the NPP prior to the recent Presidential election. Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) Parliamentarian Dayasiri Jayasekara who has become a thorn in the side of the NPP argued that NPP government has to accept the recommendations of the Mahanayake Theras as well. 

The gist of these arguments is that the NPP government was making political appointments to important high posts. Notwithstanding the veracity of those contentions it must be noted that none of the political parties that ruled the country and their minor allies have the moral right to criticise political appointments as majority of the individuals they appointed to important positions during their respective tenures have been their political allies. 

Nepotism is a norm in Sri Lankan politics and the situation came to a head during administrations of Rajapaksas who now lead the SLPP. President Mahinda Rajapaksa appointed his Brother-in-law Nishantha Wickramasinghe as chairman of the Sri Lankan Airlines while assigning ambassadorial posts in Washington and Moscow to two of his cousins, Jaliya Wikramasuriya and Udayanga Weeratunga. SLPP Administrative Secretary Renuka Perera had been appointed chairmen of National Housing Development Authority and  MILCO. Gotabaya Rajapaksa held the post of Defence Secretary while campaigning for the SLPP at elections. 

Ranil Wickremesinghe appointed R. Paskaralingam as  senior Advisor to the Prime Minister twice. These are only high-profile appointments apart from which these parties have made hundreds if not thousands of other political appointments. 

Although the general perception on political appointments is negative in Sri Lanka, the Propaganda Secretary of the Frontline Socialist Party (FSP) Duminda Nagamuwa during a recent newspaper interview  held a different perspective. He stated that his party was of the view that a government must entrust the top posts in state institutions to politically loyal people unless which government plans and orders would not be properly carried out. He criticised the NPP government for preaching socialism in political platforms without considering this fact. 

Nagamuawa argued that there is a possibility of a qualified person at the helm of an institution being a rogue or without talents. He questioned as to what the outcome would be if a person with anti-government attitudes is appointed to an important position even if he is qualified. He said his party has always opposed  governments using the qualified individuals to rob public funds. 

His argument about appointing politically loyal people as heads of government institutions could be countered theoretically, but from a practical point of view he is correct. In fact, the ministers of the NPP government have in a way been endorsing Nagamuwa’s viewpoint by complaining about officials being not prepared to toe the line of their government. 

Referring to  non-corporation by the officialdom, Minister Lal Kantha warned in December that the next tsunami would be against them. Minister Sunil Handunnetti on his part complained that the officials who had been hand in glove with  corrupt politicians of the past were not prepared to change. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake simply put it as a warning: “Change, or we will change you.”

The NPP leaders promised the Catholic community of the country to do justice to them by finding answers to unanswered questions related to the Easter Sunday attacks. Therefore, it is justifiable to appoint people whom they consider competent and loyal to continue the investigations. Nobody has so far contested any of the investigations Shani Abeysekara had conducted during his earlier tenure as the Director CID. Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa was not challenged or criticised when he requested former President Ranil Wickremesinghe on September 8, 2023 to assign the investigations into the Easter Sunday attacks to Shani Abeysekara. 

The SLPP is concerned especially about the appointment of Abeysekara as it was during his tenure as the Director CID under the so-called Yahapalana Government that most of the corruption cases against the leaders of the SLPP were filed. And one of the first actions President Gotabaya Rajapaksa took subsequent to his assumption of office in 2019 was to remove Abeysekara from the top post of the CID.

However, the whole controversy over the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks revolves around a possible or perceived mastermind of it. The leaders of the SLPP who prior to the 2019 Presidential election promised to expose the mastermind are of the view now that Nawfer Mavlavi who has long been under the custody of law enforcement authorities was the mastermind. 

Many other groups including some of the Catholic leaders believe or claim that the attack was planned by the SLPP in order to create a situation that would create a demand for Gotabaya Rajapaksa as head of state. This theory was illustrated in a Channel 4 documentary in 2023 with real or perceived names and places. Some NPP ministers too,  seem to subscribe to this theory. Yet, President Dissanayake during a visit in December to the Katuwapitiya St. Sebastian Church, one of the religious places  attacked by the terrorists of the National Thawheed Jama’ath  stated that the investigation into the Easter Sunday attacks would not be conducted with preconceived conclusions. 

However, politicisation of the incident, despite being a national tragedy, is the stumbling block in the resolution of unanswered questions pertaining to it.