NPP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake has said that it was hopeless to expect the government to conduct an impartial investigation into the Easter Sunday attacks.
It was like the Sinhala proverbial saying of asking feathers from tortoises, he told the House debate into the attacks of 2019.
Dissanayake accused the then law and order minister of having used the citizens’ dedication to the country, religion and motherland as a clock to cover-up the criminals.
Referring to allegations that Mohamed Ibrahim was national list candidate of his party, the NPP leader said he has been a renowned entrepreneur having won awards from Mahinda Rajapaksa, G.L. Peiris and Ratnasiri Wickramanayake.
More than two years of his questioning under detention by the CID or a case pending before the Colombo district court have not proven that the party was linked to terrorism.
Even the commissions of inquiry have no evidence to support the allegations against him, said the NPP leader.
Mohamed Ibrahim & his son Insaf in 2016
Who failed to prevent the attacks?
President at the time Maithripala Sirisena was one of the main parties that failed to prevent the bombings, as confirmed by the Supreme Court in its ruling too.
Neither can he escape from having filled the intelligence review committee headed by the defence secretary with officials accused of serious crimes, said Dissanayake.
Following the 52-day conspiracy, Sirisena in his immature and empty mentality did not summon the IGP as well as the prime minister to the national security council (NSC) over personal enmities and had blatantly abused the executive powers.
Today, he is a partner to the present government.
The then PM Ranil Wickremesinghe too, had evaded responsibility, said the NPP leader, noting that he should have raised in parliament if his superior was ignoring him.
With his greed for power that continues event today, Wickremesinghe did nothing, as confirmed by Wajira Abeywardena’s claim that he was made to sit outside when the NSC was in session after the attacks.
Dissanayake also leveled the accusing finger at the present chief of state intelligence and state minister Pillayan.
Only someone with a mental illness will seek justice from such failed politicians and officials, he added.
Dissanayake conceded that politics was definitely involved in the Easter Sunday attacks, with the Rajapaksas nurturing both Islamic and Sinhala extremism in order to regain the power they lost in 2015.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa further confirmed the involvement of politics by declaring his intention to contest for the presidency on 25 April with a vow to defeat Islamic extremism.
State intelligence had been biased towards a particular government or party and conspired to secure power for an opposition party, Dissanayake charged and urged parliament’s intervention to resolve this grave issue.
Intelligence officials have been accused of murders, abductions and attacks on journalists and other civilians, which were not matters of national security, but clearly matters of politics, he noted.
Channel 4 allegations
Namal Rajapaksa’s accusation that UK’s Channel 4 television of having a historic hatred for the Rajapaksas was nothing but an attempt to cover up the truth.
The NPP leader also questioned the defence secretary’s statement rejecting the C-4 revelations.
Investigators came from Australia, UK, US, India, New Zealand considering global threats from Islamic extremists, but their investigations did not find any international link to the Easter Sunday attacks.
The bombings claimed nearly 270 lives and severely inconvenienced the Muslim community due to mistrust, but expecting a fair investigation is like asking feathers from tortoises, he added.
