Easter Sunday attack probe: Sirisena, Ranil statements expose hostile vibes
Conflicts arose when appointing Arjuna Mahendran as the Central Bank Governor. Feelings were hurt within the very first week of the formation of the new Government. He
( PM) grew angry with me when I appointed a Commission to probe the treasury bond scandal. Conflicts also arose due to the agreement on handing over the Hambantota Port to China and regarding the Free Trade Agreement with Singapore.
Ranil Wickremesinghe did not like the subject of Muslim extremism being brought up at NSC meetings.
I don’t remember whether Ranil Wickremesinghe attended NSC meetings after being reappointed PM following the Supreme Court ruling.
Former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe
While there were differences of opinion between the President and the Prime Minister, there weren’t many major problems within the Government.
I did not take part in NSC meetings from 2018 up until the Easter Sunday attacks as I was not invited to these meetings during this period.
If an incident occurs while the President has gone abroad without appointing an Acting Defence Minister, the next in line should take over and cover those duties. I was Leader of the House at t he t i me Pre s i d e n t Premadasa was assassinated on May 1, 1993. I took over the Defence Ministry and did what was needed to be done. Pres iden t Kumaratunga was not in the country at the time of the tsunami. But Premier Mahinda Rajapaksa took necessary actions. Someone has to be there to intervene during an emergency. On this occasion, I acted. I took necessary action after summoning State Minister Ruwan Wijewardene, Harsha De Silva, Kabir Hashim, the Attorney General and the Solicitor General.
The President did not speak to me after the multiple bomb explosions. I was the one who called him. I spoke to the IGP and ensured that a curfew was declared. I learned later that the President had issued instructions to the armed forces commanders not to go to the meeting summoned by me, but they turned up anyway.
The President had also instructed Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando and the Army Commander not to attend the meeting convened by me. Yet we still took necessary action and even ensured that security was provided along the route the President was taking when he arrived back in the country. I saw it as my duty to ensure the President’s security.