Easter Sunday massacre: Sajith and Maithri want international probe

The disclosures by Britain’s Channel 4 continue to reverberate in Sri Lanka and in some world capitals. Parliament held a two-day debate. Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa, in a studied speech, this time called for an international investigation into the April 2019 Easter Sunday massacres. The SJB leader’s views were later endorsed by his General Secretary, Ranjith Madduma Bandara, House Leader Lakshman Kiriella and parliamentarian Nalin Bandara.

Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) leader and former President Maithripala Sirisena also pleaded for an international investigation into the massacres which occurred under his tenure of office. On Thursday, he was locked in a heated exchange with Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka, sometimes with the duo descending to harsh and bitter name calling at each other. On Friday, when Sirisena spoke, he made it a point to remind FM Fonseka that it was he, as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces who promoted him to the rank of Field Marshal.The latter was not present in the House when the comments were made. Foreign Affairs State Minister Tharaka Balasuriya and Sarath Weerasekera sought a domestic inquiry. Many others too backed it. The Janatha Vimukthi Peramunaled National People’s Power leader, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, said there should be a “reasonable probe” but seeking that from the government was like looking for feathers from a tortoise.

As the debate continued, a threemember committee of inquiry headed by Supreme Court judge S.I. Imam and including Air Chief Marshal Jayalath Weerakkody, a onetime Commander of the Air Force, and President’s Counsel Harsha Soza, began sittings officially. They are located at the J.R. Jayewardene centre at Dharmapala Mawatha, the former Turret Road. They were to decide on whom to be summoned to testify in the fact-finding exercise.

In Geneva last Thursday evening, ‘the Universal Human Rights Commission’ held a special screening of “Sri Lanka’s Easter Bombings,” the documentary aired on Dispatches by Channel 4 on September 5. It was in the presence of director

and producer Thom Walker and executive producer Ben de Pear and was followed by a discussion. Among those taking part were delegates who are attending the 54th session of the UN Human Rights Council. It came to light that storyteller Hanzeer Azad Mowlana, the “whistleblower,” whose accounts are reported in the broadcast, had sent in a memorandum to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk. A copy has also been sent to the Sri Lanka Commission on Human Rights.

Reports from London said that Ofcom had rejected a complaint registered by retired Major General Tuan Suresh Sallay on the veracity of the Dispatches programme. The Office of Communications, or commonly referred to as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications, and postal industries of the United Kingdom. It has wide-ranging powers across the television, radio, telecoms, and postal sectors.

A request made directly to the Sri Lanka High Commission in London to initiate legal action against Channel 4 over the Dispatches broadcast has also run into problems. The matter had been referred to Colombo for approval. It has come to light that the retention of a law firm in London would entail a cost of over five million sterling pounds.