Easter bombing: Resolution to appoint Parliamentary Select Committee

A resolution to appoint a Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) to probe the disclosures made by Britain’s Channel 4 was approved by Parliament last Tuesday.

Such a body has been given wide powers whilst another probe is now underway by a three-member Committee that is of a fact-finding nature.

When President Ranil Wickremesinghe announced the appointment of the Committee last month, he declared that a PSC was being appointed to investigate another aspect of the 2019 Easter Sunday massacres. That related to the claim made by onetime Attorney General Dappula de Livera that there was a ‘grand conspiracy’ behind the killings. In addition, the PSC is also being tasked to investigate the Channel 4 disclosures.

In its regular programme Dispatches, aired last month, the television channel claimed that Sri Lanka’s national intelligence chief was complicit in the Easter Sunday massacres. Hanzeer Azad Mowlana, who was introduced as a ‘whistleblower’ claimed in an interview that the head of national intelligence and Islamic state-affiliated bombers hatched a plot to “destabilise Sri Lanka and facilitate the return to power of the Rajapaksas.” The State Intelligence Service (SIS) head flatly rejected the claims.

The prime mover was Parliamentarian Major Pradeep Undugoda, a retired Army officer. Other signatories are: Wajira Abeywardana, Gunathilaka Rajapaksha, Sanjeeva Edirimanna, D. Weerasingha, U. K. Sumith Udukumbura, Jayantha Ketagoda, Jagath Samarawickrama, Karunadasa Kodithuwakku, Madhura Withanage, Samanpriya Herath Jagath Kumara

Sumithraarachchi, D. B. Herath, (Mrs.) Kokila Gunawardene, Upul Mahendra Rajapaksha, Udayakantha Gunathilaka, H. Nandasena, Nalaka Bandara Kottegoda, Kumarasiri Rathnayaka and C. B. Rathnayake, This is what the resolution said: “Select Committee of Parliament to investigate into the allegations levelled by the programme telecast by the “Channel 4” of Britain on the Easter Sunday suicide bomb attack.”

“Whereas the Easter Sunday suicide bomb attack of 21st April 2019 which claimed the lives of 269 people and wounded over 500 people caused a colossal impact on the economy of this country and probed at various levels including a Presidential Commission of Inquiry to inquire into the said attack;

“Whereas the programme telecast by the “Channel 4” Television channel of Britain on the 05th of September 2023 titled “Sri Lanka’s Easter Bombings– Dispatches” has alleged that senior Intelligence Officers of the Army and some politicians have had connections with the terrorists who unleashed the said suicide attack which took place on 21.04.2019;

“Whereas the then Attorney General, Dappula De Livera, P.C. has stated at a discussion with “News First” on the 17th May 2021, when his retirement was around the corner that a huge conspiracy was behind this attack and even though Naufer Moulavi was one of the main figures and the group leader of this conspiracy, it cannot be exactly opined that he was the mastermind of the attack and that though Zaharan Hashim decided to carry out the attack he is only one individual involved in the conspiracy, despite the fact that he had direct access to all investigation materials, investigation reports, evidence and other such information;

“Accordingly, there arise reasonable doubts that the then Attorney General, Dappula De Livera, P.C., has got some information that has not been revealed so far regarding the Easter Sunday attack, and whereas his statements and the facts based on which such statements were made have to be properly disclosed; and,

“Whereas Hon. Shanakiyan Rajaputhiran Rasamanickam, MP, addressing the Parliament on 08.09.2023 after the release of the “Channel 4” video, levelled an allegation against judges and officials of various capacities regarding this incident by presenting a video recording, and the YouTuber named Ajith Dharmapala, too, has spread various controversial facts among the society stating the names of various persons;

“This Parliament resolves that a Select Committee of Parliament be appointed to

inquire into whether there are facts which reveal that the officials and politicians, against whom accusations are levelled by the aforesaid “Channel 4” programme and by other parties, have had relationships or had conspired with the terrorists who launched the suicide attacks or regarding any action or inaction, and to study the investigations that have been carried out so far by the Sri Lanka Police, and to report to Parliament.

“2. (a) that the Chair and Members of the Committee shall be appointed by the Speaker; and

“(b) that in terms of the provisions of Standing Order 101 of Parliament, the Committee shall consist of Eleven (11) Members. “3. That the Committee shall have the power to—

“(a) fix its quorum. “(b) summon any person to appear before it, to require any person to procure any document or record, to procure and receive all such evidence, written or oral, as the Committee may think it necessary for the fullest consideration of the matters referred to above;

“(c) obtain the services of specialists and experts in the relevant fields to assist the Committee; and “(d) make interim reports from time to time and to sit notwithstanding any adjournment or prorogation of Parliament.

“4. The Committee shall present its report to Parliament within a period of two months,

“(02) from the first meeting of the Committee or within such further period as Parliament may grant.”

The three-member committee appointed by President Wickremesinghe to probe the Channel 4 disclosures is headed by retired Supreme Court Judge Syed Ishrat Imam and comprises Air Chief Marshal Jayalath Weerakkody, a former Commander of the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) and Harsha Soza, President’s Counsel.

The three-member committee, which is fact-finding, was originally expected to conduct its sittings from the Jayewardene Centre at Anagarika Dharmapala Mawatha. However, since the venue was pre-booked, it found an office at the Standard Chartered building in Fort.

The Committee, the Sunday Times learned, has invited representatives of Channel 4 to testify before them. They have also sought an affidavit from Hanzeer Azad Mowlana about the statements attributed to him by Channel 4.