Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka)

Won’t meet Presidenti­al hopefuls if probe not expedited

- BY YOHAN PERERA

Innocent lives were destroyed from the Easter Sunday attacks due to the adamant leaders without proper policies Some of you became injured and sick due to a total lack of interest in this matter on the part of government People don't have faith in government appointed committees since they have political agendas Time has come for the leaders to step down if they are unable to govern the country The Easter bombings were a series of attacks to destabiliz­e the country for the interests of the internatio­nal community The leaders of the country are acting in a manner that is desired by foreign powers The current government weakened the very strong intelligen­ce unit of the country to satisfy the foreign organizati­ons and various voluntary organizati­ons

Archbishop of Colombo Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith said yesterday that he will not meet any Presidenti­al candidate if justice is not meted out to Easter Sunday bomb victims.

Addressing a media briefing, the Archbishop said in his statement that the country’s rulers did not have a backbone was not directed at any particular politician.

“I cannot help if President Maithripal­a Sirisena took it on him, the statement I made at a recent service at the Katuwapiti­ya Church,” he said.

“I only expressed the feelings of Easter Sunday bomb victims. What they want is to find out who was behind the attacks and who backed the terror group, that carried out the gruesome attacks. They also want to know as to who supported the terror group,” the Cardinal told a press conference last morning.

“The Government had failed to do justice to victims by not being able to carry out a proper investigat­ion on the attacks, while the Opposition is trying to score points politicall­y using the Easter Sunday Bomb victims. “I will not meet any Presidenti­al Candidate unless justice is done to the victims” he added. He said President, Prime Minister and Leader of Opposition should get together and appoint a Commission that should comprise persons without any political affiliatio­n to probe the attack. “This Committee should reveal everything to people” he expressed.

“We are not satisfied with the Parliament­ary Select Committee which is currently probing the attacks, as it represents many political parties” he said.

“I am not aware whether anyone had lodged complaints against me with Pope Francis, but the Pontiff told me to carry on with the work I am currently doing and be with the people. No one would gain anything by lodging complaints against me with Vatican”.

“The vision of the Catholic Church is that the religious leaders should talk about the issues faced by the society and the people, and that is exactly what I am doing right now. Please do not paste any political stripes on me as I don’t belong to any political party” Cardinal Ranjith added.

We are not satisfied with the Parliament­ary Select Committee which is currently probing the attacks, as it represents many political parties

 ??  ?? St. Sebastian Church, Katuwapiti­ya, July 21, 2019
St. Sebastian Church, Katuwapiti­ya, July 21, 2019
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