Political drama before curfew was declared

It was Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe who persuaded President Maithripala Sirisena to impose a curfew after last Sunday’s Easter massacre, a UNF source said yesterday.

The source described the sequence of events as follows;

On Sunday at 9.05 am, the Prime Minister called his Secretary Saman Ekanayake informing him that he was returning to Colombo from Bentota to meet him at Temple Trees.

At 9.15 am, Mr. Ekanayake called the Prime Minister and suggested they immediately call in the Inspector General of Police ( IGP), the Defence Secretary and the heads of the armed forces. The Premier agreed.

When called they said they were doing some work and would be there by 10.30 am. However, at 10.20 am when Mr. Ekanayake called again they said they were still doing some work and would come later.

At that point, Mr Ekanayake informed the Prime Minister that he felt they were not going to come. The PM told him immediately to get his car ready, so that that they could go to the Defence Ministry and meet them there.

When the PM arrived at the Defence Ministry at 10.30 am, they were informed that the National Security Council ( NSC) was finishing some work and they would have to wait outside. Despite the Prime Minister’s Secretary insisting that the PM be allowed inside, the security officers refused.

The PM was escorted to the State Minister’s Office where he was made to wait for twenty minutes. At 10.20 am, he was finally allowed to chair a meeting with the NSC; they briefed him on the current status after the massacres and outlined the security plans.

The Council members did not discuss the prior warnings, saying that they would examine why there was a lapse in security.

The PM returned to Temple Trees at 11.45 am and spoke to several senior Ministers. He suggested that the NSC be called to brief the Cabinet which was to meet at 3 pm that same day.

When Mr Ekanayake called the Pre s i d e n t ’ s Secretary, Udaya Seneviratne, informing him of the meeting, he responded that NSC members were busy with other work and would not be able to brief the cabinet.

He also told Mr. Ekanayake that the President had insisted a curfew would not be implemented nor would social media be blocked until he returned to the country.

However, following the Dehiwela and Dematagoda explosions that afternoon, the PM instructed the IGP to impose curfew immediately.