Editor’s Note: The following article is based on a video message issued by the author, where she describes the bitter politicisation surrounding the most brutal terrorist attack in post-war Sri Lanka—the Easter Sunday Attack. In her message, she highlights how both President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith have aligned themselves politically, further exposing another layer of deception in the ongoing narrative.
Sri Lanka is truly a fortunate country, isn’t it? Everyone is happy with the government we have now. Not just politicians and the parliamentary majority, but even the esteemed Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith strongly supports the newly appointed president.
Perhaps that is why, after a long silence, the Cardinal has now made a statement. The Easter attackers will be arrested soon. After years of silence, the first public statement from the Cardinal regarding the Easter attack is such a positive and joyful one, which makes us happy too.
After all, the government they favour is in power. Any citizen would naturally feel so happy. But when the Cardinal says such things, it raises a concern.
His words and those of the ruling party are strikingly similar. At times, it makes one wonder if the author of this narrative is the same person. For instance, Andhra Kumara, the Sannayaka’s deputy minister of state security, yes, the one who claimed that they would wipe out the underworld within two months, recently came forward and declared that they knew when Yoshida Rajapaksha would be arrested.
Apparently, they already knew this the night before. Meanwhile, Andhra Kumara himself has publicly stated that decisive actions regarding the Easter attack will be taken soon. They keep saying arrests will be made tomorrow or the day after, but we don’t know who exactly they are referring to.
Arrests are a judicial process. They are a legal responsibility. Investigations need to be conducted.
Reports must be sent to the Attorney General’s department. And if sufficient evidence is found, legal action should follow. This is how a country that follows the rule of law operates.
People elected Anuradha Sannayaka to prevent such processes from being politicised. Because it was Andhra’s own party that claimed the previous government politicised these proceedings. Yet now, instead of allowing due process, they are making politically motivated statements on public platforms about imminent arrests.
This is not why people gave him a mandate. Andhra keeps telling the government officials to act in accordance with public opinion. But when he stands on a stage and declares that arrests will be made tomorrow or the day after, he is politicising the whole judicial process.
In doing so, he is violating the very mandate people gave him to keep politics out of the judiciary. And even if arrests do happen, their effectiveness lasts only 24 hours. Those arrested are granted bail.
This has created serious unrest within the legal sector. People are questioning what exactly is going on. Political authorities interfering with the judiciary is happening on a greater scale than ever before.
Pro-government websites are exerting pressure on the Attorney General’s department. Even the police commission is being influenced. This is how they are running the show now.
Now, when the Cardinal comes forward and says that those involved in the Easter plot will be arrested soon, it means he already knows who will be taken into custody. But how does he know? Is he secretly a National Secretary of Advice to the Ministry of Defence? Or is he leading the investigation team? Or is it another pressure on the legal community? Recently, multiple newly established news websites simultaneously published the same story that a top intelligence head is going to be arrested. There is a clear connection between this news and the Cardinal’s statement.
So how exactly will this individual be arrested? That is the key question. Will he be arrested based on real evidence? Or is the evidence being created, fabricated, manipulated, or forced? If the arrest is based on actual proof, there would be no issue from a legal standpoint. But what if evidence is fabricated to fit a political narrative? However, according to the media reports, before arresting this intelligence chief, they are gathering statements from different individuals.
A person with a name like Srilal, a self-proclaimed journalist living overseas, has made claims that former military intelligence head, Major General Suresh Sallay, will be arrested on the matter. Are these media claims based on real evidence or according to a planned propaganda? There is now widespread suspicion in society that to prevent another failure in this ongoing issue drama, the necessary evidence is being manufactured. The last time we saw so-called evidence was in the Channel 4 documentary.
No need to explain Channel 4. This is the same network that used staged videos to falsely accuse our military of genocide and tarnish Sri Lanka’s reputation. This time, however, the Channel 4 programme was swiftly discredited. Perhaps they suspected that if a certain masked witness is exposed, there will be unsolvable issues, and that person will lose his professional credibility over lying on media.
Even Channel 4 itself had to admit that they couldn’t independently verify the allegations made in their last programme. In other words, they broadcast whatever someone paid them to show. According to the reports, a person named Cooray was involved in this deal.
The key witness in this case is Asad Malwana, who was not even in Sri Lanka. He is in Switzerland. That means he must be brought back to testify.
But is this case being built solely on his testimony? Can a single person’s word be enough to prove a crime or prosecute a case? It has already been proven that during the time Asad Malwana claims to have met General Sallay, the general was not even in Sri Lanka. Furthermore, the house where Malwana claims Sallay met Zahran hadn’t even been built at the time. Can a testimony from someone who has already been caught lying still be considered valid? Or, now that the government has all of General Sallay’s travel records and other details, are they fabricating new evidence to fit their narrative? These are the questions that arise among the rational public.
Asad Malwana’s testimony alone is not enough. More evidence is needed. Is any other evidence in existence? Is it real? Or, is it also fabricated? Separately, for a long time, there has been a legal case in Sri Lanka regarding Asad Malwana.
The Ampara court has imposed a travel ban on him. So, how did he leave the country? If a travel ban was in place, he couldn’t have left legally. If he fled illegally, he should be arrested upon his return.
Now, if they want to bring him back, how will they do it? Was the travel ban lifted? Who lifted it? Did the courts authorise its removal? Who requested the removal? There are numerous unanswered questions surrounding Asad Malwana. Meanwhile, the Cardinal has reappeared, making statements about legal actions related to the Easter Attack. Back in the time of Jesus, the high priest fabricated false testimonies to have him executed.
They falsely accused him of crimes he did not commit. In the end, even Governor Pontius Pilate realised that Jesus was innocent. But the high priest was so powerful that, to satisfy them, Pilate decided to release Jesus after punishing him with a few lashings.
But boy, were they satisfied? Nope. They dragged Jesus back before Pilate and threatened the governor, saying if he did not comply, they would report him to Caesar. Pilate, despite being a governor, feared the ruthless emperor.
Though he wished to save an innocent man, he eventually gave in. There was a tradition of releasing a prisoner on a certain religious occasion back in the day. So Pilate brought out Barabbas, a notorious criminal guilty of murder and corruption, and asked the people whether they wanted Jesus or Barabbas to be free.
Pilate did this because he truly believed that the public would make the right choice after seeing the contrast between innocent Jesus and a criminal. Pilate then asked the people, “Who do you want me to release? Barabbas or Jesus?” But since the high priest had already misled and manipulated the people, they shouted, “We want Barabbas, not Jesus.” In the end, Pilate was forced to sign Jesus’ death warrant.
The Bible says that Pilate washed his hands afterwards, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood.” Jesus was ultimately crucified. Back then, the people were misled into releasing a criminal while crucifying the innocent.
Today, the masterminds behind the Easter attack, the ones who funded and facilitated it, the ones whose sons and daughter-in-law were among the attackers, officials who ignored the repeated warnings are free, while someone unrelated is being falsely accused and crucified, a perfect scapegoat to whitewash the political agenda. Cardinal, is this what you’re trying to do? Back then, Pilate washed his hands of responsibility for your eminence. In this case, you will not be able to wash your hands of the blood of the innocent.
Your dream of becoming pope has already faded. It has gone to the Philippines, hasn’t it? And remember, there is also something called karma, and when it hits back, it hits really hard.
