21st April marks the 6th anniversary of the Easter Sunday Mass Murders on 21 April 2019, exactly a decade after 30 years of terror was militarily defeated. The attacks on 3 churches & 3 hotels claimed 269 innocent lives & injured over 500. It was no LTTE suicide attack. For the first time it was an attack by 6 Muslims. Why they attacked 3 churches & 3 hotels remains unanswered.
Did the Plot Begin in 2015?
In 2015 regime change jointly funded by US & India brought Sirisena-Wickremasinghe to power. Scores of Acts & Agreements were signed of interest to both parties while weakening the national security apparatus by dismantling intelligence units monitoring Islamic radical groups & individuals, officers were jailed without charge & infighting between seniors of existing security units resulted in disharmony & distrust amongst key members of the National Security apparatus.
The groundwork for infiltration was laid. Extremists were emboldened.
Is it a coincidence that the same officials responsible for these grave lapses are now back in power under different portfolios in today’s government?
How can a nation expect justice when the foxes are back in the henhouse?
Sri Lanka from 2015 2019
Challenges to intelligence units: Ministry of Defense & Police restructured with challenges from bureaucratic inertia & political interference
Discovery of weapons & radicalizations: Authorities uncovered significant weapons in the Eastern Province linked to an Islamist group. Proper investigations & arrests were not carried out.
Political interference in investigations: 2018 interference to investigations into extremist activities & rising radicalization
Islamic group activities & security concerns: emergence of local Islamist extremist groups leading to increased surveillance following surge in attacks to Buddhist sites.
International connections & training: international jihadi links raising concerns about a future coordinated attacks. (MP Wijayadasa Rajapakse in Parliament)
The above should have given not only the security apparatus but even the general public red flags about something brewing.
Set against these developments were the immediate outcomes following the attacks:
US presents an already prepared MCC “gift” & $480m over 5 years.
Interpol, FBI, British intelligence & other foreign intel suddenly land & take all the evidence
Eventually the later introduced whistleblower Hamsa Maulana becomes exposed as a fraudulent asylum seeker with a tainted past & raised questions about C4 using individuals to spin narratives closer to UNHRC sessions to undermine Sri Lanka’s military.
Kerala – the New Jihadi base?
While Sri Lanka is being told to look inward, radical Islamic training is presumably taking place in Kerala, India where it is now referred as a hotbed for ISIS recruitment. Even Indian nationals have joined jihadi networks overseas & questions how far Sri Lanka’s NTJ was also linked.
Ibrahim family: Protected or Prosecuted?
Two of the suicide bombers were brothers coming from one of Colombo’s wealthiest Muslim families. Their father Mohamed Ibrahim a spice trader was on the current govts national list & providing funds to the party. He was arrested but was granted bail under questionable circumstances. Not only his sons were suicide bombers even his daughter-in-law had detonated herself inside the family home along with her child. Weapons were also discovered inside their home.
When people posting social media posts are arrested & spend months in remand, why are people connected with mass suicide still on bail?
Reports & Commissions on Easter Sunday
Parliamentary Select Committee Report (Oct 2019)
Presidential Commission Report (Feb 2021)
Justice Imam Report (2024)
De Alwis Reports (2024)
The Cardinal’s Contradictions: Saviour or Political Pawn?
Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith’s has been controversial to say the least raising more questions than answers.
First, he claimed it was an international conspiracy.
Then, he redirected blame toward local political factions only.
He forgave the suicide bombers, but continues to demand justice for a “mastermind”.
He refuses to hold accountable those who sat in power at the time — President Sirisena and
PM Ranil — despite both admitting failures.
Is the Cardinal being sincere or selectively political?
By refusing to question the root ideological extremism, while engaging in political vendettas, the Cardinal risks misleading the Catholic community and diluting the call for real justice.
Can Ideology Be Ignored?
The uncomfortable truth remains: these men were not just radicalized — they believed their act of mass murder was divinely sanctioned. The Qur’anic interpretations used to justify suicide bombing are not random — they are drawn from certain literalist, extremist teachings that are rarely challenged in public discourse.
Can Sri Lanka hope to stop future attacks without addressing the ideology that fuels them?
From Tamil Guerrillas to Islamic Terrorists: Is History Repeating?
Let’s not forget: it was India, through RAW, that secretly trained Tamil militants in the late 1970s and 1980s. Sri Lanka suffered decades of bloodshed due to that betrayal.
Is Kerala now becoming the next proxy zone for Islamist groups?
Are foreign actors, once again, using religion and radicalism as tools to destabilize Sri Lanka?
Political Interference: MPs and Investigations
The investigation into the Easter Sunday attacks has been marred by allegations of political interference. Bathiudeen, a prominent Muslim leader and former cabinet minister, was arrested in April 2021 under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) for alleged connections to the suicide bombers. Police claimed to have circumstantial and scientific evidence linking him to the attacks .
However, Bathiudeen’s lawyer argued that the arrest was politically motivated, pointing out that Bathiudeen’s party had opposed President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in the 2019 elections
Ibrahim the father of the 2 suicide bombers was arrested but was given bail in May 2022.
Former IGP Pujitha J was arrested so too was former Defense Secretary Hemasiri Fernando (bail in July 2019 but re-arrested in Oct) for negligence despite warnings. Former SIS Head Nilantha Jayawardena was faulted for not sharing critical information.
Naufer Maulavi & 24 others faced 23,000 counts of charges & denied bail. Other than the 6 suicide bombers who carried out the suicide attacks these are the main culprits.
While the security apparatus is accused of neglect in preventing the attacks despite prior warnings, that the attacks were by Islamic extremists against 3 places of Catholic worship reveals a historical angst between these 2 factions. Cardinal is well aware of this. Yet he immediately forgave the 6 suicide bombers.
The weakening of the national security apparatus from 2015 is definitely linked to the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks. Swords, detonators, found in mosques have never been properly investigated. These swords were last thrown to the sea! When key evidence is being neglected, everyone is drawn to rely on sensationalism provided by channels like C4 and their usual “star witnesses’.
Unlike LTTE attacks, the Easter Sunday attacks took place after repeated warnings were given to the security apparatus. For them to take operational actions to prevent an attack they do not require getting permission from the President or Prime Minister. They have enough of freedom to act on intel received. That they did not do so warrants not only one or two to be questioned & charged by all who were privy. That some of these players who were responsible for the neglect are now in top roles & given to handle Easter Sunday case once more raises more alarm bells. People who failed in their duties should not be rewarded.
The true masterminds are not only the bombers but those who allowed the system to collapse for reasons that are political – strategic & geopolitical. The power structures that denied simple actions like preventing people entering church, cancelling mass, increasing surveillance at hotels could have easily prevented the attacks. More importantly, the finger should point to all those who knew & did nothing. They are as guilty as those who carried out the attacks.
When former SIS Head Nilantha Jayawardena declared that at least 15,000 including the diplomatic corps security would have known by April 12th of an impending attack, those who chose not to attend St. Anthony’s Church also have blood soaked hands & simply crying “maha molakaru” or “mastermind” cannot shed this guilt.
Shenali D Waduge