This government gave high assurances to the people that those responsible for the Easter Sunday attacks will be punished but those hopes have been dashed within two years and five months after the government came to power, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) Publicity Secretary Vijitha Herath said. He was speaking at a press conference held at the JVP head office in Battaramulla yesterday.
He said that it has been two years and five months since the Easter attack. Justice has not been done to the victims of the attack. No proper action has been taken against the accused. A special Presidential Commission was appointed. Other investigations were carried out. The main event that brought this government to power was the Easter Sunday attack, he said.
Following the attack, Colombo Archbishop Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith came to St.Sebastian’s Church in Katuwapitiya and intervened to calm down tension and brought the situation under control.
Herath said the people of the area were outraged by the attack and were ready to react. “The Cardinal personally intervened and promised justice to the victims. The Cardinal made a serious request in front of the entire nation and prevented the Catholic community from reacting. Although various groups took advantage of the attack, the Cardinal intervened in good faith and averted the conflict,” he said.
The MP noted that the Colombo Archbishop took personal responsibility for the people in the hope that justice would be done. The report of the Presidential Commission and other investigations revealed many facts. This was debated in Parliament for several days. Many suspicious places were revealed during this debate as well. The assassination of two Vavunathivu police officers, failure to arrest suspects, investigations carried out by the US FBI, and it was revealed in Parliament about the investigations carried out by the FBI, the findings of those investigations and the investigations that should have been carried out according to the reports, he added.
He said the people of this country still do not see that investigations into such sensitive and serious matters have been carried out properly. Despite confirming that this incident could have be prevented, action has not been taken against then government including then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and then President Maithripala Sirisena. It has failed to reveal the political motive behind the attack and whose motive it was, he said.
