<p>Sri Lanka’s former president Maithripala Sirisena on Monday appeared before the crime investigation department to record a statement on his recent remarks on the 2019 Easter Sunday suicide bombings that he was “aware” of the masterminds of the attacks that killed 270 people, including 11 Indians.</p>

<p>Sirisena, 72, was president between 2015 January and 2019 November. He had previously denied any knowledge of the attacks on April 21, 2019.</p>

<p>Nihal Thalduwa, police spokesperson, told reporters that a five-hour-long statement was recorded.</p>

<p>Sirisena arrived around 10:30 in the morning and left around 4 pm, the police said.</p>

<p>Sirisena making a public statement in the central town of Kandy on Wednesday said “he was aware of the masterminds of the attacks.: “I know who did it”, he said.</p>

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<p>The Opposition National People’s Power lawyers met the Attorney General on Monday and urged him to issue an order to arrest Sirisena.</p>

<p>“It is a crime to conceal information,” Sunil Watagala, an NPP lawyer said.</p>

<p>The Catholic Church, rights groups and Opposition parties are united in their cry for Sirisena’s arrest.</p>

<p>Sirisena had said that he received information three weeks ago and that he would be willing to testify in court on camera. He said that if he were to make an open court statement, his life and his family could be in danger.</p>

<p>Nine suicide bombers belonging to the local Islamist extremist group National Thawheed Jamaat (NTJ) linked to ISIS carried out a series of blasts that tore through three churches and as many luxury hotels in Sri Lanka.</p>

<p><strong>Also Read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/south-asia/maldives-seeks-debt-relief-from-india-after-insisting-on-troop-withdrawal-703245">Maldives seeks debt relief from India after insisting on troop withdrawal</a></strong></p>

<p>However, the timing of the bombing ahead of the 2019 presidential election was the subject of conspiracy theories which suggested that the Rajapaksa brothers then in opposition had taken political advantage of the attacks.</p>

<p>Sirisena was accused and found guilty in a special presidential panel he appointed as the country’s president. The findings blamed him for inaction on the prior intelligence received on the attacks.</p>

<p>Later, he was ordered to pay Sri Lankan rupee 100 million to the relatives of the victims of the attack as compensation. He has so far paid only a part of it.</p>


Sri Lanka’s former president Maithripala Sirisena on Monday appeared before the crime investigation department to record a statement on his recent remarks on the 2019 Easter Sunday suicide bombings that he was “aware” of the masterminds of the attacks that killed 270 people, including 11 Indians.

Sri Lanka’s former president Maithripala Sirisena on Monday appeared before the crime investigation department to record a statement on his recent remarks on the 2019 Easter Sunday suicide bombings that he was “aware” of the masterminds of the attacks that killed 270 people, including 11 Indians. Sirisena, 72, was president between 2015 January and 2019 November. He had previously denied any knowledge of the attacks on April 21, 2019. Nihal Thalduwa, police spokesperson, told reporters that a five-hour-long statement was recorded. Sirisena arrived around 10:30 in the morning and left around 4 pm, the police said. Sirisena making a public statement in the central town of Kandy on Wednesday said “he was aware of the masterminds of the attacks.: “I know who did it”, he said. Also Read | Lok Sabha polls 2024: Congress releases sixth list including names of five candidates The Opposition National People’s Power lawyers met the Attorney General on Monday and urged him to issue an order to arrest Sirisena. “It is a crime to conceal information,” Sunil Watagala, an NPP lawyer said. The Catholic Church, rights groups and Opposition parties are united in their cry for Sirisena’s arrest. Sirisena had said that he received information three weeks ago and that he would be willing to testify in court on camera. He said that if he were to make an open court statement, his life and his family could be in danger. Nine suicide bombers belonging to the local Islamist extremist group National Thawheed Jamaat (NTJ) linked to ISIS carried out a series of blasts that tore through three churches and as many luxury hotels in Sri Lanka. Also Read | Maldives seeks debt relief from India after insisting on troop withdrawal However, the timing of the bombing ahead of the 2019 presidential election was the subject of conspiracy theories which suggested that the Rajapaksa brothers then in opposition had taken political advantage of the attacks. Sirisena was accused and found guilty in a special presidential panel he appointed as the country’s president. The findings blamed him for inaction on the prior intelligence received on the attacks. Later, he was ordered to pay Sri Lankan rupee 100 million to the relatives of the victims of the attack as compensation. He has so far paid only a part of it.

Sri Lanka: Former President Maithripala Sirisena quizzed by police for 5 hours after remark on Easter bombings

<p>Sri Lanka's previous government led by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has been accused of orchestrating Easter attacks of April 2019 by a whistleblower. The latest accusation over the cause of attack in which six suicide bombers targeted churches and luxury hotels across the country was made in a documentary for Channel 4’s Dispatches. Sri Lanka's Easter bombings of 2019, the worst terrorist attack in the history of the South Asian island nation, killed 269 people and shook Sri Lanka from a peacetime limbo for the first time since the end of its civil war in 2009.</p>

<p>The whistleblower further alleged that the attacks were orchestrated to "create instability in Sri Lanka", so that the Rajapaksa's — the most powerful political dynasty who dominated the country's economy in the 2010s — would win the presidential elections in 2019, reports <em>The Guardian</em>.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Gotabaya Rajapaksa won Sri Lanka's presidential elections at the end of 2019. But by the first half of 2022, Sri Lanka went through a phase of rare economic instability, partly due to Covid pandemic and the way Rajapaksa threw the weight of Sri Lankan economy around high-interest Chinese loans.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/south-asia/why-sri-lanka-bent-toward-economic-crisis-know-these-5-reasons-497442">Why Sri Lanka bent toward economic crisis? Know these five reasons</a></strong></p>

<p>Rajapaksa was forced to flee the country due to a popular uprising following which — in July 2022 — Colombo's corridors of power came under President Ranil Wickremesinghe. Rajapaksa's successor managed to bring about a semblance of economic stability in the country through interest-free credit lines from multilateral financial institutions and countries such as neighbouring India.</p>

<h2><strong>Investigation into Sri Lanka's Easter bombings: Five years on</strong></h2>

<p>Over five years on, an investigation has failed to provide any answers for how the attacks took place.</p>

<p>No criminal convictions have been made so far.</p>

<p>People previously involved in the investigation as well as the leader of Sri Lanka’s Catholic church, have alleged that inquiries were repeatedly sabotaged and obstructed by the Rajapaksa government.</p>

<p>So far, more than 200 people have been charged in the investigation. But no convictions have been made so far.</p>

<p>The Sri Lankan government at the time did not clarify how a number of high-level warnings about the April 2019 Easter attacks were ignored, including by the Indian intelligence.</p>

<p>In January, former president Maithripala Sirisena, who was in power at the time of the attacks, was ordered by the Supreme Court to pay millions in compensation to the victims.</p>

<h2><strong>Inside Sri Lanka's Easter attacks: What documentary claims?</strong></h2>

<p>The person cited in the Channel4 documentary claimed that he had helped an intelligence officer with close ties to the Rajapaksa family meet members of the local Islamist group, National Thowheeth Jama’ath (NTJ), that carried out the attack.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The person further claims that the&nbsp;plan was hatched over a couple of years to create an "unsafe" security situation that would help bring Rajapaksa back&nbsp;to power.</p>

<p><strong>Also watch |&nbsp;Did Gotabaya Rajapaksa allow the Easter bombing?</strong></p>

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<p>The Rajapaksa family had ruled Sri Lanka for almost a decade from 2005. While they are credited with ending its bloody, 26-year-long civil war but their alleged use of "death squads" to target critics and journalists gave them widespread notoriety.</p>

<p>Mahinda Rajapaksa was ousted in 2015 after a backlash against alleged corruption, but the family had planned a return to power in the 2019 election, this time with younger brother Gotabaya as the presidential candidate.</p>

<p>Ravi Seneviratne, the former director general of police who initially led the Easter attacks investigation, told <em>The Guardian</em> that after Gotabaya Rajapaksa was elected president, the government had "prevented the investigation".</p>

<p><strong>Also watch |&nbsp;Did Gotabaya Rajapaksa allow the easter bombing?</strong></p>

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<p>He claimed his team had already "established links" between state and military intelligence officers and the NTJ suicide bombers.&nbsp;</p>

<p>But when Rajapaksa took office by the end of 2019, Seneviratne’s entire team at CID was taken off the case.&nbsp;</p>

<p>More than 20 of his officers were transferred without his approval and travel bans were imposed on all 700 CID officers.</p>

<p>"The motive was to make them too scared to send a message. Many were too scared to work and some people even applied for transfers out of CID," Seneviratne told the publication.</p>

<h2><strong>Sri Lanka's defence into documentary's accusations</strong></h2>

<p>After the Dispatches revelations, the Sri Lankan government said it had set up a special parliamentary committee to probe the allegations.</p>

<p><strong>Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/south-asia/sri-lankan-government-to-investigate-allegations-of-militarys-complicity-in-2019-easter-bombings-633144">Sri Lankan government to investigate allegations of military's complicity in 2019 Easter bombings</a></strong></p>

<p>Sri Lanka's Defence Ministry in September defended the country's intelligence chief, saying it “vehemently denounces the accusation of orchestrating the attack and assisting the bombers against a dedicated senior military officer who has served the nation for 36 years.”&nbsp;</p>

<p>The move came days after ousted former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa denied the alleged role of Major General Sallay in the bombings and that he had benefited from the attacks to win the presidential election in November 2019.</p>


Sri Lanka's previous government led by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has been accused of orchestrating Easter attacks of April 2019 by a whistleblower. The latest accusation over the cause of attack in which six suicide bombers targeted churches and luxury hotels across the country was made in a documentary for Channel 4’s Dispatches.

Sri Lanka's previous government led by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has been accused of orchestrating Easter attacks of April 2019 by a whistleblower. The latest accusation over the cause of attack in which six suicide bombers targeted churches and luxury hotels across the country was made in a documentary for Channel 4’s Dispatches. Sri Lanka's Easter bombings of 2019, the worst terrorist attack in the history of the South Asian island nation, killed 269 people and shook Sri Lanka from a peacetime limbo for the first time since the end of its civil war in 2009. The whistleblower further alleged that the attacks were orchestrated to "create instability in Sri Lanka", so that the Rajapaksa's — the most powerful political dynasty who dominated the country's economy in the 2010s — would win the presidential elections in 2019, reports The Guardian. Gotabaya Rajapaksa won Sri Lanka's presidential elections at the end of 2019. But by the first half of 2022, Sri Lanka went through a phase of rare economic instability, partly due to Covid pandemic and the way Rajapaksa threw the weight of Sri Lankan economy around high-interest Chinese loans. Also read | Why Sri Lanka bent toward economic crisis? Know these five reasons Rajapaksa was forced to flee the country due to a popular uprising following which — in July 2022 — Colombo's corridors of power came under President Ranil Wickremesinghe. Rajapaksa's successor managed to bring about a semblance of economic stability in the country through interest-free credit lines from multilateral financial institutions and countries such as neighbouring India. Investigation into Sri Lanka's Easter bombings: Five years on Over five years on, an investigation has failed to provide any answers for how the attacks took place. No criminal convictions have been made so far. People previously involved in the investigation as well as the leader of Sri Lanka’s Catholic church, have alleged that inquiries were repeatedly sabotaged and obstructed by the Rajapaksa government. So far, more than 200 people have been charged in the investigation. But no convictions have been made so far. The Sri Lankan government at the time did not clarify how a number of high-level warnings about the April 2019 Easter attacks were ignored, including by the Indian intelligence. In January, former president Maithripala Sirisena, who was in power at the time of the attacks, was ordered by the Supreme Court to pay millions in compensation to the victims. Inside Sri Lanka's Easter attacks: What documentary claims? The person cited in the Channel4 documentary claimed that he had helped an intelligence officer with close ties to the Rajapaksa family meet members of the local Islamist group, National Thowheeth Jama’ath (NTJ), that carried out the attack. The person further claims that the plan was hatched over a couple of years to create an "unsafe" security situation that would help bring Rajapaksa back to power. Also watch | Did Gotabaya Rajapaksa allow the Easter bombing? × The Rajapaksa family had ruled Sri Lanka for almost a decade from 2005. While they are credited with ending its bloody, 26-year-long civil war but their alleged use of "death squads" to target critics and journalists gave them widespread notoriety. Mahinda Rajapaksa was ousted in 2015 after a backlash against alleged corruption, but the family had planned a return to power in the 2019 election, this time with younger brother Gotabaya as the presidential candidate. Ravi Seneviratne, the former director general of police who initially led the Easter attacks investigation, told The Guardian that after Gotabaya Rajapaksa was elected president, the government had "prevented the investigation". Also watch | Did Gotabaya Rajapaksa allow the easter bombing? × He claimed his team had already "established links" between state and military intelligence officers and the NTJ suicide bombers. But when Rajapaksa took office by the end of 2019, Seneviratne’s entire team at CID was taken off the case. More than 20 of his officers were transferred without his approval and travel bans were imposed on all 700 CID officers. "The motive was to make them too scared to send a message. Many were too scared to work and some people even applied for transfers out of CID," Seneviratne told the publication. Sri Lanka's defence into documentary's accusations After the Dispatches revelations, the Sri Lankan government said it had set up a special parliamentary committee to probe the allegations. Also read | Sri Lankan government to investigate allegations of military's complicity in 2019 Easter bombings Sri Lanka's Defence Ministry in September defended the country's intelligence chief, saying it “vehemently denounces the accusation of orchestrating the attack and assisting the bombers against a dedicated senior military officer who has served the nation for 36 years.” The move came days after ousted former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa denied the alleged role of Major General Sallay in the bombings and that he had benefited from the attacks to win the presidential election in November 2019.

Explained | Did Sri Lanka's Rajapaksa orchestrate Easter bombings of 2019 for return to power?

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Sri Lanka: Former President Maithripala Sirisena quizzed by police for 5 hours after remark on Easter bombings

Explained | Did Sri Lanka's Rajapaksa orchestrate Easter bombings of 2019 for return to power?