Chief Sanganayake of the Amarapura Sect (Southern Sri Lanka), Ven. Omalpe Sobitha Thera said that despite three Presidents having left office and a fourth now in power, and with successive Governments coming and going, the shadow cast by the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks has still not been lifted.
Addressing the gathering at the seventh-year commemoration of the victims of the Easter Sunday attacks at the Kochchikade Shrine yesterday (21), Sobitha Thera said the incumbent Government has been given a golden opportunity to provide proper answers to the mystery that shrouded the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings. He said that the public is eagerly awaiting the revelation of this dark truth.
“That is the task that must be fulfilled by the present Government and the President.” He said that it is the hope of all concerned, including victims and their families, that the President and the Government would deliver on this vital responsibility. Only then, he added, will all those who value peace be able to move forward with a sense of ease.
UN Resident Coordinator, Marc-André Franche said that the Easter attacks of 2019 had shaken the foundations of coexistence and peace in Sri Lanka, “sowing divisions between communities.” He noted that seven years on, families affected by the bombings are still waiting for answers. Accountability, he said, remained incomplete. “This moment, therefore, cannot be only about remembrance, but it must also be about resolve,” he pointed out.
Franche said that the seventh-year commemoration comes at a time when there is renewed momentum to advance the investigations, including the ongoing legal proceedings linked to the attacks. These steps, alongside public commitments by the Government, are important and welcomed, he noted. He said that what mattered now are results.
“Victims of the attacks deserved answers and the completion of the investigative and judicial process so that they could finally find closure. Strengthening and protecting the rule of law must remain central to this process, with due process, a fair trial, and credible and independent judicial proceedings which lead to a clear and credible outcome. Without this, closure for families and confidence in institutions will remain elusive,” he stressed.
He said the UN stood with the families and victims in advocating for a credible and transparent process, which is essential to create conditions for healing and for moving forward with dignity. The investigations into the Easter attacks are one of the many longstanding issues in Sri Lanka where accountability, due process, and the rule of law have been delayed, he observed.
Also, the Apostolic Nuncio to Sri Lanka, Archbishop Andrzej Józwowicz said that the Easter Sunday remembrance is a cry for justice and not vengeance. “Justice that restores trust, that honours truth, and upholds the sanctity of every human life.”