Author: TELO Admin

UK’s controversial documentary maker Channel 4 Dispatches film circulating on the Easter bombings of Sri Lanka has surfaced with fresh allegations into the assassination of Sunday Leader Editor Lasantha Wickrematunge, as it was allegedly performed on the direction of former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

Sri Lankan whistleblower Hanzeer Azad Maulana in his interview to the Channel 4 Dispatches programme on shocking revelations of the Easter attack in 2019, talks about the assassination of Sunday Leader Editor Lasantha Wickrematunge was orchestrated.

Maulana, who claims himself to be the former Media Spokesperson of Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) and its leader Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan, makes the revelations after fleeing the country in 2022 over fears for his life.

At one point in the film Maulana describes how former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa during his tenure as the Secretary Defence in 2008 Mahinda Rajapaksa government allegedly orders to kill newspaper editor Lasantha Wickrematunge.

According to Maulana, Gotabaya Rajapaksa once during a meeting with the former and his boss Pillayan allegedly asked to help him form a paramilitary death squad called the ‘Tripoli Platoon’.

“He (Gotabaya) allegedly told Pillayan to select his best team and put them to work together. So Pillayan selected his best men and formed the Tripoli Platoon. The group then selected people who were against the government. They then targeted such people and killed them,” Maulana alleged.

Maulana alleges in the film that Lasantha’s continuous criticism on the Rajapaksa regime and especially his exposing article on the infamous military jet MiG Deal left Gotabaya enraged. And had summoned him and Pillayan to a meeting where he had said that he allegedly wanted Lasantha dead.

“He said this ‘Balla’ (dog) is always playing with me. He said Lasantha should be killed. If you can do it immediately. As soon as possible,” Maulana alleges in his interview.

Also, giving evidence about the Lasantha’s assassination case in the film was exiled CID officer Nishantha Silva, who has sought political refuge in a foreign country. Nishantha Silva who had been entrusted with a fresh probe into Lasantha’s case soon after the Yahapalana Government came into power says in the film that his findings in the probe led him to the Tripoli Platoon.

Nishantha Silva says he found telephones belonging to five Tripoli Platoon members connected to the Lasantha’s killing and the telephone records with call site analysis matched with the location where Lasantha was killed.

“Gotabaya Rajapaksa allegedly had a direct involvement with the Tripoli Platoon according to my findings. And when I summoned him to the CID after naming him a suspect in the Lasantha killing, he was not too happy to hear about it,” Nishantha Silva alleged in the interview.

A request made to court regarding the gold, gems and other properties seized from the residence of Ibrahim Ilham Ahamed, identified as a suicide bomber in the 2019 Easter Sunday terror attacks, was rejected by the Fort Magistrate’s court on Wednesday (06).

The relevant request was made by Ijas Ahamed, brother of the deceased, who is claiming ownership of the possessions recovered from the residence of Ilham Ahamed, and thereby requested that they be handed over to him, was rejected by Fort Magistrate Thilina Gamage.

On 21 April 2019, Mohamed Ibrahim Ilham Ahamed, a resident of Mahawila Park, Dematagoda, carried out a suicide bombing at the Shangri-La Hotel in Colombo, while his brother Mohamed Ibrahim Inshaf Ahamed, carried out another suicide blast at a hotel in Colombo.

The duo’s father, millionaire businessman Mohamed Ibrahim, and his two other sons, were also accused of concealing information pertaining to the attacks.

Meanwhile, Fort Magistrate Thilina Gamage ordered that the case against eight suspects connected to the terror attacks, including National Thowheed Jamaath (NTJ) leader Zahran Hashim and his wife Abdul Cader Fathima Saadiah, be called before the court on 06 December, as advised by the Attorney General.

Mohomadhu Mashnuk Muhammadu Raila, Mohommadu Ameer M. Ayathulla and Mohommed Mufail, who are currently out on bail, were also present in court today.

Sri Lanka’s State Minister of Rural Road Development, Sivanesathurai Santhirakanthan who was mentioned in the Channel4 program on the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks, said that he would be filing a criminal complaint with the country’s police after consulting the Inspector General of Police.

Sivanesathurai Santhirakanthan on Wednesday (6) attempted to file a complaint with the Criminal Investigations Department over the allegations made via Channel4.

“The officials informed me to consult the police chief and hand over the complaint with his approval. I have obtained an appointment for Thursday (7). I will speak with the IGP and hand over the documents,” he told reporters outside the country’s apex crime investigation body.

Speaking in Parliament earlier in the day,Sivanesathurai Santhirakanthan said that Hanzeer Azad Maulana, the individual who makes the allegations on the Channel4 program, worked with him and his organization, and in order to secure asylum and some form of stability in life, he is engaged in the spread of false propaganda.

“He had officially got permission from our organization to migrate with his family, citing that he cannot live here, and needs to solve some issues. After going overseas a year ago, he made this controversial statement. We are well aware of what Channel 4 has done to our country, and our people in the past,” said the State Minister.

“From 2015 to 2020 I was in prison. It is astounding if an act like this can be carried out from within prison walls,” he added.

The State Minister said that Hanzeer Azad Maulana should also be investigated by an international investigation body, as he had admitted that he attended the first meeting with Zaharan.

“Therefore, as the Opposition Leader said, we must call for an international inquiry,” he told the parliament.

The Channel 4 video on the Easter Attacks in Sri Lanka has not been removed as claimed by MP Namal Rajapaksa.

Rajapaksa told Parliament today that the video has been deleted from the Channel 4 website.

However, Ben de Pear, the Founder of Basement Films, which proceded the documentary on the Easter Sunday attacks, said the video is still available on Channel 4.

“To be absolutely clear our @Basement_Films @C4Dispatches is freely available on @Channel4,” Ben de Pear said on X (formerly known as Twitter).

Fromer spokesman of the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pullikal (TMVP), Azad Maulana, appeared before Channel 4 and alleged the Sri Lankan military intelligence met the Easter Sunday bombers before the attacks in 2019.

In the Channel 4 Dispatches documentary, aired on the British television station, Maulana alleged that the meeting took place in the East and that he was also present.

Maulana alleged the meeting took place between Easter Sunday bomber Zahran Hashim and head of the State Intelligence Service Suresh Sallay.

The former TMVP spokesman, who has now sought asylum overseas, has shared the information with the UN and the EU as well as other diplomatic missions.

His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith has urged President Ranil Wickremesinghe and the government to launch a ‘free, impartial, just, transparent and broad’ investigation into the alleged plot behind the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka, unveiled in British television network Channel 4’s controversial documentary.

In a press release today (Sept. 06), the Archbishop of Colombo said this probe should be conducted through an independent international investigation team, assisted by all Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officials who were removed from investigations into the terror attacks, and transferred on political influence.

Cardinal Ranjith emphasized that the investigation should be carried out on the findings outlined in various commission reports already presented and recommendations that are yet to be implemented.

Calling for a probe into the individuals who were accused in Channel 4 exposé of being complicit in the supposed plot hatched to create insecurity in the country, Cardinal Ranjith said ‘their role in this mass murder’ should be examined extensively.

Since these fresh investigations need to be independent, Cardinal Ranjith said all those officials in the police and intelligence services coming under investigation and those in top posts at present should be suspended forthwith to ensure the independence and transparency of the inquiry.

Similarly, DIG Nilantha Jayawardena who was found guilty and fined by the Supreme Court for culpable neglect of duties during the time of Easter Sunday terror attacks and DIG Deshabandu Tennakoon whose neglect of duty during this atrocity had been cited by the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) for disciplinary action should both be suspended from service until the new inquiry is over, Cardinal Ranjith’s statement read further.

Referring to Minister Manusha Nanayakkara’s announcement on plans to appoint a Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) to look into the allegations in the Channel 4 film, the Archbishop of Colombo slammed it as a waste of public funds and time, and an exercise of simply misleading the public. Recalling that despite the appointment of a PCoI and a PSC to probe the bombings soon after its occurrence, the political authorities have not taken any credible, positive action on the recommendations made by these panels.

“For this reason, we do not endorse such a strategy and reject that plan outright.”

Unless a transparent, sincere investigation is launched, Cardinal Ranjith said truth and justice would be meted out to the victims of the Easter Sunday bombings. “We do not believe in mere promises, but we need action, and action that is absolutely independent, transparent and internationally monitored.”

The Archbishop of Colombo expressed his gratitude to the Channel 4 television network for the interest and trouble it took to focus attention worldwide on this alleged plot behind the bombings.

The Sri Lankan Government is expected to investigate the contents that will be made public via a program by UK’s Channel 4 on the 2019 Easter Sunday Terror Attacks, revealed a government minister.

Manusha Nanayakkara, the country’s Minister of Labour and Foreign Employment, told Parliament on Tuesday (5) that the Cabinet had discussed the program that made serious allegations, and it was decided to appoint a Parliament Select Committee to probe the contents of the Channel 4 program.

“At the cabinet meeting, a decision was reached on the appointment of a Parliament Select Committee, and the announcement will be made in due course. In addition, the cabinet also discussed seeking international assistance for any investigation, when necessary. The government will not take a step back from implementing such measures,’ he told the house.

However, the Minister also raised concerns over the timing of the said video by Channel 4, noting that whenever a UNHRC session or UN General Assembly is to take place, such programs are released by Channel 4 ahead of those events.