Sri Lankan politicians are notorious for their innate ability for fishing in troubled waters; to turn any incident of any gravity – even incidents of national importance – to their advantage. A slight analysis of almost every Presidential Election held in the country would reveal how the existing political, economic and defence scenarios of the country at the time were cleverly manipulated by the winning parties to secure majority of votes. In the last Presidential Election, securing national security and bringing economic fraud of the highest order to justice were the most popular political promises made by the winning party. However, the reality of the country as of now is that the perpetrators who committed the bond scam are yet to be brought into the country, let alone producing them before courts and doing justice by the Easter Sunday attacks victims is slowly becoming a pipedream for survivors who are slowly trying to move on with their lives.
However, for politicians, these incidents are seemingly mere opportunities to be used at times they deem suitable for gains or keep shelved till such time arrives. Just like how essential a wound is for a beggar, these issues hardly get solved but instead dragged through the mud again and again until the last bit of political gain is extracted from it.
On giving a sensible listen to former President Maithripala Sirisena’s recent comments about being aware of the culprits behind the Easter Sunday attacks, the logical conclusion one could arrive at is that the explosive statement has no other intent behind it other than gaining some political gainsay, in a year dubbed as ‘Election year’.
Speaking to the media in Kandy last Friday (22), the ex-President claimed that although the investigations thus far have identified some of the perpetrators of the deadly attacks, that only he alone knows the real culprits behind the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks. Moreover, he said he was prepared to disclose the information to the judiciary if the court makes a request or issues an order in this regard. Maintaining the exclusivity of the information he has revealed, the former President stated that no one has revealed the true masterminds behind the attacks yet and that he is privy to that information. Sirisena said he was willing to disclose the details, but it was the responsibility of the judges to keep the information strictly confidential, hinting that the information at his disposal is sensitive and of grave national importance.
The information about the Easter Sunday attacks is only a small part of a much longer interview with the electronic media where Sirisena highlighted a number of other issues pertaining to the SLFP’s stance in the upcoming elections, the prospect of MPs leaving the party and the ability of the party to form political alliances that assure an upper hand. Looking at the whole interview without isolating the bit about the Easter Sunday attacks, it looks more of an attempt to clear his own name, and an attempt to convince the media that they need to look elsewhere for real bad guys.
Probing deeper into the matter, he talked about the Easter Sunday attacks, it begs the question as to why he decided to keep this information of national importance to himself all this time and coincidentally reveal it to the media at a time when much is happening in the political arena and at a time when a major election is on the horizon. Considering how Sirisena has voiced his desires to contest once again in the Presidential Election, it would be quite ironic and shameless for him to use the Easter Sunday attacks as a political scapegoat in an attempt to reach the hot seat again, given how he was ruled responsible by the Supreme Court for the very attacks that killed around 270 people.
In January 2023, a seven-judge Supreme Court bench ruled that Sirisena was responsible for negligence to take measures to prevent the attacks despite stern intelligence warnings two weeks prior and ordered the former President to pay Rs 100 million from his personal funds to family members of victims who brought the civil case before the court.
Considering how he accepted till collections to pay the fine, it is peculiar as to why he didn’t decide to reveal this information even at a time like that when the topic was hot and he was constantly under the microscope.
An inquiry, rather understandably has been ordered to probe into the statement made by Sirisena regardless of whatever the outcome of the statement would be, it is quite disheartening to see the Easter Sunday attacks; the names of the victims and the dignity of the survivors, are being dragged through the mud yet again for political gain!