In April 2019, Sri Lanka was shaken to its core. The Easter Sunday bombings killed over 250 people, many of them attending church services or enjoying a family holiday. It was one of the darkest days in the island’s modern history, leaving a permanent scar on survivors, on the Catholic community, and on the entire nation. Six years on, justice remains elusive.
This week, former President Maithripala Sirisena, who was Head of State and Commander-in-Chief when the tragedy occurred, made a series of startling remarks at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute. He insisted that governments, militaries, and intelligence agencies worldwide are aware of who the “mastermind” of the attacks was. He further admitted that he has told the Criminal Investigation Department “everything,” but that none of it can be revealed.
Such statements are not only irresponsible; they are an affront to justice and to the memory of those who died. For years, families of victims Sri Lankan and foreign alike have pleaded for clarity, accountability, and transparency. Instead, what they continue to receive are riddles, contradictions, and political grandstanding. When a former President, who bore ultimate responsibility for national security at the time, now declares that he knows the truth but cannot or will not disclose it, the insult could not be greater.
The Easter Sunday attacks were not merely a lapse of intelligence or a failure of security. They were the culmination of systemic negligence and political dysfunction. Inquiries, commissions, and court cases have come and gone, yet the core question remains unanswered: who truly masterminded the atrocity? Each time an opportunity arises to move closer to the truth, it is buried under layers of political self-preservation and evasion.
What Sirisena has now said adds a new dimension of frustration. If he does indeed know the identity and location of the architect behind the attacks, withholding that knowledge is a betrayal of the very people he once swore to protect. To claim that “everyone knows” but that Sri Lanka cannot act is not leadership; it is abdication of responsibility. Worse, it reduces one of the nation’s gravest tragedies to a soundbite; fodder for political speeches and newspaper headlines.
The victims deserve far more. Their families deserve answers, not vague pronouncements. For many, wounds have not healed; for some, they never will. Parents lost children, children lost parents, whole families were torn apart in an instant. Foreign visitors who perished in the blasts had their lives stolen on what was meant to be a holiday. For all of them, six years of delay and obfuscation represent not just bureaucratic inertia, but an ongoing injustice.
The time has come for honesty. If Sirisena truly has information, he must reveal it fully, under oath, and before the appropriate authorities. If not, he should refrain from making pronouncements that only reopen old wounds without offering solutions. Silence is preferable to half-truths that erode faith in justice further.
It is also time for the current government and opposition alike to stop weaponising this tragedy for political mileage. Each camp has, at different times, sought to blame the other, to absolve itself of responsibility, or to point fingers abroad. Meanwhile, ordinary citizens are left bewildered, cynical, and exhausted by the constant drip of speculation. The Easter Sunday attacks are not a political pawn. They were a massacre. They demand accountability, not posturing.
International observers are also watching. When a former Head of State admits that he knows the identity of the mastermind yet does nothing, the credibility of Sri Lanka’s justice system is once again undermined in the eyes of the world. That damage is not easily repaired. A country that cannot deliver justice for an atrocity of this magnitude will struggle to claim legitimacy in the fight against terrorism and extremism.
“Enough is enough” must become the rallying cry. Enough of commissions that lead nowhere. Enough of shifting blame. Enough of leaders making sensational claims only to retreat into silence when pressed. Above all, enough of the cruel neglect of those still mourning loved ones.
Justice delayed is justice denied. The Easter Sunday victims and their families have been denied long enough. They do not need cryptic statements; they need the truth. And the nation needs closure—not through empty speeches, but through real accountability. Until that happens, Sri Lanka will remain haunted by 2019, unable to heal, unable to move forward.
Source:Ceylon Today