Easter Sunday attacks
By Norman Palihawadana
Archbishop of Colombo, Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, yesterday asked whether there had been any investigation into the possible dealings between intelligence agencies and Zahran Hashim’s National Thowheed Jamath.
Addressing an event to mark the fourth anniversary of the Easter Sunday attacks, the Cardinal said that the Presidential Commission of Inquiry, on the Easter Sunday attacks, had revealed that the intelligence agencies had been aware of the seventh bomber involved in the attack, Abdul Lathief Jameel Mohamed.
“He went into the Taj Samudra Hotel, and came out without detonating the bomb for some reason. The intelligence agencies even went to his house and spoke to his wife. That means the intelligence agencies knew him well. Why wasn’t he arrested; why was he allowed to take his life. He was walking about in Dehiwala for hours. Did he blow himself up or was the bomb detonated by remote control?” he said.
“If he had been arrested and questioned, a lot of information could have been ascertained. Why wasn’t he arrested?”
The Cardinal said that the Vijith Malalgoda Commission, the Parliament Select Committee and the Presidential Commission, which probed the Easter Sunday attacks, had handed over their reports. The Easter Sunday attacks had been carried out by Islamic extremists but it was possible that there had been a political conspiracy behind the carnage, he said.
