Remembering victims of terrorism
The first anniversary of the Easter Sunday carnage falls today while the country is battling a highly contagious virus, which is as destructive as extremist terror, which snuffed out more than 250 lives at several churches and hotels. Our hearts go out to the grief-stricken family members, relatives and friends of the victims of the terror attacks.
It is heartening that churches and other places of worship have come together to sound their bells, today, to commemorate the victims of terror.
It has been established that the Easter bombings could have been prevented if the intelligence warnings thereof had been heeded and action taken. The identities of the bombers, their addresses, etc., had been known to the then government and the police, but, unfortunately, nothing was done to thwart the terror strikes. Worse, a raid on a terrorist training facility in Wanathavilluwa had yielded a haul of explosives, a few months before the Easter attacks, but no serious effort was made to trace all those responsible for running it. The CID officers in charge of the investigations baulked at arresting some key suspects with links to those who had run the training camp, but they have got off scot-free, to all intents and purposes. Action must be taken against them as well.
Disasters are inevitable when dirty politics takes precedence over national security and public safety. All those who failed to prevent the Easter Sunday bombings must be brought to justice. An Opposition politician’s brother has been arrested for his alleged links to the terrorists. But there are many others including politicians and police officers who must be made to explain why they had not acted on the intelligence warnings and the findings of investigations into the wanton destruction of Buddha statues in Mawanella, a test explosion in the East and the training of terrorists at Wanathavilluwa. The killing of two policemen in Vavunativu, in the East, a few months before the Easter attacks was not properly probed. Some ex-LTTE cadres were blamed for the crime, which was committed by the Zahran group.
As one of our columnists points out, today, the dead cannot seek justice. Archbishop of Colombo Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith has been striving to have justice served, but sadly his campaign has not come to fruition. One can only hope that he will succeed in his endeavour. He deserves assistance of all Sri Lankans to achieve his noble goal.
Mystery surrounds the Easter bombings which have been blamed solely on Zahran Hashim, who is believed to have masterminded the terror strikes, on behalf of the ISIS. He perished in one of the attacks. Irrefutable evidence has emerged that, at the time of their suicide attacks, he and his fellow terrorists had been working tirelessly to expand their terror network by setting up training facilities, stockpiling arms and explosives and recruiting cadres. Efforts of the National Thowheed Jamaath to build a formidable terror network make one wonder whether there was any need for it to do so to carry out a few suicide attacks, which did not require years of planning. It is believed that Zahran had links to the ISIS, which belatedly claimed the responsibility for the Easter bombings, but did he really work for the ISIS proper or did he have links to one of its affiliates? Was his handler working for another organisation masquerading as an ISIS agent? The picture is not clear.
The need for a separate investigation into the external links Zahran had established cannot be overemphasised.
The first anniversary of the Easter Sunday carnage falls today while the country is battling a highly contagious virus, which is as destructive as extremist terror, which snuffed out more than 250 lives at several churches and hotels. Our hearts go out to the grief-stricken family members, relatives and friends of the victims of the terror attacks.
It is heartening that churches and other places of worship have come together to sound their bells, today, to commemorate the victims of terror.
It has been established that the Easter bombings could have been prevented if the intelligence warnings thereof had been heeded and action taken. The identities of the bombers, their addresses, etc., had been known to the then government and the police, but, unfortunately, nothing was done to thwart the terror strikes. Worse, a raid on a terrorist training facility in Wanathavilluwa had yielded a haul of explosives, a few months before the Easter attacks, but no serious effort was made to trace all those responsible for running it. The CID officers in charge of the investigations baulked at arresting some key suspects with links to those who had run the training camp, but they have got off scot-free, to all intents and purposes. Action must be taken against them as well.
Disasters are inevitable when dirty politics takes precedence over national security and public safety. All those who failed to prevent the Easter Sunday bombings must be brought to justice. An Opposition politician’s brother has been arrested for his alleged links to the terrorists. But there are many others including politicians and police officers who must be made to explain why they had not acted on the intelligence warnings and the findings of investigations into the wanton destruction of Buddha statues in Mawanella, a test explosion in the East and the training of terrorists at Wanathavilluwa. The killing of two policemen in Vavunativu, in the East, a few months before the Easter attacks was not properly probed. Some ex-LTTE cadres were blamed for the crime, which was committed by the Zahran group.
As one of our columnists points out, today, the dead cannot seek justice. Archbishop of Colombo Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith has been striving to have justice served, but sadly his campaign has not come to fruition. One can only hope that he will succeed in his endeavour. He deserves assistance of all Sri Lankans to achieve his noble goal.
Mystery surrounds the Easter bombings which have been blamed solely on Zahran Hashim, who is believed to have masterminded the terror strikes, on behalf of the ISIS. He perished in one of the attacks. Irrefutable evidence has emerged that, at the time of their suicide attacks, he and his fellow terrorists had been working tirelessly to expand their terror network by setting up training facilities, stockpiling arms and explosives and recruiting cadres. Efforts of the National Thowheed Jamaath to build a formidable terror network make one wonder whether there was any need for it to do so to carry out a few suicide attacks, which did not require years of planning. It is believed that Zahran had links to the ISIS, which belatedly claimed the responsibility for the Easter bombings, but did he really work for the ISIS proper or did he have links to one of its affiliates? Was his handler working for another organisation masquerading as an ISIS agent? The picture is not clear.
The need for a separate investigation into the external links Zahran had established cannot be overemphasised.
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