The final report of Sri Lanka’s Presidential Commission of Inquiry examining the Easter Sunday bombings, which claimed the lives of over 250 people, has recommended criminal charges against key officials, including former President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who failed to prevent the attacks, despite the early warnings.
Several Sri Lankan politicians have claimed that members of the National Thawheed Jammath (NTJ) who were deemed responsible for the attacks were being paid by Sri Lankan Intelligence and had established links with the current President.
According to a parliamentary select committee, Sri Lanka’s security forces received intelligence that an attack was due to take place on Easter Sunday but may have allowed it to proceed in order to “create chaos and instil fear” ahead of presidential elections.
The report further claimed that the previous Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando, Police Chief Pujith Jayasundara and Chief of National Intelligence Sisira Mendis had failed to apprehend the attackers prior to the incident.
The report which is yet to be implemented and made public was handed to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa last week. He has attacked the previous administration in the past claiming that they had weakened national security.
“It is most unfortunate that the mechanisms that were in place to ensure national security were dismantled”.
This commission comes as a separate Presidential Commission on "Political Victimisation" has called for the pardoning of 25 former military officers, including those involved in the notorious Trinco 11 case, as well as a number of high-profile human rights abuses. Amongst those pardoned includes close Rajapaksa allies.
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