Pope Asks Sri Lanka To Reveal Easter Bombers Over Conspiracy Murmurs
Pope Francis urged Sri Lankan authorities on Monday to reveal who was behind the country’s 2019 Easter bombings in an attack the island’s Catholics suspect was a plot to propel President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to power.
While meeting with a delegation of over 60 victims of the Easter Sunday attacks on three churches and three hotels that killed 279 people, Francis asked Rajapaksa’s administration to reveal the truth.
“Please, out of love for justice, out of love for your people, let it be made clear once and for all who were responsible for these events,” the pope said in an appeal to Colombo.
“This will bring peace to your conscience and to your country.”
Addressing some 3,500 Sri Lankans in Italy, including some of the victims, the pope also said he prayed that Sri Lanka will also be able to ride out the worst economic crisis in its history.
The island is gripped by severe shortages of food, fuel and medicines with its 22 million residents grappling with daily electricity blackouts and galloping inflation.
The head of Sri Lanka’s Catholic Church, Malcolm Ranjith, who conducted mass at St. Peter’s basilica just before meeting with the pope on Monday, called for “justice and change” in his country.
“We want the international community to insist that, before giving any aid to Sri Lanka, that the government realise that they have to change the way things have been done,” he told Vatican Radio.
Cardinal Ranjith last month urged the UN Human Rights Council to set up a mechanism to probe the 2019 suicide bombings which Colombo had blamed on local Islamic radicals.
“The first impression of this massacre was that it was purely the work of a few Islamic extremists,” Ranjith said.
“However, subsequent investigations indicate that this massacre was part of a grand political plot.”
The cardinal has suggested that the attacks helped Rajapaksa emerge as a “national security candidate” and win the November 2019 election.
Ranjith has accused Rajapaksa’s administration of shielding military intelligence operatives named in two separate local investigations which remain inconclusive.
Sri Lanka’s High Court in February acquitted two top officials accused of “crimes against humanity” for failing to prevent the Easter Sunday bombings.
(AFP)
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.”……..Catholics suspect was a plot to propel President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to power…….”. So Pope too made to believe that extremist Muslims sacrificed their lives to bring Sinhala Buddhist into power!
Ex president Sirisena set up a Commission to investigate this incident.
The Commission found several negligent in discharge of duties in high office.
This includes President Sirisena and former PM, Wickremasinghe.
In addition, an MP provided reveling information regarding the involvement of the State Intelligence in the background to this incident.
The former Attorney General classified this incident as a ‘conspiracy’ in public.
These issues have neither been investigated nor analysed and answers provided to the Nation.
Amarakoon, well said! This angle was so bizarre that I first thought it was a joke, but alas, it wasn’t and I should have known better as it was yet another “Sri Lankan” dish-out! So sad to see these Idiotic Sri Lankans (this is an infamous brand world over now) have descreted the Vatican by brainwashing the Pope!
Leaving that aside, the blame for this fiasco lies squarely with this present inept GOSL as despite irrefutable evidence of culpability (and that includes crass incompetence and dereliction of duty), it refused to prosecute the real culprits, the real culprits who are evidently “too sacred” for them to touch. OK, nincompoop GOSL, now eat your unsavory rewards!
When one can believe 120 tons of US$ bills flying from SL to Uganda, what else the same cannot believe? Who cannot lead them into anything in any direction like a flock of sheep?
Dear Indra Akke,
Regarding the 120t of ‘printed material’ being flown to Uganda, what is preventing GOSL from negotiating the release of details of the contents with the French Money Printing Company and providing the evidence to the public?
Post Aragalaya, many shipping containers were brought to the Port under STF guard, claiming the contents to be ‘atomic waste’. Why cannot GOSL provide some form of evidence of the contents (eg: photos) and also written evidence from the recipients indicating goods received.
The Governance should be open and transparent in debugging ‘myths’.
“Regarding the 120t of ‘printed material’ being flown to Uganda, what is preventing GOSL from negotiating the release of details of the contents with the French Money Printing Company and providing the evidence to the public?”
Go and ask one of those thousands of lawyers sitting in the Gall Face Green in their black suits sweating profusely. Just to give a clue, there are legally binding confidentiality clauses agreed by both parties, specially when it comes to currency printing as well as any other trade deals. I have seen one of those had gone to the court asking the government to be ordered to reveal. Just wait for the court decision.
Abrew, I have answered. Ask the OnLanka to publish it. My reply did not have anything at all that warrants not being published.