President Ranil Wickremasinghe’s United National Party (UNP) is walking on thin ice unsure of where they stand ahead of an election, after members of the National People’s Party (NPP) or Jathika Jana Balawegeya met the head of the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka to assure him of their support for a fair and thorough investigation into the Easter Sunday bombings of 2019 that killed over 270 people.
Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith who has been in the forefront of demanding justice for the victims of the Easter Sunday bombings said on Wednesday he had lost faith in the country’s leadership for its failure to probe the April 21 massacre while at the same time charging that Opposition parties were also good at only making pledges.
But the NPP, which according to unofficial surveys is the leading contender to win October’s presidential election, met Cardinal Ranjith on Thursday and handed him a written pledge with seven undisclosed secrets that will be investigated.
With less than 48 hours before Christians can commemorate the carnage at two Catholic churches in Colombo and Negombo and an Evangelical gathering at far flung Batticaloa in the eastern province, the UNP branded the meeting between NPP members and Cardinal Ranjith as politically motivated.
“This (Easter Sunday bombings) happened five years ago and what was the JVP (NPP) doing for so long. They now go and meet the Cardinal and tell him what they will do to investigate the matter.
“With just a few months before the Presidential election they (NPP) are showing interest (in the bombings) and this is something the people should take note of”, said the UNP’s General Secretary Palitha Range Bandara.
But the NPP said they were the first to give legal credence to an investigation one month after the tragedy and that the meeting with Cardinal Ranjith had no political overtures.
“I can say without any fear or doubt that the investigation into the Easter Sunday bombing is not over and has not been done. It is an investigation that has been swept under the carpet”, the NPP’s Upul Kumarapperuma who is also a leading Attorney at Law told journalists after meeting Cardinal Ranjith.
Kumarapperuma disclosed the name of a person of interest named Abu Hin who he said was above the leader of the Easter Sunday main suicide bombing suspect Zahran.
“We did not discuss politics or asked the Cardinal for the Catholic vote. What we said was that we will get down to the bottom of the Easter Sunday bombings and bring to book the political elements behind the killings”, said Kumarapperuma.
To mark the fifth anniversary of the Easter Sunday bombings, the Catholic Church has organized a series of silent protests on April 21 in the form of marches to the two churches bombed in Colombo and Negombo.
