As surviving victims of the deadly Easter Sunday bombings began to commemorate the tragedy that killed more than the 250 worshippers, the Catholic Church revealed sensitive information that it said was proof the bombers worked hand in hand with the government’s Intelligent Services.
Addressing the media, spokesman for the Catholic Church Fr. Cyril Gamini Fernando said that an Army officer named Suresh Salih had made contact with the bombers even on the day of the massacre on April 21, 2019.
Fr Cyril Gamini who is also the editor of the Catholic weekly, The Messenger, described in graphic detail the events that led to the bombings and the patronage afforded to the bombers by the government’s Intelligence Service that led to the coordination of the attacks, while a grand cover up was also taking place.
Fr. Cyril Gamini said that what he revealed to the Media was what he conveyed to the Criminal Investigation Department better known as CID the previous day.
“We have placed before them (CID) eight points that I have read out to you,” said Fr Cyril Gamini who also expressed doubts of a thorough probe.
Catholics had already begun a silent protest by way of a march from the Church of St. Anthony that was bombed in Colombo to the Church of St. Sebastian, where nearly a hundred worshippers were killed, a distance of some 40 kilometres.
Elsewhere, on the previous day another section of the populace launched a protest at Colombo’s main railway station in Colombo Fort calling for the arrest of former President Maithripala Sirisena under whose term the massacres took place that led to a change of government with Gotabaya Rajapaksa winning the subsequent Presidential election.
The Catholic Church has branded Rajapaksa as the mastermind of the Easter Sunday bombings triggered to ensure his victory.
He was subsequently ousted on a popular revolt over economic turmoil and the shortage of essential commodities.
