The Easter Sunday Collaborators: Those who knew — Let the bombers kill — and Now try to fix blame on others
On April 21, 2019 — Easter Sunday — Sri Lanka suffered its deadliest terror attack since the defeat of the LTTE. Coordinated suicide bombings by the National Thowheed Jamaath (NTJ), an ISIS-inspired Islamist group, claimed 269 lives and injured over 500 at churches and luxury hotels nationwide. But the greatest guilt lies not only with the bombers, but with those who knew of the threat and did nothing to prevent this mass murder. Worse still, they now seek to shift blame onto others, hoping to satisfy their guilty conscience and avoid accountability..
While the bombers are dead, justice is being hijacked — by political actors, institutional cowardice, and manufactured conspiracy theories.
We know who bombed.
We now need to ask: Who knew — and did nothing and why are they fixing others to cover their guilt?
The Undeniable Facts: No kangaroo court can change the facts.
- The Attackers:
8 Sri Lankan Muslim suicide bombers — from affluent families. Two were sons of Mohamed Yusuf Ibrahim, a wealthy spice trader linked to the JVP/NPP, and one was his daughter-in-law, Fathima Ilham, who detonated herself during a police raid in Dematagoda, killing her two children & the unborn in her womb.
- Intelligence Warnings Ignored: April 4, 20, 21
India issued detailed intelligence weeks prior to the attacks, naming Zaharan Hashim, his network, and even the exact targets. This intel was passed by SIS Director Nilantha Jayawardena to CID and TID, yet no action followed.
Indian Intelligence Warnings | Sri Lanka Parliamentary Committee Report
- Supreme Court Verdict:
The Court found President Maithripala Sirisena, IGP Pujith Jayasundara, and SIS Chief Nilantha Jayawardena guilty of negligence.
What about others in the chain of knowledge?
Sri Lanka Supreme Court Report (PDF)
- Local Government & Intelligence Failures:
Multiple local reports, including the Malalgoda Commission report and the Parliamentary Committee on National Security, have documented severe lapses and ignored warnings.
Malalgoda Commission Report | Parliamentary Committee Reports
- Independent Investigations by Civil Society:
Reports by independent research organizations like Verité Research have catalogued extensive evidence about political manipulation and negligence.
Verité Research Analysis
- Justice Imam Report:
This report debunked conspiracy theories advanced by discredited witnesses featured in media, reaffirming the extremist Islamist motivation behind the attacks.
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/three-foreign-nationals-charged-conspiring-provide-material-support-isis
From Negligence to Promotion
Nilantha Jayawardena admitted he briefed CID and TID 12 hours before the bombings. Why did those he informed not issue alert or take measures to arrest the named?
Yet today:
- The former CID Head is now Secretary to the Ministry of Public Security.
- The former CID Director has been reappointed as Director, Criminal Intelligence Analysis Division.
Even more shockingly, Cabinet Minister Bimal Ratnayaka publicly claimed in Parliament that these appointments were made “on request of the Cardinal,” implying a possible shielding of officials who failed to act.
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Drsssqpzi/
Source: Parliamentary Committee Reports
The Cardinal’s changing tune: From Justice to Diversion?
Initially a strong advocate for justice, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith has taken a puzzling turn:
- He endorsed the Channel 4 documentary featuring Azad Maulana — a discredited witness whose claims were rejected as false by the Justice Imam Report, which labeled the film a “hoax.” In his 3 page letter congratulating Channel 4, he even asks the same team that led the investigation to continue – is this why Minister Bimal claims they were given plum appointments even after they pledged political support raising questions of bias.
- He has been largely silent about the Islamist extremist ideology that drove the attacks. Despite the mass murder of his own faith community, he has offered no strong condemnation of the bombers — other than to forgive them.
- He targets only a few officials, while remaining silent about others who had prior knowledge and failed to act. In fact he has recommended those who knew & did nothing to continue the investigations too.
Some now ask: Did others within the Church know in advance – if so, why did they not stop worshippers entering the Church?
A Catholic ex-MP testified that his father warned him not to attend Mass that day. He also claimed to have informed people who now say they weren’t told. But no one accepts responsibility — it’s a game of he said, she said.
Easter Sunday: New Political Football
- Today, Easter Sunday has been transformed into a weapon of political convenience:
- Push for a “Prosecutorial Office” — A Kangaroo Court
- UNHRC-aligned advocates are demanding a special prosecutorial mechanism, bypassing Sri Lanka’s legal system. Easter Sunday has become the perfect excuse to justify its creation.
- Theatrics around the tragedy are being used as a launchpad for a kangaroo court. The motive? Not justice — but to sidestep the Attorney General’s Department, which refuses to act on unverified evidence and hearsay.
- This is not about victims. It’s about political revenge and foreign pressure to fulfill foreign agendas merging for convenience.
- Is Pillayan: The Convenient Scapegoat ?
- Attempts are being made to frame Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan (Pillayan) to indirectly implicate the Rajapaksa family – if so, produce the evidence not conjecture.
- MP Rasamanikkam is vocal about arresting Pillayan — but silent on prosecuting negligent state officers. What does he serve to gain from a Pillayn in prison? Votes?
- Fact: Pillayan was in prison when the Easter attacks occurred. So why the obsession?
- Parliamentary Distractions
- An SJB MP used parliamentary privilege to name officials — not based on evidence, but as distraction from his own corruption scandals.
- Easter Sunday is now a smokescreen, weaponized for political survival – political opponents because the “masterminds” – all this is unfair on the victims and the injured.
Ignoring the Hard Truth: Conspiracy Theories vs. International Investigations
While credible international investigations conducted by some of the world’s best intelligence agencies — including India, the United States, and Australia — have clearly established the ISIS link and detailed the operational planning behind the Easter Sunday attacks, conspiracy theorists inside Sri Lanka continue to scream unsubstantiated narratives totally opposite to what these agencies have put on their letterheads.
These politically motivated conspiracy theories deliberately ignore:
- The detailed intelligence shared well in advance by foreign agencies naming the bombers and their plans.
Indian Intelligence Warnings - The international indictments and charges, such as those by the U.S. Department of Justice against Sri Lankan nationals for providing material support to ISIS.
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/three-foreign-nationals-charged-conspiring-provide-material-support-isis - The findings of Australian Federal Police’s Operation Geldrop and other global counterterrorism efforts.
https://www.transparency.gov.au/publications/attorney-general-s/australian-federal-police/australian-federal-police-annual-report-2018-19/chapter-4-performance-details/feature-story%3A-operation-geldrop%E2%80%94sri-lanka-easter-bombings
This selective blindness is not accidental. It is another glaring example of how the goalposts are being constantly shifted — not to uncover justice, but to protect guilty consciences, shield political allies, and perpetuate division.
Until Sri Lanka confronts these facts head-on, it risks allowing Easter Sunday’s tragedy to remain a political football rather than a national call for accountability and truth.
The Real Questions
Let’s be very clear:
- The suicide bombers are dead.
- But those who knew, failed to act, now rewriting the narrative — are still alive and in power.
They are:
- Promoting negligent officers.
- Hiding behind religious endorsements.
- Inventing new masterminds to divert blame from themselves.
- Using the tragedy to jail political opponents.
- Feeding the media sensationalism circus for personal gain.
What the People Deserve: Truth, Not Theatre
Sri Lanka needs:
- Real accountability for those who ignored concrete warnings.
- An end to politicization of national tragedies.
- A justice process based on facts, not fabrications or foreign interests.
Until then, Easter Sunday 2019 will remain more than a tragedy —
It will remain a national disgrace, cynically abused by those who let it happen.
Even if there were 10, 15, or 20 suicide bombers, there were also multiple clear warnings — naming targets, dates, and attackers.
So the question is:
Why have all 15,000 who knew — not been identified, named, and held accountable? This is what the people of Sri Lanka should be asking.
The tragedy could have been prevented.
The intelligence was precise.
The names, targets, and timing were all given in advance.
Yet no action was taken. Why?
The suicide bombers died believing their plan was secret.
But it wasn’t.
The real guilt lies with those who knew — and did nothing.
They had the power to act.
To evacuate the churches. To cancel mass. To block entrances to Churches
To alert the hotels. Increase checking.
To issue a single warning — even through social media.
But they stayed silent.
Some even protected only themselves.
Those who could have saved hundreds of lives and chose not to — are more guilty than the suicide bombers themselves. Don’t you agree?
Shenali D Waduge
