Government of Sri Lanka should look into claims of intelligence involvement in the 2019 Easter bombings

The government of Sri Lanka will establish a parliamentary committee to look into claims made in a British television broadcast that Sri Lankan intelligence was involved in the 269-person-death Easter Sunday explosions in 2019.

On Tuesday, Labor Minister Manusha Nanayakkara informed Parliament that further information on the probe will soon be made public.

A guy who was questioned for the Channel 4 films that were made public on Tuesday said that he set up a meeting between a local Islamic State-inspired organization and a high state intelligence officer in order to develop a scheme to instill unrest in Sri Lanka so that Gotabaya Rajapaksa could win the presidential election later that year.

In 2009, Azad Maulana assisted the government in crushing the rebels and ending Sri Lanka’s protracted civil war by serving as the spokesperson for a breakaway faction of the Tamil Tiger insurgents. This organization eventually transformed into a pro-state militia.

Rajapaksa served as a prominent defense officer throughout the conflict, and his elder brother, Mahinda Rajapaksa, lost the 2015 elections after serving as president for ten years.

On April 21, 2019, a gang of Sri Lankans motivated by the Islamic State group carried out six almost simultaneous suicide bombs in churches and resort hotels.

The strikes, which left 269 people dead, including residents and international visitors as well as worshipers attending Easter Sunday services, brought back memories of the regular bombs that occurred during the quarter-century conflict.

Rajapaksa was able to seize power as a result of national security concerns. After widespread demonstrations over the greatest economic crisis in the nation, he was compelled to quit last year.

In the Channel 4 show, Maulana said that at the request of his then-boss, Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, the head of the rebel breakaway group-turned-political party, he set up a meeting in 2018 between radicals inspired by IS and a key intelligence official.

Chandrakanthan allegedly met the gang in jail while being held on murder charges and discovered they may be helpful to sow unrest in the nation, according to Maulana.

Although Maulana admitted to Channel 4 that he was absent at the meeting, the intelligence officer subsequently informed him that the only way to restore the Rajapaksa family to power was through sowing unrest.

Maulana said in the episode that he was able to identify the attackers on the security camera video of the bombings as the people he had scheduled to meet with the intelligence officer. The assailants were carrying bags containing bombs.

According to a Channel 4 report, U.N. investigators and European security agencies questioned Maulana about his accusations.

Rajapaksa and Chandrakanthan have not responded to the allegations.

Mahindananda Aluthgamage, a pro-Rajapaksa legislator, disputed the documentary’s assertions. According to him, Rajapaksa had no need to detonate explosives or send in suicide bombers in order to win election since the outcome of the 2018 municipal elections demonstrated that the populace already supported him.