Easter Sunday terrorist attack, Sri Lankan Muslims and politics

Family members mourning lost loved ones at St. Sebastian’s Church, Katuwapitiya on the first anniversary of the Easter Sunday attacks – Pic by Ruwan Walpola

By Azeem Mohammed

Christians celebrate Easter Sunday around the world to mark the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is a very special day for the followers of the Christian faith. Eastern Sunday for Christians this year was the anniversary of the carnage of 21 April 2019. 

The Easter Sunday of 21 April 2019 turned out to be the most tragic day in the history of Sri Lanka for the Christians and Muslims. A group of barbaric terrorists claiming to be Muslims and members of Islamic State (ISIS), bombed a number of Churches while the Christian congregations were at prayers. They also targeted luxury hotels while the residents were celebrating Easter Sunday with their traditional Easter breakfast. 

Zahran Hashim, who is presumed to be the leader of this small group of sadistic terrorists, headed this terrorist group. He was also the Leader of the National Thowheed Jamaath in Sri Lanka and is responsible for the death of 269 innocent lives.

Eight terrorists who are believed to members of the Zahran group carried out the dreaded suicide attack. Zahran hailed from Kattankudy in the Batticaloa District and the suicide bombers came from various other districts in the country. Zahran had his early Islamic education at a reputed Madarasa (place of religious studies) but was expelled due to his extremist thinking, un-Islamic ideology and flawed interpretation of the teachings of Islam. 

Since 2016, he carried out his radicalisation campaign publicly via videos posted in social media. The Muslim Council of Sri Lanka (MCSL) reported him to the officials of Sri Lanka’s Intelligence but no action was taken against Zahran. 

Zahran continued his extremist sermons that were in conflict with the traditional Muslims of his home town. He had built a small following with is extreme views in his hometown. This led to clashes between the National Thowheed Jamath (NTJ) headed by Zahran and the Sufi Muslims of the area. 

There is ample evidence and proof that Zahran and his followers unleashed violence even with swords in their hands against innocent Muslims. Following this, the Muslims in the area had conducted protests requesting the police to arrest Zahran since he was trying to establish a terrorist wing of ISIS in Sri Lanka. But no action was taken. 

Four months prior to the Easter Sunday attack, a Buddhist statue was vandalised in Mawanella by a group of youth who were later identified to be followers of Zahran. The Muslim Council of Sri Lanka along with the Jamaite Islami once again met the intelligence arm of Government and provided information on Zahran’s activities in Mawanella. 

Further, a Muslim local Muslim Councillor Thasneem from Mawanella had provided evidence against the Zahran clan along with details of the location of a possible training camp where 125 kg of explosives and 99 detonators were detected during a raid by the Police. Yet, the Police failed to provide security to Thasneem or his family. 

A week later, Zahran’s group shot him at point blank range at his home in Mawanella. He survived the gunshot injuries to his head but has been paralysed since then. Four men were arrested in Wanathavillu along with explosives and detonators and one of them was Ilham Ibrahim, the Shangri-La Hotel suicide bomber.

The Sri Lanka Government had received intelligence reports a month ahead from Indian intelligence of possible suicide attacks inside churches and tourist locations but the defence authorities and the Government failed to act. The suicide bombings were successfully carried out even though Indian intelligence had alerted Sri Lanka even an hour before the carnage. 

This was a major shock to the Muslims as well as every citizen of Sri Lankan. The Muslims hereto had not taken up violence against the Government or any other. The Muslims in the Kathankudy area immediately alerted the police about the presence of Zahran’s family and when the Police cordoned off the area they committed suicide before the Police could apprehend them. 

This is once again clear evidence that the Muslims cooperated to apprehend the terrorists. Yet, extremist forces targeted the entire Muslim community as terrorists. This was used to cause a riot and billions of Muslim property and livelihood were destroyed in the Gampaha and Kurunegala Districts. Two persons lost their lives. This suicide attack was also used as a major Islamic threat to national security during the last Presidential Election of November 2019. 

Due to this baseless allegation, all the Muslim Parliamentarians resigned from their portfolios and asked the Government to conduct an impartial inquiry. 

One of the main targets of the Buddhist extremist groups was former Minister Bathiudeen who already had several false allegations of destroying the Wilpattu wildlife reserve and acquiring large extents of lands, etc. 

Due to this massive campaign against Minister Bathiudeen and two other Muslim Governors by extremist Buddhists and by the then Opposition in Parliament , the Sri Lankan Police requested the public to make complaints if any against them with regard to the Easter Sunday attacks. 

As there were no complaints received against the three, the Acting IGP wrote to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Easter Sunday Attacks stating that there has been no evidence against the three of any involvement with this attack or any other terrorist activity. The Senior DIG, CID, signed the letter to the Parliamentary Committee. Finally they were cleared of these allegations.

Although the Muslim political, civil and religious leadership cooperated fully with the security officials and the Government in their investigations, they were unjustly framed and the Government used this as a trump card to obtain the majority votes with racial campaigns and propaganda citing a non-existent Muslim security threat. This worked out well for the current Government at the last presidential victory. 

Ironically, the former President who was Head of Government and Minister of Defence and Police did not act on intelligence reports on possible attacks. Now he has joined hands with the incumbent Government and has taken over the position of Chairman of the Sri Lanka Podujana Party and is to contest the next Parliamentary Elections under the SLPP banner. 

There is widespread speculation that the Easter Sunday attack could have been part of a political conspiracy since the former President and current Prime Minister failed to hold on to power with the constitutional coup of October 2018. The Supreme Court unanimously upheld the Constitution and affirmed that the sacking of Prime Minister Wickremesinghe and his Cabinet by the then President was illegal.

Five months has passed since the election of the new President and the Government. Suddenly five persons have been arrested in connection with the Easter Sunday bombings. One of them is the brother of former Minister Bathiudeen and another a renowned lawyer Hizbullah, who represented a member of the Elections Commission R. Hoole during the unconstitutional removal of Prime Minister Wickremesinghe in October 2018 constitutional coup. This shows the motive for the arrest is well-planned political victimisation.

Further, reliable sources say that there are attempts being made to arrest former Minister Bathiudeen for providing transport facilities hiring CTB bus for 12,000 displaced persons to cast their votes in their original villages during the last Presidential Elections. This transport facility had been undertaken with approvals of the office of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance. 

There is also speculation that attempts are being made to arrest former Minister Bathiudeen connecting him to the Easter attacks. No evidence have been revealed. Subsequently the former Minister had filed an FR case at the Supreme Court against his possible arrest.