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SJB General Secretary, parliamentarian Ranjith Madduma Bandara and MP Niroshan Perera addressing the press yesterday.
By Asiri Fernando
The Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) yesterday called on the Government to have the Easter Sunday bombings investigated by a group of independent foreign experts or an independent domestic team, citing concerns that local investigations conducted thus far had not been impartial and have failed to unravel those behind the attack.
SJB General Secretary Ranjith Madduma Bandara made the request at a press conference held at the Opposition Leader’s office yesterday where he was joined by SJB MP Niroshan Perera.
He said that the recently tabled report by the Presidential Committee of Inquiry (PCoI) into the attack had many shortcomings and claiming it hasn’t been accepted by many, including the victims.
Bandara charged that the Government has failed to conduct a proper probe into the attacks on its own and questioned how the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) in the United States were able to take legal action against three suspects in domestic custody, whereas local authorities seemed to be dragging their feet in bringing those involved to justice. The former Law and Order Minister also questioned why the PCoI report into the Easter Sunday bombings had failed to answer key questions regarding those behind the attack, pointing out that the government’s move to arrest a key investigator and remove him from the inquiry raises questions about how reliable the government is in investigating the attack.
“We need to know who Zaharan really was and whether he was on the government’s payroll at some time. We gather that Zaharan had been paid by the government when Gotabaya Rajapaksa was the Secretary of Defence. We learned that he was questioned by the Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) and that later a warrant was issued for him,” Bandara claimed.
He urged the government to allow an independent team of foreign experts or a group of independent domestic investigators to conduct a credible investigation into the attacks.
