A Rise From The Rubble: The Sri Lankan Easter Massacre.
As the pages of time slowly turn to mark the 1st anniversary of the devastating suicide bombings in the tiny island of Sri Lanka, the world is reminded of the deadly augmentation of terrorism in the South Asian region and the global sphere as a whole.
On the morning of the 21st April 2019, as the Easter atmosphere of hope and bloom engulfed the streets, it was utterly crushed and shattered by 9 suicide bombers, backed by a radical ideology of hate and destruction. Six immediate coordinated bombings across the nation’s capital and on the East coast claimed the lives of 321 people while injuring hundreds more. The consequential element of the clock hands of the steeple at the St. Anthony’s shrine being stuck at exactly 8.45 am, marks the moment that the first Islamic suicide bomber massacred the innocent.
As the minutes passed in bloodshed, 5 more bombs consequently detonated around the “Pearl of the Indian Ocean”, devastating lives and marring the 10 years of peace in the island. Tourists and Sri Lankan citizens in the Shangri — la, Cinnamon grand and Kingsbury hotels were slaughtered mercilessly. In the East coast, the suicide bomber Nazar Mohammed Azhar, who deliberately targeted children, took the lives of more than 30 churchgoers.
Has Justice been served?
Have the perpetrators been brought to justice? Have the lackadaisical attitudes of several politicians and members of authority been condemned? These are some big questions that are looming within the people.
The ignorance of statistical warnings and vital intelligence provided by authorities in India and the USA have received widespread scrutiny. It is evident that former president Maithripala Sirisena and former premier Ranil Wickramathunge do indeed, have blood on their hands. The complete disregard of crucial warnings, due to internal political feuds and factionalism, resulted in one of the biggest intelligence failures in the world.
The indication that the Indian warnings were only shared with authorities in charge of “VIP security” is not only downright sloppiness but also plainly disgusting in the part of the responsible. The request made by former president Maithripala in the resignation of the Inspector general of police, Pujith Jayasundara and Defense secretary Hemasiri Fernando could be appreciated, but is not even in the ballpark when it concerns the overall failure of the government. Article 30 (1) of the Constitution of Sri Lanka states that “The President of the Republic of Sri Lanka, is the Head of the State, the Head of the Executive and of the Government, and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces”. The president is responsible. The security council Re-19th amendment reinforces the opinion that the commander in chief is responsible for this violation of fundamental rights of citizens due to the fall of national security.
Present premier and former President, Mahinda Rajapaksa stated then, that the “[government] made sure that none of the ministers or MPs attended any service” and he questioned the former government on the inadequacies it may have faced if the Prevention of terrorism act was abolished as planned.
The Archbishop of Colombo, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith stressed that “Anybody who had dealings with these people who set off the bombs, even their bank accounts and their telephone calls, has to be investigated”. He claimed that he believes that the previous government was involved in a cover-up and praised the present administration in “trying to explain every aspect of the issue”.
Ravi Fernando, a parishioner of the Katuwapitiya church, which was the worst hit in terms of causalities, said that the investigations were moving too slow. He stated, “After almost a year, the victims are still suffering, yet the guilty remain free”.
With the immediate deployment of an Incident response team, the INTERPOL provided support and further intelligence to the military forces of the island of Sri Lanka. The special publication of the Red notice by the INTERPOL resulted in the arrests of 5 Sri Lankan nationals including Ahamed Milhan Hayathu Mohamed, who were wanted on charges including terrorism and murder. Further arrests were made in April 2020 within the nation’s borders, including the brother of former minister and leader of the All Ceylon Makkal Congress, Rishad Bathiudeen. The arrests were made by a special team of the Criminal Investigative Department (CID).
With the assistance of the special committee appointed by the presidential commission of former president, Maithripala Sirisena and also of his present counterpart, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, more than 135 persons were arrested with connection to the bombings.
In the global arena, the leader of the Islamic State (IS), Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, detonated his suicide vest in October 2019, when US military commandos raided his hideout in Idlib Governorate, Syria. Chief of the ISIL ‘Khorasan’ branch, Aslam Farooqi is presently under arrest by the Afghan military over his connection of a bombing at a Sikh temple, that took more than 25 lives.
Is Sri Lanka still open for the spread of Radical Islam?
A report made by The Sectoral Oversight Committee on National Security, stated that “especially after the 4/21 attack, it was reported that extremist preachers from some countries including Egypt were teaching in local madrasas”. This is a potential threat to national security and must be dealt with strictly and vigilantly. The report also stated that “P. Jeyinool Abdeen, an extremist Muslim leader of Tamil Nadu as well as extremist leaders like Zakir Naik who spreads extremist Muslim views to the world based in Mumbai had freely visited this country on several occasions”.
Zakir Naik is infamous for spreading hate and promoting violence against other religions in his sermons and messages. While his sermons are banned in the UK and Canada, he is an actively wanted man in India. In a Q and A session uploaded on his YouTube channel, Zakir Naik claimed that suicide bombing may not be haram and that “if the situation demands it, justifying the suicide bombings can be allowed”. Zakir Naik has made a plethora of controversial statements including the infamous, “If Osama Bin Laden is fighting enemies of Islam, I am for him. If he is terrorizing America — the terrorist, biggest terrorist — I am with him. Every Muslim should be a terrorist. The thing is that if he is terrorizing the terrorist, he is following Islam”.
While it is proven that the teachings of Zakir Naik were the inspiration for terrorists to launch the attacks in Dhaka in 2016, that claimed the lives of 22 people, the question remains whether these same teachings inspired Moulvi Zahran Hashim to lead suicide bombers to massacre the innocent. This is reinforced with evidence that Zahran had praised Zakir Naik’s religious views and in one of his YouTube videos, Zahran asks “What can the Sri Lankan Muslims do for Zakir Naik?”
Zakir Naik, who is accused of money laundering scandals that amount to more than USD 23 million, saw his television channel, Peace TV, banned in Sri Lanka in April 2019, following the disaster. A man of this violent and “jihad” calibre is still allowed to enter Sri Lanka and his teachings and sermons are widely available on the internet. This remains a serious avenue for Islamic radicalization.
Retaliation by the local communities.
Immediately following the bombings in April 2019, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith urged Sri Lankan Catholics and members of other communities to avoid retaliation against Muslims. “Because they are our brothers, because they are part of our society,” he said, “let us not allow hatred to triumph”.
Last week, Cardinal Ranjith publicly forgave the suicide bombers who took more than 300 lives from his community. Describing the bombers as “misguided youth”, the Cardinal stated that “we meditated on Christ’s teachings and loved them, forgave them and had pity on them”. He also made it clear that “[the catholic community] offered love to the enemies who tried to destroy us”.
The former government took extensive measures to protect the Muslim community from hate speech and violence by granting approval to revise the Penal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure to enable legal action against individuals who disperse statements and hate speech that hinder the peace among communities and national security. The ministry of justice and prison reforms then made necessary amendments.
During the period of 6th to 16th May 2019, a handful of segregated anti-Muslim riots occurred within the country, especially in the Kurunegala and Gampaha districts. It involved looting and arson, which resulted in heavy losses to Muslim businesses and property in the targeted areas. One such reason for the motivation for the riots was the contents of a Facebook post by Muslim shopkeeper, Abdul Hameed Mohamed Hasmar, which read “Don’t laugh [at Muslims], 1 day you will cry”.
While hundreds of swords, knives, axes, machetes, detonators, C4 explosives, locally and foreign-produced firearms including bore guns were being discovered in mosques and other locations linked to some Muslim citizens around the country, News agencies such as Al Jazeera continued to emphasize on the “risk to Muslims” and that several communities in Sri Lanka are “Islamophobic”. Is this an absence of authenticity in journalism?
In a gathering of unity after the blasts, one townsman from Kochchikade stated “That man is Muslim, he is Christian and I am Hindu, but we are all brethren. We are not going to start blaming each other. We are family”, pointing towards his fellow Sri Lankans.
In the same report made by The Sectoral Oversight Committee on National Security, one prominent aspect that was brought to my attention was that the “use of Islamic terrorism would be not used hereafter”, in order not to “hurt the feelings of Muslim citizens”. This begs the question of, whether Political correctness must be held in a higher standing in investigations of the Easter bombings?
In order to commemorate the 1st year remembrance of the martyrs and victims of the “barbaric” bombings that shook the nation, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith requests all churches to ring their bells at 8.40 am on the 21st of April 2020. He also requested temples and other places of worship to do the same. At 8.45 am, the whole nation is to maintain a 2-minute silence for the victims. The Cardinal requests all citizens of the island nation to light a candle at 8.47 am in remembrance of the souls of the martyrs.
The Cardinal had also scheduled events to commemorate the deceased, in St. Anthony’s shrine, the Katuwapitiya St. Sebastian’s church and in various cemeteries where the bodies were lain. These events had to be cancelled due to the global COVID-19 outbreak, which would comply with government orders, in support of the measures taken by authorities to fight this new calamity. However, a private ceremony is to be held behind closed doors.
“Killing innocent people in the name of God is the highest insult to God.” — Amit Ray
