BISHOPS IN METHODISM

 

Who will bell the cat?

The idiom “Who will bell the cat?” originates from the fable The Mice in Council. The mice decided to put a bell around the murderous house cat so that he could no longer sneak up on them. However, the trouble starts when it’s time to decide which mouse will risk his life to put the bell around the cat’s neck. The moral is clear: making plans for a great outcome is not good enough. It should be achievable despite the risks involved. Otherwise, it serves no purpose.

Easter Sunday, April 21, saw a horrific bomb attack in Sri Lanka on unarmed civilians who were in Churches and hotels. I heard the news while at the Methodist Centre, Kumbichangkulama, Anuradhapura. I had gone there along with my wife Sharmila and Rev. Anura Perera, Chairman of the Southern District, to celebrate Easter with the Methodist community. A week before, on Palm Sunday, April 14^th, while I was worshiping with them, we were attacked by a group of young people. It was perpetrated by a local politician whose party wanted to come to power in the country. 

In response to this attack, an ecumenical silent stand (protest) was organized by the Peace Desk of the Methodist Church Headquarters on Good Friday (20 April) in front of the Methodist Church, Kollupitiya Junction. People from different denominations and other religions join hands with us to stand for our freedom of worship. Some supported it, while a few Christians were critical of it. As soon as the news reached me about the bomb explosions in churches, the first thoughts that ran through my mind were as follows: “Is this a reaction from the anti-Christian religious extremists to our Good Friday silent protest?” Will I be held responsible for stirring a hornet's nest on Good Friday?”

Who carried out the attack on Easter Sunday? It's a question that hasn't received a satisfactory response for all people, but particularly for the attack victims. It appears that the majority of individuals in positions of greater political influence are working to persuade the populace to concede that it was carried out by an Islamic extremist group led by Zaharan. For the public, the crucial issue of "Who wanted this attack to take place?" has not yet been resolved. Is learning the truth necessary? Are there legitimate reasons to know that? 

Let me clarify why I firmly believe that we need to find out who was behind it.

• On April 22, the day following the attack, President Maitripala Sirisena appointed a Presidential Commission headed by Justice Vijith Malalgoda to investigate the bomb attacks. The Commission recorded evidence from 457 people over 214 days. Among them were members of the political authority and the security services, as well as those affected by the carnage and related activities. An 88-volume report of the Commission with recommendations for further investigations was handed over to President Gotabaya Rajapaksha. However, the government of President Gotabaya did not make the whole report available to the general public or even to the Roman Catholic Church. The Parliament received it after a lot of hesitance from the President’s office. The Parliament Library now has it, but it appears that barely anyone reads it. Why are the lawmakers being so sluggish? The Parliament has made no significant moves toward conducting additional research to identify the attack's mastermind.
• A resolution requesting the setting up of a Parliamentary Select Committee was presented in Parliament by 40 lawmakers from the UNP, UPFA, ITAK, and JVP. It was passed in Parliament on May 22, 2019, without a division. It has held 24 sittings from May to October 2019 and heard evidence from 55 people. The report, with several findings and recommendations, was presented to Parliament. It is a known fact that a parliamentary select committee has no powers to indict, but its findings can form the basis of criminal prosecutions or civil action against those identified as being responsible for serious lapses. There was no further investigation to identify the mastermind beyond the printed report.
• On the eve of his retirement, the former attorney general, Dappula de Livera PC, made a contentious statement regarding the terrorist atrocities on Easter Sunday: “There was a mastermind behind the Easter attacks”. He added that the State Intelligence Service's information, which included times, targets, locations, attack techniques, and other information, was unmistakable proof that an extensive conspiracy had taken place. If this was the Attorney General's assessment, he ought to have summoned the police and instructed them to launch a thorough investigation to identify the mastermind. Why did he wait till his retirement to reveal a conspiracy without having called for further investigations?
• IGP Pujitha Jayasundera and former Defense Secretary Hemasiri Fernando were arrested, and charges were framed against them. The prosecution was unable to present enough evidence in the case; therefore, both were ultimately acquitted of all counts without the need for a defense witness. How come the police authorities produce such a weak plaint?
• Prime Minister Ranil Wickeremasinghe summoned me to the Temple Trees on Maundy Thursday morning, April 18, 2019 for a meeting with IGP Pujitha Jayasundera to discuss the attack on the Methodist Center in Anuradhapura on Palm Sunday (April 14), as earlier stated. According to the evidence in the Presidential Commission, the IGP had the information in his hands about the Easter attack since April 9th, but very strangely, he never bothered to give us a warning of the Easter attack at the meeting on April 18th with me and the Prime Minister. Why did he conceal it?
• On April 21, 2019, at 8 a.m., the Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service called the Defense Secretary, Hemasiri Fernando, and asked him how many Methodist Churches are in Colombo, saying that attackers are likely to target these churches and not the Catholic ones. No security agent contacted me as the head of the Methodist Church to pass on this information. If it had been done so, I would have definitely contacted all the heads of the Christian Churches including the Roman Catholic Church and the necessary steps could have been taken to prevent the attack. Why were the security agencies so sluggish to pass on information about the possible attack?
• Whenever the finger is pointed at former President Maithripala Sirisena as the one responsible for the neglect of duty in preventing the attack, he keeps coming out with this threat: If anyone tries to entangle me as the person behind the Easter attack, I will reveal who did it. So, does he know the mastermind? Is it on his fingertips? But he never revealed it to the Presidential Commission. Surprisingly, no one has dared to investigate this.
• President Ranil Wickremasinghe, after he took office, spoke about bringing in Scotland Yard to investigate the Easter attack. But it never happened. After Channel 4's recent disclosure, the President has come up with another presidential commission. Based on the previous experiences of commissions of inquiry, will it serve the purpose of identifying the mastermind?
• The opposition leader, Sajith Premadasa, publicly exhorted that there should be an international investigation. Within a few days, he had switched positions and said he wanted a domestic investigation supervised by foreign experts. Why this shifting of positions?

The assault occurred four years ago. I do not see any hope of finding the truth at the end of the tunnel. Due to the suppression of facts, the investigations up to this point have failed.

In an interview by Chamuditha Samarawickrema, the retired DIG Palitha Siriwardhena claims that the commission's report contains evidence of a connection between Zaharan Hashim and the state intelligence service. However, no further investigations have been done to unearth what that relationship was. He further says: When the CID interrogated the close allies of Zaharan to find out what that relationship was, the state intelligence service officers stopped it and took away the suspects, preventing further interrogation. The state intelligence service seems to be hesitant to pursue further identification of the "master mind." This suggests a deliberate attempt to conceal the truth. When searching for the truth on many matters in this nation, “Who will bell the cat?” remains unattended. The Sri Lankan government has consistently failed to confront and uncover the truth on nationally significant issues. The most effective example is the mechanisms implemented to uncover the truth about the missing persons. The families of missing persons have no hope of uncovering the truth about their loved one's disappearance. Committees of inquiry are only obligated to provide observations and recommendations through a report. They do not function as investigative bodies. They lack the muscle to relentlessly seek out new and more profound evidence to uncover the truth. That is what law enforcement personnel are expected to do. After 4 years of national suffering following the Easter Sunday massacre, it is apparent that there are high-ranking members of the military and government who obstruct justice from being served because the word "indictment" terrifies them. Yes, there is a “murderous cat” with a vested interest behind the Easter Sunday attack. But who will bell the cat?

In conclusion, I reflect on how God put the bell around the neck of Cain, who killed his brother Abel. At the Lord’s interrogation, Cain pretended that he knew nothing about Abel and his death. The Lord indicted Cain with guilt: “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. The very soil from which God created the first human being Adam, Cain, has spilt it with blood. God, the creator of the whole universe, has the power and authority to indict anyone who spills blood on God’s holy ground." 

In the providence of God, blood has a voice crying to him, to which he cannot but give heed. It is vain, then, to attempt concealment.

Rev. Asiri P Perera
Retired President Bishop
Methodist Church Sri Lanka

September 23, 2023