Church reiterates doubts over Easter Sunday probe

Colombo, April 20

The Catholic church here on Saturday reiterated its dissatisfaction over the nature of the investigations conducted by the Sri Lankan government in connection with the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings that killed 270 people, including Indians. Fr Cyril Gamini Fernando, the spokesman for the church, told reporters that he had presented a questionnaire to the police that had provided important information about the investigation.

Fernando, who was summoned to the police’s CID on Friday to record a statement over his public expression of dissatisfaction over the investigation, said the 8-point questionnaire pins police to investigate the alleged links between certain sections of the military intelligence with the local jihadi group, which carried out the attacks. His comments came ahead of the church’s commemoration of the victims on its fourth anniversary falling on Sunday. With major elections starting from later in the year, the issue has once again come to the fore.