Ruling party lawmakers accused of inciting racial hatred during Easter attack debate

The main parliamentary opposition alleges that the government is resorting to spreading racism and religious intolerance, instead of serving justice to the victims of the deadly Easter Sunday attack five years ago.

At a press beefing held in Colombo, Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) Member of Parliament Hector Appuhami said that both parliamentarians and ministers of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), which is the main party in the government, behaved in a despicable manner in the parliament.

“We saw SLPP MPs and ministers behaving in a very despicable and an unruly manner during that debate. They pointed fingers at the Catholics and said that in a context where the Catholics are a minority community in the country, and that it cannot be allowed to do according to the needs of such a minority community.”

Following a resolution by the opposition, an adjournment debate on the Easter Sunday attack was held on 24, 25 and 26 April.

MP Appuhami told journalists, that during the debate, SLPP members have said, it is not possible to provide an opportunity for minority communities to even talk about finding solutions to the Easter Sunday attack that since the majority community has faced bigger issues than the Easter Sunday attack. He had been unable to attend the debate as he was abroad.

“They said that bigger things have happened to the country’s majority community. As a minority community, it is absolutely not possible to let us talk about this and solutions to the same.”

Joining the debate on the Easter Sunday attack, ruling party MP Mahindananda Aluthgamage had claimed that Buddhists do not keep on talking about the attacks carried out on Buddhist religious places.

“Rs. 150 million has been spent to hold this debate in the parliament. This is not the first attack on a religion that this country has seen. The Temple of the Tooth Relic was attacked. Sri Maha Bodhi was attacked. A massacre of Buddhist monks occurred in Aranthalawa. But, Buddhists did not carry on talking about those cases.”

State Minister of Primary Industries, Chamara Sampath Dasanayake, asked why the Easter Sunday attack is being discussed to such an extent.

“Have bombs not blasted in this country? Why do we keep talking about the Easter Sunday attack? This is not something that we did. It is those who did this that bring proposals regarding the issue.”

In a bid to justify his questions, State Minister Dasanayake had pointed out in the parliament several attacks on Buddhist religious places.

Pointing out that Colombo Archbishop Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith’s religious activities were also severely criticized during the parliamentary debate, MP Appuhami emphasized that public representatives have no moral right to do that.

“That is not all. Religious activities of the Archbishop were also severely criticized. It is not something MPs have a right to talk about, and MPs or ministers have no moral right to talk about the same.

During the press briefing, the SJB MP had requested SLPP MPs to separate religion from politics.

“Religion has its own place, and politics has its own place. These are two different things. Distinguish the two clearly.”

In the spate of suicide bombings that took place on 21 April 2019 targeting several churches and tourist hotels, St. Sebastian's Church in Katuwapitiya, St. Anthony Church in Kochikade, and the Zion Church in Batticaloa were attacked.

The spate of bombings claimed over 250 lives.

Last September, Britain’s Channel 4 aired an investigative documentary about the Easter Sunday attack broadcasting evidence which implicated top brass in army intelligence and former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa who came to power following the attack as masterminds of the attack. Following the exposure, President Ranil Wickremesinghe appointed a three-member committee chaired by retired Supreme Court Judge I.M. Imam to investigate the documentary. The committee is yet to conclude its investigations.