report in The Island, Sept 17, 2023
President Ranil Wickremesinghe has appointed a committee led by a retired Supreme Court judge to investigate allegations by Britain’s “Channel-4” related to the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks.
The committee will be chaired by retired Supreme Court Justice S.I. Imam, the President’s Media Division said on Friday. The other members are Retired Air Force Commander ACM, Jayalath Weerakkody and Harsha A.J. Soza PC.
Releasing the video earlier this month, ‘Channel 4’ claimed its documentary carry exclusive interviews with highly-placed whistle blowers who allege that some Sri Lankan government officials were complicit in the bombings.
Among them is Azad Maulana, the former spokesman of the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP), the political party of State Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan.
Maulana alleges in the video that a meeting took place between bomber Zahran Hashim and the head of the State Intelligence Service Suresh Sallay in the East, adding that he himself was present at the time of the meeting. Pillayan has denied any links to the Easter Sunday attacks or the bombers saying such allegations are baseless.
The main allegation made in the documentary is that the Easter Sunday suicide bombings had been deliberately facilitated in order to create the conditions to help get former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa elected to power in November 2019.
GR described the film by Chanel 4 as a mostly an anti-Rajapaksa tirade aimed at blackening the Rajapaksa legacy from 2005 onward and is a tissue of lies, just like the previous films broadcast by the same Channel.https://island.lk/retired-justice-imam-to-head-channel-4-probe-ex-slaf-chief-member-of-committee/
