RANJITH SOYSA

Defence Secretary Gen (retd) Kamal Gunaratne recently made a very sensible statement urging the public not to be misled by false claims made on Easter carnage. Many fake information concerning the state of the investigations are published in some of the main media as well as the social media which are apparently attempting to fish in troubled waters. The social media especially is fuelled by the anti -government motives for a long time beginning with series of fake stories on the destruction of the environment to the cargo ship  Xpress Pearl which caught fire, with disguised commentaries by pointing the finger to ‘corruption’ on the part of the government.

These fake stories move from one subject to the other in quick succession, but the essence is to draw the cork on the government and put it at unenviable position. One can easily conclude that the fake information programs on social media perhaps is part of a well-organized movement financed and encouraged by foreign and local groups who are promoting the well-known game of regime change in Sri Lanka. 

On the subject of the investigations into the Easter bombing the Defence Secretary specifically mentioned that the burden of proof is crucial to the final outcome and that is the reason for the state agencies taking time to fine tune the proceedings. While on the subject of Sri Lankan government’s attempt to file charges I quote below a report from Ementra regards the trail of suicide bombers in Paris in 2015.

The biggest trial in modern French history opens on Wednesday (Sept 2021) , with 20 suspects charged in the November 2015 Paris attacks in which 130 people were killed and hundreds more injured, with an expected nine months of hearings set to reopen still raw wounds.”

One would no doubt will agree that France has one of the best intelligence and prosecution machinery at her disposal and it has taken more than 5 years to bring the suspects to trail. Isn’t it fair to grant Sri Lankan government and the law-making authorities a reasonable time to get their act together for effective legal action for an incident which took place in 2019! Unfortunately, there is at least one face book entry in the social media , very popular among the government bashers  of a person who is supposed to be a catholic priest with pictures of the damaged churches and in the midst of the debris a picture of the present President! Pray; doesn’t he speak with his tongue in his cheek?

RANJITH SOYSA