Shenali D Waduge

Not only is Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith the opening batsman in the C4 documentary, he has also decided to be the night watchman having prepared a 3 page letter in English and even going the mile to translate it into Sinhala. The letter is dated 6^thSeptember. Channel 4 program was aired on 5^th September 2023 at 1105p.m (SL time 0335a.m.) which means he already had the letter prepared before it was aired). That, he was the first to appear on the program also proves the recording would have been done days in advance.

The Cardinal expresses “our” gratitude to the C4 implying that not only he but the entire Church is grateful to C4.

The Cardinal’s gratitude to C4 is for focusing attention to a ‘great plot’ associated with Easter Sunday.

The Cardinal claims to ‘yearn continuously for “Truth” and justice through a clear and transparent investigation’ and thanks C4 for its ‘project of inquiry’.

Does this mean that the findings of C4 establishes the truth, that Cardinal wants to hear? No reports can be framed to satisfy the version that Cardinal & the Church wants to hear.

What are the ‘facts’ spoken in the C4 program? 

Has C4 established that Maj. Gen. Suresh Salley was in Sri Lanka in February 2018, that he visited a coconut estate in Puttalam, that he spoke to Hamsa, that he called a TMVP operative on 21 April 2019? Have those making the allegations got proof to present when Gen. Salley through his lawyers have confirmed he was overseas in 2018 & at the time of the Easter Sunday attacks, while his call records, and records of Hamsa & others can also prove the truth.

C4 has not presented any of these facts except Hamsa making statements.

Is there a need for another Parliamentary Select Committee when all that is required is the immigration confirmation from Malaysia & Sri Lanka as well as call logs of both Salley & Hamsa & even the TMVP operative Hamsa has yet to name?

In establishing these real facts – the entire basis of this C4 program falls flat & the argument attempted to be presented as a ‘grand plot’ comes to naught. If so, Cardinal & his bandwagon must stop politicizing the issue as they have not been able to provide any evidence beyond the phrase ‘grand plot’ to prove such a grand plot existed over & above the plan to attack churches & hotels.

How can Cardinal claim no positive action, when the Supreme Court not only ordered former President Sirisena to pay compensation of Rs.100m but he actually made the payment. The present President is also to make similar payment upon the conclusion of his tenure as President.

The Cardinal has given 4 points

1. He wants a “free, impartial, just, transparent, broad based investigation’into Channel 4 revealed. The ‘grand plot’ behind the Easter Sunday is based on the evidence given by Hamsa claiming that Gen. Suresh Salley came to a coconut estate in Puttalam in Feb2018 & discussed the plot with Zaharan & Co. In establishing whether Suresh Salley was in Sri Lanka or not, that he came to the coconut estate or not and his call logs will DISMISS Hamsa’s story as well as Cardinal’s “grand plot” theory.
2. Investigation via an independent international investigation team – this is not required because asking Malaysian authorities to confirm if Suresh Salley left Malaysia in 2018 February will confirm or refute Hamsa’s story and end the grand plot conspiracy theory. This can be reaffirmed by Sri Lanka’s Foreign Ministry as well.
3. Cardinal is demanding who should comprise the investigation team, in particular he is asking that the team who were transferred to be included. Is this not a strange request. Cardinal is not the President or head of the Police to be dictating how an investigation should be held. Also we do not know for what reasons these officials were transferred. However, we are curious to know why the Cardinal wants a select group of officials to investigate!
4. Why should a Government believe Channel 4 that simply airs privately produced programs and is not bothered to verify the content before airing them? As per the letter sent by the lawyers of Gen. Suresh, it was categorically told to the C4 producers that Gen. Suresh was not in Sri Lanka on the date/month C4 star witness alleged and was also not in Sri Lanka during the Easter Sunday attacks. If C4 has aired the program without ascertaining these basic facts by checking with immigration/phone records etc then the onus is on C4 & Cardinal & Hamsa to prove that Gen. Suresh was in Sri Lanka – without that proof presented in the program, the story does not hold any water. The grand plot comes to nothing if Cardinal & C4 cannot prove that Gen. Suresh was in Sri Lanka or that he placed calls to Hamsa. 

It is understandable that Cardinal may be a wee bit worried over former SIS head Nilantha Jayawardena’s testimony to the Presidential Commission as he claimed nearly 15,000 people would have known about the Easter Sunday attacks before they took place. This leaves the floor open to even wonder if the Church also knew and raises suspicions as to why no mass was held in St Anthony’s Church while no Church representatives were at the site on the day of the killings as well as why Mass was not cancelled to prevent worshippers entering the churches as by that time the names of the targets were made known by the Indian intel.

Listen to former defense secretary Hemasiri Fernando? How many who also knew thought like him and did nothing – do they also not shoulder complicity for negligence? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPLopoYWJS8

No amount of “grand plot” mumbo jumbo theories can forgive the conscience of those who knew, who would have been informed just as a Ministers father told his son not to attend Church. More than those who planned & committed the crime, are those who knew about it but did nothing to prevent people getting killed. Therefore, the Church & Cardinal must first answer this one question – were they one of the 15,000 who knew about the attacks before the attacks. A separate investigation should look into this 15,000 who knew and saved their own skin & sacrificed 269 innocents. Shame on all of them.

Also, how much of state funds have been spent on Easter Sunday commissions simply because the Cardinal & Co are going on and on about a “grand plot” they present a notion that only Easter Sunday victims are the only victims in Sri Lanka – why have the murders by LTTE over 30 years gone uninvestigated, why has TNA links to LTTE not been investigated? Why has Church links to LTTE not been investigated? Would Church be open to such investigations? How many thousands died over 30 years because of LTTE as a result of the covert and overt help given by entities pretending to be paragons of virtue today. Do they have a moral right to be calling for any investigations?

Where are the documentaries about LTTE attacks on Sacred Sri Maha Bodhi temple, Dalada Maligawa, Kattankudy mosque, the Central Bank etc? Why doesn’t the Cardinal call for investigations into these LTTE crimes, why only those that are advantageous to the Church only?

Shenali D Waduge