As a Catholic MP representing the Puttalam District, you have commented on the Easter attacks from the beginning. What is the opinion of the Catholic people about the investigations into the Easter attack under the present government?
The Catholic people, as well as the Catholic Church, have always said that there should be an independent and full investigation into the Easter attack. The Catholic people are still of that opinion. This is really a big problem for Catholics now. We have big questions about the way investigations are being carried out and the interest of the government. Who do we say is the former mastermind behind this, the mastermind? How did this come to be funded? How did the technical advice for this come about? How did this get organized across the country? Who helped it? All of this needs to be explored. Everything should be found and the culprits should be exposed. They should also be punished. Only then can Catholics be happy. Only then will the dead get justice. I think Cardinal Unnanse and the Catholic Church have a firm view on this. The Catholic Church says that if this cannot be saved nationally, it will go international. The same is true of the Catholic community.
Recently it was revealed that almost all the officers who investigated the Easter attack including Shani Abeysekera have been transferred from those places. What do you think about this?
We know that this officer and other officers were investigating the attack, and he is now in remand on that other charge. We are skeptical about this because the government does not talk about it directly and does not give accurate information. Now take the Easter Commission report, have all the facts been revealed? They hide facts and accurate information from the public for national security. Then there is a suspicion as to what is going on. The big question for the Catholic community and the Catholic Church in particular is whether there is a connection between the passage of the 20th Amendment and the investigation into the Passover attack, and whether there is a deal. I think the government needs to express its views on these. We all know how the 20th Amendment was passed.
Also, the government has a responsibility to make us aware of the way investigations are being carried out and the results. This is not an easy task to do, there is definitely a large group of people behind this. Don’t we have to figure it out? Today it is said that the great brain is Saharan, tomorrow it is called Naufer Moulavi, what are these stories? These are the things that people lose faith in the government and the investigating agencies. That’s not a good thing. Therefore, the government should tell the people the correct information without hiding facts.
There is a big rumor that MP Harin Fernando is going to be arrested. What do you think about this?
If MP Harin Fernando had been wanted for the investigation into the Easter attack, he could have been arrested long ago. But if the government tries to arrest him after he made that revelation in Parliament without doing so, we have to say, yes, the government is trying to suppress the opposition. I do not know anything more about Harin’s statement in Parliament, so it is the responsibility of the government to find out the facts and to reveal the correct information to the country. Besides, we first talked about Shani Abeysekara, then we need to ask the government what happened to his investigations? What he did to the information he found. These have created a great deal of skepticism among the Catholic community. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the government to remove them.