‘We have reasonable suspicion that Father Jude Fernando is the mastermind the Cardinal is looking for,’ said party leader and lawyer Udaya Gammanpila at the Pivithuru Hela Urumaya media briefing.
He said this at a media briefing held at his party headquarters today.
Sri Lanka is a country that has suffered hundreds of different terrorist attacks since 1971. The Temple of the Tooth was attacked twice. We don’t know until it’s attacked. The Sri Maha Bodhi was attacked. We don’t know until it’s attacked. The Central Bank was attacked. We don’t know until it’s attacked. But for the first time in Sri Lanka’s history, our intelligence agencies are providing information about an attack very early. That was the Easter attack. They are warning us 12 days before the attack. Who is attacking? How is it attacking? Where is it attacking? When is it attacking? The names, addresses, national identity card numbers, telephone numbers, family details, arrival and departure times of the attackers, hiding places. What else is needed to stop a terrorist attack?
Not in Sri Lanka. As far as I know, in no other country in the world has the intelligence services provided so much information about a terrorist attack. Our intelligence services have provided 340 intelligence reports to the police on Saharan’s terrorist activities since 2013 and have provided all the information about the attack, but they have failed to prevent the attack. The responsibility of the intelligence services is to provide information. This is even more so in the case of the Easter attack. The police should act on that information. The police are the ones who are failing here. The head of the intelligence services, Mr. Nilantha Jayawardena, who provided this information, is being dismissed. Ravi Seneviratne, who failed to prevent the attack after receiving all the information, is given the post of Secretary to the Ministry of Public Security. Nilantha Jayawardena, who tried to prevent the attack, is removed at the request of the Cardinal. Ravi Seneviratne, who allowed the attack to occur, is promoted at the request of the Cardinal. Isn’t this suspicious?
The committee appointed to conduct a disciplinary investigation into Nilantha decided that he had fulfilled his duty properly. Then the report was thrown in the trash and a new committee was appointed. That is what convicted Nilantha. If it could not be acquitted, another committee would be appointed. Father Jude Fernando thanked the President for such an unjust conviction. Why thank the President for something the Independent Police Commission did? This is not a decision made by the Independent Police Commission, this is what the President is saying by influencing the Commission.
When Father Jude Fernando declared that Mr. Nilantha should be hanged, Father Cyril Gamini declared that it was not the opinion of the Church but his personal opinion. Father Jude Fernando has been appointed as the Church’s media spokesperson to express the opinion of the Church, not his personal opinion.
When he had previously made a false statement regarding Pillayan, I said that the eighth commandment of the Ten Commandments is “Thou shalt not lie.” Father Jude Fernando, who does not know the Ten Commandments and the Bible, should be dismissed from the position of Church’s media spokesperson. But because he did not do that then, he also violated the fifth commandment of the Ten Commandments, which says “Thou shalt not kill.” The basis of that commandment is that only God can take away the life that God has given to a person, not another human being. That is why in 2018, the Pope officially declared that the Church is against the death penalty.
If the Church’s media spokesperson breaks the Ten Commandments and lies, the Church should immediately remove him from the position of media spokesperson. We respectfully remind the Cardinal that if he does not remove him, the Church will be held accountable for what he says.
We have a reasonable suspicion that the mastermind the Cardinal is looking for, Father Jude Fernando, is also praising Ravi Seneviratne, who, despite receiving information, suggested that the person who provided the information be hanged and allowed the attack to happen, and is acting in a manner that hinders the investigation by repeatedly circulating false information.