Pivithuru Hela Urumaya leader, lawyer Udaya Gammanpila, has given the government seven days to make public the currently unpublished SI Imam report and ANJ de Alwis report related to the Easter attacks.
If not, he stated that he will release those reports himself and believes that once the reports are made public, the people who are unaware of the truth will finally understand the reality.
He made these comments at a press conference held today (14) at the Pivithuru Hela Urumaya Party headquarters. Further commenting, he said:
“At the press conference last Monday, I stated that it was wrong for the President to visit the Katuwapitiya Church empty-handed, without bringing the two reports from the Presidential Investigation Committees on the Easter attacks. I requested the government to make these two reports public without further delay. Journalists questioned the government’s media spokesman, Vijitha Herath, about this. The minister then said they are investigating how the Easter attack reports were lost and how their pages were preserved.
Honorable Minister, no records have been lost, and no pages are missing. In the President’s Commission report, headed by Supreme Court Justice Janak de Silva, the commission recommended not to publish a part that was sensitive to national security. Therefore, that part was not presented to Parliament. But that section concerns the mastermind behind the attacks.
As a result, certain people associated with the Catholic Church, like Malimawa, who was in the opposition at that time, demanded that it be made public. Following President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s instructions, the Minister of Public Security handed over the sensitive section to the President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference, Bishop Harold Anthony. However, the mastermind was not identified in those parts. Minister Vijitha Herath is referring to the unpublished portion of that report, which can now be requested from the President’s Secretary. Alternatively, it can be obtained from Bishop Harold Anthony.
Like us, the Catholic Church is asking the government to release the unpublished reports, not the Janak de Silva report, which has already been made public. We are asking for the SI Imam report and the ANJ de Alwis report, which have yet to be made public.
The committee report led by Retired Justice SI Imam was handed over to the former President on June 25, 2024, while the report by Retired Judge ANJ de Alwis was presented to the former President on September 14, 2024. These are the two reports that Father Cyril Anthony, the Catholic Church’s media spokesperson, continues to call for public release.
If it is not possible to publish these reports, or if some pages are indeed missing, please tell me which pages are missing, and I will provide them. We have obtained both reports from the President’s Secretariat and the Attorney General’s Department. We have not published them because it is unethical for a third party to release reports from a committee appointed by the President.
We cannot allow this matter to linger. If the government does not make these reports public within exactly seven days, I will release them. We believe that once this report is published, people who are blinded by political rhetoric will come to their senses.
Don’t plan to break into my office at night, as I have secured the documents. Both reports have been scanned, and their copies have been secretly uploaded online.
Sarvajana Balaya Colombo District candidates Shirantha Jayalath and Sekana Mangala also participated in this press conference.
Media Unit