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By APD writer Easwaran
COLOMBO, Oct. 24 (APD) Fears have been raised in Sri Lanka that intelligence information had been intentionally ignored ahead of the Easter Sunday attacks with the Presidential election in mind.
A Parliament committee appointed to probe the Easter Sunday attacks has said in its final report tabled made public on Wednesday that it observed further investigations will be needed to understand whether those with vested interests did not act on intelligence so as to create chaos and instil fear and uncertainty in the country in the lead up to the Presidential Election to be held later in the year.
“Such a situation would then lead to the call for a change of regime to contain such acts of terrorism. Coincidently or not so coincidentally, the security situation and fear would be unleashed months away from the Presidential Election,” the Parliament Select Committee (PSC) said.
The PSC also notes that this occured in the context of changes in the leadership in the Sri Lankan Army and military intelligence in 2019.
“These are extremely serious observations that can impact the democratic governance, electoral processes and security of Sri Lanka and must require urgent attention,” the PSC said in its report.
In addition, the PSC observes that the President failed in numerous occasions to give leadership and also actively undermined government and systems including having ad hoc National Security Council (NSC) meetings and leaving out key individuals from meetings. Whilst the fissures in Government were evident in 2018, amplified with the Constitutional Crisis, these also impacted the security apparatus.
Several others are listed in the report as having failed in their duties including the Prime Minister and State Minister for Defence and the Attorney General’s Department.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)