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By Sandun Jayawardana  

With less than two weeks to go before the 7th anniversary of the Easter Sunday terrorist attack, Parliament held yet another adjournment debate on one of the country’s darkest chapters in recent history. While there was nothing to distinguish this debate from multiple others that had been held on the same subject since 2019, it was a stark reminder that even after almost seven years, victims’ families were yet to find closure or receive justice.

Ananda Wijepala

Much of the debate saw the now familiar and rather unseemly spectacle of government and opposition MPs hurling accusations at each other regarding who bears the ultimate responsibility for the country’s worst post-war terrorist attack. However, there have been some developments on the investigation into the attack since the House last debated the same issue in July, 2025. This was the arrest of former head of the State Intelligence Service (SIS) Major General (Retired) Suresh Sallay in February this year.

Moving the adjournment debate on Thursday (9), Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa reminded the House that successive governments that had come to power over the past seven years had promised that they would arrest the “Maha molakaru” (Mastermind) behind the attack. Mr. Premadasa said that it was a matter of great regret that these promises had not been fulfilled. In order to uncover the truth, the Opposition Leader proposed that all investigation reports that had been compiled on the attack thus far be made available for public perusal and to urgently develop an independent and transparent State accountability mechanism which would enable the identification of those responsible and bring justice to victims.

Mr. Premadasa also said it was his party’s belief that in addition to the local investigation, the government should also employ the services of international investigation agencies such as Scotland Yard and the FBI to aid the authorities to uncover the truth.  

Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananda Wijepala reminded the House that Parliament had debated the Easter Sunday attack on 12 previous occasions. “Today is the 13th adjournment debate we are holding on this subject,” he observed. Minister Wijepala claimed extensive police investigations conducted thus far have uncovered that the Easter Sunday attack was not an isolated incident, but was a “conspiracy” planned since 2017.

The minister added that investigations had linked multiple incidents leading up to the Easter attack. They include the killing of two police officers in Vavunathivu on November 30, 2018, the attacks on Buddha statues in Mawanella on December 22 and 23, 2018, the arrest of four suspects along with explosives and detonators at a camp in Wanathawilluwa on January 16, 2019, the shooting of an individual named “Thasleem” in Mawanella on March 10, 2019, the blowing up of a motorcycle at Palamunai in Kattankudy, Batticaloa on April 16, 2019 and finally, the Easter Sunday attacks on April 21, 2019.

As such, the minister said investigations had uncovered these incidents to form an interconnected chain of events.

Speaking on the arrest of Suresh Sallay, Mr. Wijepala noted he had been arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) on charges of conspiracy and for aiding and abetting the Easter Sunday attack. He pointed out that Maj. Gen. (Retired) Sallay had previously been named as the first witness in court proceedings on the Easter attacks. The minister further claimed that investigations had uncovered that Maj. Gen. (Retired) Sallay had prior knowledge of violent activities of Islamic extremists. He added that Sallay had failed to take action to prevent such activities, and had deliberately tried to prevent them from being exposed, thereby allowing the attacks to take place. Minister Wijepala further claimed that based on these findings, Sallay had directly and indirectly acted to prevent individuals and groups who led the Easter attacks being exposed following the attack, and therefore, there were reasonable grounds to suspect that he had been involved in unlawful activities related to a conspiracy.

Mr. Wijepala pledged that the government will find the “mastermind” and all others involved in the attack and bring them to justice.

Batticaloa District Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) MP Shanakiyan Rasamanickam wished the government well on its investigations into the Easter attack. He added that though they had raised the matter with the government that was in power in 2020, there was no indication that the government was interested in conducting a fair investigation. He welcomed the arrest of Suresh Sallay and pledged to offer the ITAK’s support to the government during the probe into the attack.

Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Galle District MP Chanaka Madugoda reminded that President Anura Kumara Dissanayake had publicly pledged last year to present the mastermind of the attacks, but nothing happened even this year, he added. Instead, the government had gone and arrested Suresh Sallay; a veteran intelligence officer who had done much service for the country, he charged.

Mr. Madugoda meanwhile, also raised concerns over whether there will really be an impartial inquiry, given the presence of former senior police officers, Shani Abeysekara as Director of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and Ravi Seneviratne as Secretary to the Ministry of Public Security who were also accused of negligence regarding the Easter attacks.