SJB MP Harin Fernando grilled by CID over Easter attack speech
COLOMBO – Opposition lawmaker Harin Fernando was questioned by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) for nearly six hours on Wednesday (28) over comments he had made about the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks and the ensuing investigations.
Fernando, in a controversial speech in Parliament in April this year, claimed former CID Director Shani Abeysekara had unearthed links between an intelligence officer and the perpetrators of the Easter Sunday attacks through an IP address.
Fernando was summoned to the CID headquarters on Wednesday to record a statement over his claims.
SJB and Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa, who accompanied Fernando to the CID headquarters, deemed the summons a “witch hunt” of SJB parliamentarians and called for an end to it.
“The focus should be on who masterminded and helped carry out this attack. That’s what the public wants to know. They’re not interested in a witch hunt of SJB MPs,” he said.
Fernando has been questioning the official narrative with regard to the masterminds of the Easter bombings, which killed 269 people and injured over 500.
Public Security Minister Sarath Weerasekara told Parliament early this year that two individuals, Maulavi Mohamed Ibrahim Mohamed Naufer and Rasheed Hajjul Akbar, both of who are in custody, are the only confirmed masterminds of the attack.
In his speech on April 20, Fernando claimed the Islamic preacher was never brought before a presidential commission of inquiry that probed the Easter bombings and an intelligence officer who had been arrested in connection with the attacks was transferred to the custody of military intelligence before a statement could be recorded. Investigations by former CID Director Shani Abeysekara had revealed that the suspect had had discussions with the perpetrators of the attack, the MP said.
Recalling Fernando’s revelations in Parliament, the Opposition leader said the MP had simply voiced the findings of the presidential commission of inquiry that had probed the Easter attack and asked the government fulfil its pledge to investigate it.
“I ask the government to stop this witch hunt. Let us instead get together and hunt those behind the bombings,” he said.
-ENCL/economynext.com