The Gammanpila Gambit

Opinion
By Editor_1
Udaya Gammanpila is blatantly trying to pedal a theory that Zahran Hashim and Zahran Hashim alone is responsible for the Easter attacks. That raises the suspicion that he is trying to protect those who may really be responsible - counterpoint.lk

By Kassapa

As a political conman, Udaya Gammanpila ranks among the worst. His promise to ‘reveal’ the mastermind behind the 2019 Easter terror attacks turned out to be a massive anti-climax: he said it was Zahran Hashim, the leader of the attackers who also perished in the attacks.

The announcement followed weeks of intense publicity both on social and mainstream media and marked the launch of his book ‘In search of the mastermind of the Easter attacks’, written in Sinhala. Gammanpila gets full marks for marketing, but the product is pathetic.

What was more interesting was the audience invited for the book launch. Anyone who was someone in opposition politics was there (with one exception), including three former Presidents: Mahinda Rajapaksa, brother Gotabaya and Maithripala Sirisena under whose watch the attacks occurred.

What was even more interesting was the presence of Sajith Premadasa, Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB) and Opposition Leader. Premadasa, who has repeatedly demonstrated lapses in political judgment must have felt that if he weren’t present, he would be ‘left out’. However, his presence raises more questions.

Premadasa once shouted himself hoarse in Parliament accusing the Rajapaksas of complicity in the Easter attacks. Is he now open to the theory that Gammanpila is now proposing, a theory that absolves the Rajapaksa camp from any wrongdoing?

The only personality who evoked more ridicule than Premadasa at that gathering was Maithripala Sirisena. Here was an individual who had been ordered to pay compensation by the Supreme Court for negligence contributing to the attack. Sirisena also once said he knew who the mastermind behind the attacks was but would only reveal it ‘in camera’ to a judge. Sirisena said after the book launch that he hadn’t read Gammanpila’s book and was dismissive of it, saying this is an ‘old story’, anyway.

Conspicuous by his absence was Patali Champika Ranawaka. Ranawaka and Gammanpila were best buddies at one time when they were in the Jathika Hela Urumaya but Ranawaka was always the leader, Gammanpila would be the Number Two. It may be the fact that he was considered the lesser politician that irked the latter, but after they parted ways, there has been little love lost between them.

So, no eyebrows are raised by Ranawaka’s absence. Besides, Ranawaka is slowly but steadily preparing his own bid for 2029. He believes that the so-called ‘major’ opposition factions, namely the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) and the SJB will still be in disarray by then and that he should be in a position to channel public dissent against the National Peoples’ Power (NPP) and emerge victorious, just like the NPP did in 2024.

Gammanpila meanwhile is clearly on a mission. All that he did this week was to summarize the existing investigations and Commission reports and claim that Zahran Hashim was the mastermind. This is not ‘breaking news’. No one doubts that Zahran Hashim led the group that carried out the attacks. Gammanpila contends that Hashim did so as a radicalized terrorist because of his beliefs and that there was no one pulling strings in the background.

That would be a convenient explanation for many. However, there is an ongoing investigation where a growing body of evidence is emerging to the contrary. If Gammanpila’s theory was true, all other incidents that occurred prior to and after the attacks must be put down to co-incidence. How convenient that would be!

Rather than examining what Gammanpila is saying, it is therefore a more worthwhile exercise to explore why he is saying it. Why is Gammanpila, who was notable for his nationalistic politics and vehement pro-Sinhala stance now calling Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, better known as Pillayan, a war hero? Does that not go against what he has been preaching for years? What then is this indecent hurry to glorify Pillayan now?

The obvious inference is that Gammanpila – and those aligned with him – must be fearing the truth emerging from the ongoing investigations. There was a definite effort to demonize Shani Abeysekara, Director, Criminal Investigations Department (CID). Abeysekara’s reputation for being a clever sleuth with a meticulous eye for detail is well known. That is why the story goes that Gotabaya Rajapaksa, after assuming office, reportedly transferred Abeysekera out of the CID even before he appointed his Cabinet

Gammanpila is blatantly trying to pedal a theory that Zahran Hashim and Zahran Hashim alone is responsible for the Easter attacks. That raises the suspicion that he is trying to protect those who may really be responsible. By his actions, he is only succeeding in focusing even more attention on the obvious beneficiaries of the Easter attacks, the SLPP camp and Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who together went on to win a presidential election seven months later. That camp was well represented in the audience and mostly in the front row at the book launch, needless to say.

All of this doesn’t prove anything, though. The government and Abeysekara have their hands full. Dispensing justice for the Easter terror victims was a key promise of the NPP. In a few weeks, the seventh anniversary of the attacks will be commemorated- the second since the NPP took office.

It is acknowledged that such complex investigations are time consuming and it is better to take longer and do a thorough job rather than submit a half-baked inquiry which will not stand up to scrutiny in a court of law. However, the clock is also ticking. Even if suspects are unearthed in the investigations, it will still take time for a trial to conclude. Until then, political clowns like Gammanpila will have a field day, entertaining audiences gullible enough to fall for their stories – and there will always be a segment of the public that believes in the hypothesis he proposes. Therein lies the danger.

Like Maithripala Sirisena, we haven’t read Gammanpila’s book. So, it would be churlish to comment on it. Yet, we have heard Gammanpila explain and expand on the theory expounded in the book. That convinces us that it is not a good read. That is unless of course you fancy fairy tales. 

– counterpoint.lk

Editor_1
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