Calistas Anthony Perera finds it hard to swallow food now.
He was working in the backyard of the house he shared with his three siblings and 11-year-old son, Chamod Shivan Perera, in Webada Road, Katuwapitiya when he heard the loud explosion. He first thought it was a fire cracker, but a telephone call from a relative immediately after proved it was far more serious and sinister. “Ayye, bombayak pupuralada palliye?” his relative asked. Anthony’s first response was that it was not a bomb, but then he ran towards the church like he had gone mad.
That morning Chamod had woken up earlier than usual, and by 6.45 a m, he was already dressed to go to church. A friend who returned from Italy had given him a pair of shoes, and it was decided by his aunts- who took care of him after his mother died a couple of months before, that he should wear the new shoes to church that day. Dressed to the nines and showing off his new shoes to his father, Chamod left to St. Sebastian Church with his aunt. The duo never came back.
The explosion at St. Sebastian Church was the first of a series of co-ordinated suicide bombings that targeted Catholic churches and hotels on Easter Sunday this year. The bombings left 269 unsuspecting people dead. This number included at least 40 foreign nationals and at least 45 children. In Negombo, 115 died. Chamod and his aunt were among them.
When Anthony reached the church, he learnt that his son was taken to the hospital. At the hospital, he searched for him in the wards. Then he snuck into the room where the bodies were laid. The bodies were covered with cloths. He lifted the coverings one after the other looking for his son.
After he finished looking at one row of bodies, he turned to the other. “That’s when I saw, at the far end of the row, Chamod’s new shoes jutting out from under the covers,” Anthony said.
He held his son’s body in his arms. He returned home on 21 April with only his son’s shoes.
Now looking at Chamod’s belongings catapults him back to that day. He takes part in a program initiated by the church to help with the ‘healing process’, but for Anthony the wounds are still raw.
He finds it hard to eat. The lump in his throat makes it impossible to swallow.
Six months after the terrorist bombings, grief-stricken residents in Katuwapitiya are still recovering. It is almost hard to find a person who was not affected by the bombing there. Several programs were introduced by the church to give psychological and financial support to the victims.
The church itself has undergone heavy repairs, but the statue of Jesus spattered with victims’ blood and a memorial monument on the floor brings back gruesome memories of that day. When the Sunday Observer visited Rev. Father Manjula Fernando, who has taken over from the former parish priest who was traumatised by the event and requested a transfer, was planning how the bulbs need to be fixed at the altar.
Father Manjula said emphasis on the recovery process is important for his community. Many have started to return to church because recovery for them is a ‘faith journey’.
“We see a gradual progress, but what people really need now is justice. They need to know that the real culprits are caught and punished,” Father Manjula said. He refused to buy that the Government has arrested all the terrorists and people who were involved or responsible for the attacks.
His statement comes in the wake of the Parliamentary Select Committee’s (PSC) damning report that found that the former head of the State Intelligence Service, Nilantha Jayawardena was responsible for not acting on the information he received regarding impending attacks prior to Easter Sunday.
Priyantha Jayakody who lost his wife at the bombing and was on pins as his son, Hasaru, recovered at the ICU for 15 days, is certain his wife would have been alive today if the Heads of the State acted upon the series of tip-offs and reports they received as early as 2011.
“The Cardinal told me that the Government received information regarding the attacks at 6.15am that day. They could have warned people about it,” he said.
The PSC report states at 6.45am, the Spy Chief said there was going to be ‘something dangerous’ happening that day, and that the Inspector General of Police informed relevant junior officers about it. Again at 8.00am, he called the former Defence Secretary and said the attacks are likely to be in ‘Methodist Churches’.
Jayakody said the attacks were the results of ‘dirty politics’, where the current heads disregarded former information and other politicians kept mum to get political gain.
Hasaru sometimes dreams of his mother. He is constantly told she is in heaven now, but Hasaru feels ‘she wants to be with me as much as I want to be with her’.
The community in Negombo is fighting other demons too. The Muslims in the area was attacked shortly after the bombings. Their properties were destroyed.
Father Manjula said it will take some time for the Catholics to start trusting Muslims again.
“Unfortunately, the terrorists were from that faith. So, there is still mistrust among our people,” he said.
However, Mohammed Amanulla, 20, who keeps a shop at Deen Junction, where Muslims mostly reside, sees a development. He says now Sinhala and Catholic customers come to his shop.
“After the bombing, my father closed his shop for two weeks. When he reopened the shop, customers of other faiths avoided going to Muslim shops. But now, they are gradually coming back,” he said.
Amanulla said it was not just the extremist groups, but also the leaders in the country who build an environment for them to flourish are also responsible. The price for that is paid by the Muslim community.
Tourism, one of the key income generators in Negombo next to fishing was badly hit too. General Manager of a hotel in Negombo, Lal Dissanayake, said the room occupancy in the area is at about 40 per cent compared to the previous years. He said the recovery process is slow.
Nothing seems to matter for Anthony anymore. Last week, he took part in a trip organised by the church to the Madu Shrine. It didn’t help with his grief. This week, he printed two selfies Chamod had taken using his phone.
Pics: Ruwan de Silva