Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) summoned top intelligence officers on July 24 and 25 to testify on the Easter Sunday attacks.
Wednesday July 24
Testifying before the PSC, Head of Criminal Investigation Department and Terrorist Investigation Division Senior DIG Ravi Seneviratne on Wednesday (July 24) said they had not received any information of any VIPs at the Taj Samudra hotel on Easter Sunday contradicting the SLFP General Secretary MP Dayasiri Jayasekara. He rejected the claim that the suicide bomber did not explode himself at Taj Samudra because of the VIPs said to be there.
However, he said a fresh CID investigation was in progress to ascertain why no action had been taken on the foreign and local intelligence reports warning of the impending terror attacks. Responding to a query by MP Dr.Jayampathy Wickramarathne whether the SDIG received any prior-warnings of the terror attack, he said he was informed by Director SIS on April 20 of the attack and he passed it on to the IGP. “The IGP gave me some instructions and I acted accordingly and conveyed the warning to the Senior DIG Western Range.”
To the question put by MP M.A.Sumanthiran whether this attack was carried out by the ISIS, SDIG Seneviratne said they have no evidence to say so, though it was obvious that those terrorists had been inspired by the ISIS ideology.
PSC Chairman Deputy Speaker Ananda Kumarasiri said there had been warnings from foreign intelligence agencies and reports from local sources of the impending attacks. He questioned why there had been no mechanism to take action to prevent them? SDIG Seneviratne said since there is a separate CID investigation in progress to ascertain that he would like to respond to that question in camera.
Minister Dr.Rajitha Senaratne asked the SDIG whether he attended the National Security Council (NSC) meetings and took up these matters there? Responding to the question the SDIG said he attended the NSC only when he was invited and added that he did not receive any invitation after mid December 2018, and was summoned to the NSC only after the Easter Sunday incident.
Prof. Ashu Marasinghe questioned whether the SDIG attended the intelligence review meeting on April 9, 2019 where the warnings from the intelligence agencies were discussed, to which the SDIG replied that he was not in the country that day.
Director CID SSP Shani Abeysekera testifying said top level intelligence officials should not hide their faces from the public but only those engaged in ground level covert operations. Responding to a question raised by MP Field Marshal Fonseka, SSP Abeysekera said it was the intelligence members operating in the field who should worry about exposure. Top officials do not engage in field operations so that there is no point in hiding their faces from the public.
Fonseka said he agreed with SSP Abeysekara, and said many senior intelligence officers draw back from coming before the PSC fearing their faces would be seen. But they go to parties, weddings, and other events, and also go before courts to give evidence. They are reluctant only to come before forums of this nature.
SSP Abeysekera said, “as far as we know all those involved in the Easter Sunday attacks were either dead or in custody so that 80 percent of the problem is now over. Fonseka asked how he could say that 80 per cent is over?
SSP Abeysekera said it was calculated on the basis of processing scientific evidence and what had so far been reported to the courts.
MP Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa asked whether the Director of CID is invited to the weekly intelligence review meetings, which the SSP answered in the affirmative. When asked whether there had been a foreign intelligence report warning of the impending attack, the SSP answered in the negative.
When Fonseka asked whether the terrorists wanted to launch many other attacks, SSP Abeysekera said they seized a haul of explosives from Puttalam, which otherwise would have resulted in 30 to 40 similar attacks. The land in Puttalam where we found the explosives had been used by the suspects for firearm practice and jungle warfare training.
Thursday July 25
STF Commandant Senior DIG M.R. Latiff in his testimony said:
The Special Task Force (STF) could have averted the Easter Sunday carnage had the defence authorities been prudent enough to share the information they had shared with other security agencies prior to the attacks. Why had the STF been overlooked while the intelligence reports warning of the Easter Sunday attacks had been circulated among other divisions of the Police, he asked, adding that they had been given information of Zahran only after the incident happened and they acted on that information.
Field Marshal Fonseka described it as a serious lapse.
SDIG Latiff said he had been asking for the presence of STF in the NSC even during the North East conflict. Fonseka said at present the STF is used for VIP protection and narcotic operations.
SDIG Latiff said the STF could launch its operations on its own but the procedure is that we are summoned and given orders because there are other agencies working on various security issues. The STF acts only when the special task is given to them. If we had been given the information, we could have deployed our men and prevented the attackers coming to those locations. We have contingency plans. We could have sent men to the churches and hotels. Our presence alone could have disrupted the plans of the attackers.
Now I gather from media that there had been information of the possible locations of the attack on April 20. If that information had been given to us even on the eve of April 20, we could have prevented the disaster. We are one of the premier counter-terrorism bodies and have an unblemished record in operations against terrorists, and we have proven our mettle. But we have been kept in the dark, he said.
When MP Jayatissa asked whether there are any links between narcotics and the April 21 incidents, Latiff said they had no information to that effect. However, he said, on April 23 during a raid at Mahawila Gardens, we arrested a relative of the Ibrahim family with 582 grams of heroin and a digital scale used for measuring drugs. We also arrested a son of Ibrahim six days prior to the incidents with 6,000 tablets of Tramadol.
In reply to MP Jayatissa, Latiff said he didn’t think there was any link between Easter Sunday attacks and the arrest of Makandure Madush.
Former IGP N.K. Illangakoon in his testimony said there had been a communication gap between the intelligence arm and the law implementation eventually leading to the Easter Sunday carnage.
Illangakoon said the information warning of the incident was of serious nature and the security establishment could have been mobilized to prevent the attack.
Director Terrorist Investigation Division DIG Waruna Jayasundara giving evidence on Wednesday(24) admitted that the failure to take preventive measures resulted in the Easter Sunday disaster.
Jayasundara said on April 10 itself, they wrote to Facebook and got them to block Zaharan’s account. When Dr. Jayatissa asked whether he informed the IGP of the April 10 letter and the follow up activities, Jayasundara responded positively.
Responding to a question by Field Marshal Fonseka whether the Police alone can solve this problem, Jayasundara said Police alone cannot solve this, and they do not have the capacity to address a problem of this nature.
Former Commandant of the Army- Eastern Province Major General (Rtd) Lal Perera and former Secretary to the Ministry of Law and Order Padmasiri Jayamanne also testified before the PSC on Thursday (July 25).
Attorney General Dappula de Livera who had been summoned to give evidence before the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) on Friday (July 26) did not testify before the Committee citing reasons of conflict of interests.
The AG said “certain members of this Committee are my clients. I would be appearing for those members of the Committee in the fundamental rights applications and I will have to get instructions from them on the very same issues which are called upon to deliberate as a Committee. In that situation this Committee will have to entertain a witness at the same time when there is a court proceeding and the matter is sub judice.
This should be seriously considered. The AG is counsel to the President, the Prime Minister and the entire Cabinet and I have to take instructions from you on the very same matter. In those circumstances are you in a position to deliberate on my testimony which I am called upon to give today. So I see a clear conflict of interest.”