State Minister Dayasiri Jayasekara says investigations must be carried out into possible link between the Easter Sunday terror attacks and the group of people that wanted to oust Maithripala Sirisena in order to appoint a new President.

Testifying before the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) probing the carnage, the State Minister noted that regime changes and appointment of Presidents in the country were directed by foreign influences since 2015.

In response to a question raised by the PCoI chairman with regard to the Yahapalana Government’s stance on national security and the decision to abolish the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), he said the former President and his party in the coalition government were of the view that national security must be prioritized. However, the internal conflicts induced by other affiliated parties in the former administration had weakened the national security to a certain extent, he added.

Testifying further, he said, “Following the Easter attacks, we planned to bring forth a set of principles called ‘one country-one law’ but this could not be done due to the pressure from the Muslim ministers in the previous government.”

Responding to another question, the State Minister pointed out that a leader of a terrorist group is unlikely to kill himself in a suicide bomb attack and that there should be a good enough reason for a terrorist leader to do so. 

It is doubtful as to whether Zahran orchestrated the attacks by himself or if there was another force that controlled him, the State Minister said adding Zahran was also a pawn in a bigger game.

Back then, the public opinion on former President Maithripala Sirisena was favourable due to his massive efforts in crackdown on narcotic drugs, however, in the wake of the Easter attacks he was unable to stand for re-election, the State Minister said, raising concerns about a group of people who wanted to oust Sirisena to replace him with a new President. The interrelatedness between this and the Easter attacks must be probed, he added.

Jayasekara went on to question as to how foreign intelligence services managed to warn about an impending attack that even local intelligence units did not know about. “This means, foreign intelligence agencies had been active in our country without our knowledge.”

After 2015, foreign influences were responsible for the regime changes and appointment of new Presidents in the country, he stressed further.

The State Minister pointed out that the former President, former Prime Minister, former IGP and the former Defence Secretary are all victims of this attack, noting that the force that steered the attack must be investigated.