President said some recommendations cannot be implemented – Cardinal

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had told him that it was not possible to implement every recommendation that has been made by the Presidential Commission which probed the Easter Sunday attacks, Archbishop of Colombo His Eminence Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith said.

The Cardinal called for the support of international community to find out the truth about the mayhem.

Cardinal Ranjith made this call via zoom discussion he had had with the Sri Lankan community living in Australia on Saturday.

“The attack on Easter Sunday 2019 was not carried out by a group of seven of eight persons. There is something big behind the attacks. We need the support of the international community to find out as to who used these seven or eight persons to fulfil their objectives,” Cardinal Ranjith said.

“President and the present government assured that they would deliver justice to those who were affected in the Easter Sunday attack of April 21 2019. He assured that the presidential commission will continue to probe the attacks when he met the Sri Lanka Catholic Bishops Conference as soon as came to power. President called me over the phone two days after the presidential commission report came out and told me that it was not possible to implement everything that is recommended by the PCoI. Those who were affected by the attacks have been badly let down. We don’t want to take revenge from anyone, nor have we called for anyone’s blood. I, together with Ven. Ittapane Dhammalankara Thera called for calm after the Easter Sunday attacks. I requested the Catholic brethren not harm the Muslims,” he added.

“The PCoI recommended that the Attorney General should get intelligence units to carry out investigations on a series of grey areas. But this has not happened,” he asserted. (Yohan Perera)