Government has not fulfilled a single one of its promises: Cardinal

COLOMBO (News 1st); His Eminence Archbishop Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith says that it can be proven that the Government has not fulfilled a single one of its promises so far, while the belief that justice will be ensured to the victims of the Easter attack is being eroded day by day.

Participating in the book launch of the book 'Thitha', he pointed out that those who are supposed to enforce the law and the mechanism by which it should be enforced have become problematic.

The book, 'Thitha' (fullstop) was compiled from commission reports on the Easter Sunday attack.

Rev. Lal Pushpadeva Fernando is the Editor-in-Chief of this book which is a publication of the National Catholic Mass Communication Center.

The President of the Bishops' Conference of Sri Lanka, Ven. Winston Fernando, participated as the Chief Guest at the launching ceremony of the book.

Rev. Fr. Lal Pushpadeva Fernando, the Editor-in-Chief of the book, pointed out that so far throughout Sri Lankan history, the people have placed commas to continue things where it needed to be stopped with a fullstop. This is the reason that our country today has become an anarchic and a defeated nation, he mentioned.

Speaking further, Rev. Fernando questioned as to when the people will be able to make their mark on the world map, and mentioned that the real story of the Easter Attack goes beyond what is mentioned in the book 'Thitha'.

Rev. Fernando went onto explain; 

"The President, who arrived in Sri Lanka on Monday morning, April 22nd, 2019 appointed a three member committee including Vijith Malalgoda on the same day to compile a report. This is the first committee report. Then comes the following committee report from Parliament some time later. Then comes the third report by the Sectoral Oversight Committee on National Independence. The fourth is the report of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry. When the final volume of the report of the Presidential Commission was received, the present President appointed another committee called the Ministerial Sub-Committee. Report after report, nothing happened. Should we be silent today at a moment like this? Or should we stay awake? Should there be a comma? or should we place a fullstop? Read the book first, then we'll put an end to this," he said. 

The Archbishop of Colombo, His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith also joined the event via zoom. 

Speaking at the event, His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith emphasized that intelligence officers and senior police officers were well aware that this attack was taking place, as evidenced in the report of the Presidential Commission.

However, he mentioned that the evidence given to the commission is still hidden by this Government and the present Attorney General, and although letters were sent requesting for the volumes that contain the evidence, the previous and the present Government did nothing but to hide the volumes without even considering the requests. 

Therefore, the Archbishop of Colombo said that based on the report of the commission, there is as issue in revealing the truth about the attack to the people.

Further emphasizing that the commission report clearly states that certain individuals were aware of the attack and did nothing about it, Archbishop Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith said that the current situation of justice not being served is a result of misconduct at the Attorney General's Department, which is troubling. 

Therefore, due to all of this, it can be clearly stated that this Government has not fulfilled its promises given to us, he added.