Hector & Tiran clash over PCoI report on Easter Attacks

COLOMBO (News 1st); A heated exchange broke out in parliament, as the subject minister failed to respond to the questions posed by the opposition over the investigations on the 2019 Easter Sunday terror attacks. 

Opposition Lawmaker Hector Appuhamy said that the Minister of Public Security has failed to respond to a question posed over a year, with regard to those who have been allegedly charged by the Presidential Commission of Inquiry appointed to investigate the Easter Sunday terror attacks.

The MP said that the Presidential Commission of Inquiry had named Senior DIG Nilantha Jayawardena in its report, adding that the Commission of Inquiry recommends that the Attorney General consider instituting criminal action against SDIG Nilantha Jayawardena under appropriate provisions of the Penal Code.

However, Public Security Minister Tiran Alles stressed that the Presidential Commission of Inquiry has never named Senior DIG Jayawardena in its report. 

"If Nilantha Jayawardena is prosecuted, a large number of people from either side will have to go to prison. The government is afraid of prosecuting Nilantha Jayawardena," said MP Lakshman Kiriella, also from the opposition, who joined the exchange.