Easter bombings conspiracy theories and importance of Azad Maulana's testimony

THE coordinated suicide bomber attacks by a group of misguided Muslim zealots against three churches and four luxury hotels in Colombo, Negombo and Batticaloa on Easter Sunday (21 April) in 2019 brought in its wake several conspiracy theories. Chief among these was the one which suspected that an official or officials of Sri Lanka's intelligence services had manipulated the Muslim youths into launching the attacks with the objective of facilitating the return to power of former defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa as President. 269 persons including 45 foreigners were killed and over 500 injured in the attack.

- By D.B.S. Jeyaraj

This conspiracy theory received a tremendous boost in 2023 when Britain's Channel 4 TV aired the documentary "Sri Lanka's Easter bombings" in its "Dispatches" program on Tuesday 5 September 2023. Tamil Makkal Viduthalaip Puligal (TMVP) leader Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillaiyaan's former secretary and ex-TMVP spokesperson Mohammed Milhilar Mohammed Hanzeer alias Azad Maulana was the whistleblower who made the controversial disclosures about his erstwhile boss.

The Oxford dictionary defines a whistleblower as a "source who makes public information about alleged wrongdoing, typically by or within the organisation in which they are employed. A person blowing the whistle to journalists". The Cambridge dictionary describes a whistleblower as "a person who tells someone in authority about something illegal that is happening, especially in a government department or a company."

Whistleblower Azad Maulana (spelled as Mowlana and Moulana also) hailing from Maruthamunai in the Eastern Province, fled to Europe and sought political asylum in Switzerland. Azad Maulana alleged that Pillaiyaan and former State Intelligence Service chief Maj-Gen Suresh Sallay had links with the Easter bombers and were involved in the conspiracy. Both Pillaiyaan and Sallay immediately denied the allegations.

Former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa too responded to the allegations made by Azad Maulana by issuing a public statement. In that statement Gotabaya pointed out that the Channel 4 TV allegation that the Easter bombings were perpetrated to bring him (Gota) to power rested primarily on the charges made by Azad Maulana. The following are excerpts from that statement:

"The central allegation made in the latest film on Sri Lanka broadcast by Channel 4 is that the Easter Sunday suicide bombings of 21 April 2019 carried out by Islamic extremists had been deliberately facilitated in order to create the conditions to get me elected to power in November 2019."