Sri Lanka's attacks: charges rise in Colombo

Samer Allawi-Colombo

The attacks on Sri Lanka last Sunday revealed the depth of the political crisis and the fragility of the security situation in the country, while popular solidarity of different races, religions and sects showed a cohesive community unity in the face of violence and killing regardless of who is responsible.

The attacks targeted major Catholic churches and luxury hotels on the Christian Easter holiday, leaving more than 350 dead and about 500 injured.

The declaration of a state of emergency and widespread military and security deployment in cities and neighborhoods in the civil war that was resolved ten years ago, and the dream of the Tamil Tigers to establish a Hindu state in the north and east of the country.

Senior officials' comments on the existence of advance warnings of possible attacks, but differed in the assessment of the magnitude of the risk posed by the responsible for negligence or failure to deal with them very seriously, and reflected the mutual accusations between the President and the government political crisis, which culminated in December last.

The governor of the province of western Colombo, Azad Saleh, told Al-Jazeera Net that he completely ignored the warnings he had given personally to the security authorities since 2015 and his earlier demand for the arrest of Zahran Hashim, the first suspect wanted in the wake of the recent bombings. He said he had requested Zahran's arrest on 17 March 2017, Demand before the attacks one week.

The national group of Tawhid, to which Zahran belongs, has been blamed, which media outlets have described as the mastermind of the bombings.

He denied his knowledge
In his address to the people on Wednesday, President Mathirepala Seressina announced the change of all the leaders of the security services, the army and police within 24 hours, denied his personal knowledge of the existence of serious warnings, and blamed the government for failing to prevent attacks or taking action to limit the huge death toll.

President Seressina is holding the defense portfolio, in addition to holding the security file, as part of his understandings with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to end the crisis between them in December.

The United National Front (UFF), which leads the government coalition, called for the return of the Ministry of Defense and its security responsibility, which interpreted the blame on the Office of the Presidency of the default, and the exploitation of the wings of power for political interests beyond the national interest, Of the government with negligence and negligence that led to the disaster.

Undersecretary of the Ministry of Defense Hessieri Fernando said the security warnings were not as large as the Easter attacks, while the head of the Catholic Church, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjit, said avoiding such losses would have been possible by canceling Easter celebrations if he had been warned of possible attacks.

Community unit
Despite the shock of the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka, it did not accuse anyone or followers of religion or nationality of responsibility for the attacks, leaving statements by the President of the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka Cardinal Malcolm Rangit satisfaction in the political and popular circles, in which he called to wait and not to throw charges arbitrarily, Investigations conducted by the security authorities.

All institutions and organizations of the Muslim minority denounced the attacks as an attack on all religions and nationalities in the country. These institutions did not link attacks on churches with any previous attacks on mosques or economic or social interests of the Muslim minority.

Muslim leaders and leaders - especially those in government - issued lists of mourners in attacks and visits to attack sites.

Buddhist priests expressed their solidarity with the families of the victims and spoke of Buddha's teachings of tolerance among human beings without discrimination in race, color and class.

case of emergency
The Sri Lankan army deployed more than 6,600 troops to maintain security, adding to the state of alert among the police and security services. The measures were taken before the declaration of a state of emergency after 48 hours of attacks. The state of emergency allows the security services to detain suspects for up to 18 months Recourse to the court and the judiciary.

Government officials justify the emergency by facilitating the task of the security forces, and human rights organizations usually consider such measures against human rights, but officials said that Sri Lanka has experience in harmonizing security and human rights, and has witnessed a long period of emergency measures during the civil war that continued More than three decades and ended in 2009.

On the other hand, others consider that human rights issues have disappeared amid the noise of attacks and cries of victims, fearing the return of practices such as enforced disappearances and field trials without trial by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, but no one has been prosecuted.