Sri Lanka’s parliament warned Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena not to scuttle an investigation into alleged security lapses before the Easter suicide bombings, the speaker’s office said yesterday.
The warning came after Sirisena said he would not cooperate with the parliamentary probe and would not allow defense or police officials to testify before the select committee (PSC).
The president on Friday called an emergency Cabinet meeting to oppose the legislature’s investigation into the April 21 attacks that killed 258 people, including 45 foreigners, and wounded nearly 500.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“Any public servant summoned by the PSC is obliged to give evidence,” Speaker Karu Jayasuriya said in a two-page response to Sirisena. “Officials are fully aware of the serious consequences if they fail to respond.”
Officials at the speaker’s office said that Jayasuriya made it clear to Sirisena that he will not call off the PSC and it would continue its public hearings.
Evidence before the committee, which began its publicly televised sittings late last month, has placed the president in a poor light, suggesting that he failed to act on advance warning of the attacks.
On Saturday, Sirisena’s office said he sacked his national intelligence chief, Sisira Mendis, who testified that the devastating attacks against three churches and three luxury hotels could have been avoided.
Mendis also said that the president had failed to hold regular security meetings to assess the threat from Muslim militants who carried out the bombings.
Sirisena’s office did not give a reason for sacking Mendis. Halfway through his testimony, the live telecast of the proceedings was stopped on the president’s orders, official sources said.
Sirisena on Friday told his police top brass that he would not allow any police, military or intelligence personnel to testify.
However, senior Sri Lankan Ministry of Defence sources said that in view of the speaker’s latest warning, they would have to cooperate with the committee.
Sirisena’s defence secretary and police chief have suggested that the president, who is also minister of defense, did not follow proper protocols in dealing with a specific warning from an Indian intelligence agency.
New Delhi had shared detailed information about the targets and the method of attack as early as April 4, following information from a man in Indian custody.
A local militant organization and the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attacks. The country has been under a state of emergency since the bombings.
Sirisena last week said that he met with the national police chief and his top brass 13 days before the attacks, but no officer raised warnings passed on by India.
His own officials have denied those claims.
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