In a coordinated move, nine suicide bombers affiliated to local Islamist group National Thowheed Jamath exploded themselves in the churches and hotels, killing at least 279 people, including 37 foreign nationals, and injuring at least 500 on April 21, 2019. The attack left the nation of 21 million people shell-shocked and devastated.
“This is a moment to remember this senseless and meaningless tragedy that happened to us on Easter Sunday last year and which is completing one year today, 21 April,” recalled Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the Archbishop of Colombo.
The first anniversary of the Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka was a simplified version of a more elaborate commemoration event that was cancelled owing to the nationwide coronavirus lockdown.
Even the country’s television channels went silent in tribute.
The bombed Catholic churches of St. Sebastian in Negombo, just north of Colombo, and St. Anthony’s Shrine Kochchikade were consecrated and reopened to the public but Zion Church of Batticaloa, on the Eastern coast, is still being renovated.
“We are very keen to remember all these people who died in these bomb blasts and also those have been injured,” said Cardinal Ranjith, who had called for the moment of silence and the ringing of church and temple bells to remember their dead.
Nearly 300 people were killed and many more injured, many of them suffering even today, said the cardinal, under whose jurisdiction comes St. Anthony’s Shrine Kochchikade and St. Sebastian’s Church in Negombo, which had the highest number of deaths.
He told Vatican Radio that some of them were on wheelchairs, disabled for life, some were in bed, and that they need to think about them.
He said it is a moment to remember and pray for all those who died. It is also an occasion to console the families who have lost their loved ones or who have injured members, so they can help and show their concern for them, he told Vatican Radio.
After the bombings, Sri Lanka’s public and religious leaders blamed politicians and government officials for failing to act on intelligence about the attacks.
In his homily at Easter this year, the Cardinal Ranjith said that Christians had forgiven the killers. However, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Sri Lanka and the cardinal demanded that the perpetrators, their collaborators and supporters be brought to justice. Sri Lankan Catholics have forgiven the Easter Sunday suicide bomb attackers who brought terror to the island nation a year ago, according to the Archbishop.
Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith said a group of misguided youths attacked the lives of people and aimed to harm Christians on Easter Sunday last year.
“Not only did Catholics die but the bombs also killed Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims,” said Cardinal Ranjith at an Easter Sunday Mass on April 12, streamed live from his residence on TV stations because of the measures against the spread of Covid-19.
Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith is stepping up the pressure to find out the truth about who was behind last year’s devastating Easter bombings in Sri Lanka.
Survivors are still seeking justice for the dead and wounded, demanding that the culprits who organized and financed the attacks be identified and prosecuted.
“We have to find out who they are. They should be punished regardless of their status. We should not take into account their influence and political capabilities. We have to tell the world who they are,” 72-year-old Cardinal Ranjith said in a TV address..
“If any political leaders have any information about these heinous attacks and have just ignored it from top to bottom, they should be punished. “This radical group wanted to create a big crisis among different ethnic and religious groups, but we defeated their ulterior motives with great patience.” Cardinal Ranjith said it is the government’s responsibility to bring all those responsible for the atrocity before the law.
“I request President Gotabaya Rajapaksa does not permit anyone to interrupt or halt the investigations,” the prelate said.
“Our fund received 516 million rupees (US$2.67 million) and we have spent 372 million to look after the victims of the attacks. The balance of 144 million rupees is to be spent on their future prospects.”
“Last year, some misguided youths attacked us and we as humans could have given a human and selfish response,” Cardinal Ranjith said in his homily. “But we meditated on Christ’s teachings and loved them, forgave them and had pity on them,” he said. “We did not hate them and return them the violence. Resurrection is the complete rejection of selfishness,” the cardinal said.
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Sri Lanka and Cardinal Ranjith appealed to the government to appoint an independent commission to conduct an impartial inquiry and to bring the perpetrators before the law.
Former president Maithripala Sirisena appointed a presidential commission to investigate the bombings. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa also appointed a committee to undertake a formal inquiry and promised to give justice to victims.
Saranya, 25, was nine months pregnant when a bomb went off at St Anthony’s Church in the capital Colombo last year. Her husband was killed in the attack. Just a day later, she gave birth to their son.
“My husband never saw his son,” she told AFP news agency. “My baby will be one year old on the 22nd, but how can we celebrate. It is a day after his father’s death anniversary. It is a sad day for us.”
Anusha Kumari, whose family was caught up in the attack on St Sebastian’s Church in Negombo near the capital, told the BBC’s Jane Corbin earlier this year: “My husband and my two children were killed only once. I die every second.”
“It is unconscionable that dozens of people in government, the highest senior elected officials, were made aware of warnings and of intelligence reports, and absolutely failed to investigate,” Dhulsini de Zoysa, whose 11-year-old son Kieran was killed at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel, told a BBC documentary. Police have arrested 197 people in connection with the attacks.
Sri Lanka has been under curfew for most of the past three weeks because of the coronavirus pandemic. The prestigious Johns Hopkins University put the coronavirus cases in Sri Lanka at 467, with 7 deaths.
With churches closed, Christians celebrated Easter in their homes on Sunday, participating in religious services streamed live on TV. Closed-door Easter services were held St Anthony’s and St Sebastian’s, without the faithful. There haven’t been any organized commemorative events to honour those killed in last year’s bombings, mostly Catholics.
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