Sri Lanka’s former President Maithripala Sirisena on Tuesday apologised to the country's minority Catholic community for the devastating 2019 Easter Sunday bombings that killed over 270 people, including 11 Indians.
Nine suicide bombers belonging to the local Islamist extremist group National Thawheed Jamaat (NTJ) linked to ISIS carried out a series of blasts that tore through three Catholic churches and as many luxury hotels on April 21, 2019, killing more than 270 people and injuring over 500.
The bombings triggered a political storm as the then President Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe were blamed for their inability to prevent the attacks despite prior intelligence being made available.
"I say sorry to the Catholic community for something done by others,” Sirisena said while addressing a political group of his Freedom Party here.
His apology came weeks after the Supreme Court on January 12 ordered him to pay SLRs 100 million as compensation to the victims. His failure to pay the victims would send him to jail on contempt of court charges.
Sirisena, the Sri Lankan president from 2015 to 2019, also said he would contest the next presidential election due in 2024.
As many as 12 petitioners, including the kin of the victims, the Catholic clergy, and the lawyers’ body Bar Association of Sri Lanka, had filed the fundamental rights petition against the then president for his negligence in preventing the attacks.
A presidential panel of inquiry appointed by Sirisena after the attacks ironically found the then-president guilty of his failure to prevent the attacks.
Sirisena, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge in the case filed after the panel’s findings.
Head of the local Catholic Church, Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, continued to express his dissatisfaction over the probe in the matter, claiming that the investigation was a cover-up.
Sirisena denies the charge and blames the then defence establishment for the lapse which led to the coordinated attacks.
(PTI)
Curator Emma Slocombe with ikat robes and arabachi coats in the Peter the Great Room in Blickling Hall Amit Roy 
View of the entrance to Blickling Hall on a rainy autumn dayAmit Roy 
Kente cloth from Ghana in the Long Gallery in Blickling Hall 
Decoration in the Great Hall at Blickling Hall Amit Roy 
Palampore fragment made in coastal south-east India in the Brown Room in Blickling Hall Amit Roy 
Bed valance dating from early 1700s in the Italian Print Room at Blickling Hall Amit Roy 
Indian inspired fabric draped on sofas in the South Drawing Room in Blickling Hall Amit Roy 
Indian inspired fabric draped on sofas in the South Drawing Room with Indian carpet in Blickling Hall Amit Roy 
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Large tapestry depicting Peter the Great defeating the Swedish army at the Battle of Poltava in 1709 Amit Roy 
ikat robes and arabachi coats in the Peter the Great Room in Blickling Hall Amit Roy 
Baghs and kanthas made by women provide contrast to the men only portraits in the Great Hall at Blickling Hall Amit Roy 
Baghs and kanthas in the entrance Great Hall at Blickling Hall Amit Roy
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Kimono in Upper Ante Room in Blickling Hall 
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Blickling Hall Amit Roy 
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Unfinished 17th century Italian embroidery in the Print Room at Blickling Hall Amit Roy 
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A panel of Ashburnham bed hangings made in Gujarat for sale in Europe in the Brown Room in Blickling Hall Amit Roy 
Colcha made in the 1600s by women in Bengal for the Portuguese market in the Long Gallery at Blickling Hall Amit Roy
