Christian clergy in Sri Lanka have written a letter to Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapksa demanding answers and action in the 2019 Easter Sunday attack which killed 259 people, mostly minority Christians, in the country. They have given a month’s time to the government to take action against those responsible for the bombings. 

In the letter, signed by Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, Archbishop of Colombo, and several bishops of the Catholic church of the country, they demanded actions against former president Maithripla Sirisena and former prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, and for senior ministers and intelligence officials, reported Daily Mirror.

A recent presidential inquiry--which was constituted to investigate the lapses--recommended a criminal proceeding against former president Sirisena. Wickremesinghe was also accused of being soft on Islamic terrorism in the same report. 

Upon failing to act in a “satisfactory manner, the Christian clergy said, “we will be forced to agitate for such through alternative means. We hope you act on this urgently and provide a credible answer at least within one month of this appeal,”

On April 21, 2019, three churches in Negombo, Batticaloa and Colombo, and the hotels -- Shangri-La, Cinnamon Grand, Kingsbury, and Tropical Inn -- in the capital city were targeted in the series of coordinated suicide bombings, killling 259 people and also injured more than 500.

Sri Lankan authorities attributed the attacks to little-known local Islamist extremist groups, National Thowheeth Jama'ath, and Jammiyathul Millathu Ibrahim. However, the Islamic State terror group claimed the attacks.

(SAM)