Tuesday 21st April, 2026
‘Mastermind’ has become a household term in this country since the Easter Sunday terror attacks (2019). The last seven years have seen several investigations, conducted by the police, committees and a presidential commission, into the carnage that shook the world, but there has been no general consensus on who actually masterminded the terror strikes. There are several schools of thought and various conspiracy theories about the terror attacks and the mastermind(s) behind them, and how long it will take to put the matter to rest is anybody’s guess.
The Easter Sunday carnage has caused Sri Lankans’ attitudes towards terrorism to undergo a sea change. Everyone has condemned the heinous crime unequivocally, without trotting out anything in extenuation of it. This, we reckon, is something positive.
Terrorism must be condemned and eradicated in all its forms and manifestations. It has no place in the civilised world, regardless of the various causes the perpetrators of it flaunt to justify their crimes and gain legitimacy. Terrorism is no means to an end; it is both the means and the end.
Unfortunately, while the LTTE and the JVP were going on killing sprees, opinion was divided on their terror campaigns and causes. The mastermind behind the LTTE’s terror attacks on civilians was obviously Prabhakaran, but some political and religious leaders and foreign diplomats had no qualms about meeting him and even posing for pictures with him, thereby allowing him to gain legitimacy. There are thousands of JVP members, including the current government leaders, who commemorate Rohana Wijeweera, who masterminded the JVP’s terror campaign. Prabhakaran is commemorated in a similar manner in the North and the East. Thankfully, no such public events are held in memory of Zahran Hashim, who led the National Thowheed Jamaath (NTJ), which carried out the Easter Sunday attacks, killing more than 275 people and injuring about 500 others.
Failure to prevent terror attacks despite the availability of actionable intelligence is also a criminal offence that must not go unpunished. Whoever masterminded the Easter Sunday bombings, lives could have been saved if the police, the then government and the intelligence agencies had acted swiftly upon being warned of impending attacks. Only a few of those who failed to prevent the carnage have faced legal action and been made to pay compensation to the victims. All recommendations made by the Presidential Commission that probed the Easter Sunday terror attacks must be implemented.
Curiously, prominent among those tasked with probing the Easter Sunday carnage afresh in a bid to trace the mastermind(s) behind it are two individuals who were at the helm of the CID in 2019, when it failed to prevent the terror attacks. They are retired SSP Shani Abeysekera and retired SDIG Ravi Seneviratne. They are currently serving as the Director of the CID and the Secretary to the Ministry of Public Security, respectively. Their political affiliations with the ruling NPP, as members of its Retired Police Collective, and the fact that the incumbent government brought them out of retirement and elevated them to their current positions for political reasons have compromised the integrity of the ongoing investigations into the Easter Sunday carnage.
Some of those seeking justice for the victims of the Easter Sunday terror attacks have demanded that Deputy Defence Minister Maj. Gen. (Retd.) Aruna Jayaskera resign forthwith, as he was the Security Forces Commander (East) at the time of the carnage, and some military intelligence officers facing investigations for their alleged links to the NTJ served under him. They insist that there is a conflict of interest on his part. Their argument is tenable, but it defies comprehension why they have not likewise called upon Abeysekera and Seneviratne to step down, thereby helping preserve the integrity of the investigations into the terror attacks.
Meanwhile, the masterminds behind some financial crimes have also not been identified. The Treasury bond scams (2015) were blamed squarely on the then Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran although it is public knowledge that he acted at the behest of his political masters. Neither the Presidential Commission of Inquiry that probed the bond scams nor the COPE (Committee on Public Enterprises), headed by JVP MP Sunil Handunnetti, revealed the mastermind. The JVP was honeymooning with the UNP at the time. The mastermind behind the coal procurement scam, which has caused staggering losses to the Treasury and sent the power tariffs up, must also be identified and brought to justice. It is not possible that Kumara Jayakody, blamed for the scam, acted of his own volition.