Issue: On October 14, Leader of the Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU) Udaya Gammanpila announced that he was in possession of two unpublicised reports concerning the Easter Sunday attacks and gave the NPP government a seven-day deadline to publicly release these reports.[1][2][3]
On October 21, Gammanpila released the first report by the Committee of Inquiry (CoI) headed by retired High Court Judge A. N. J. de Alwis.[4][5] Gammanpila noted that the report recommended initiating legal action against former police officials Ravi Seneviratne and Shani Abeysekera, who currently serve as the secretary of the ministry of public security and the director of the central criminal intelligence analysis bureau, respectively.[6][7][8][9]
On October 28, Gammanpila released the second report of the committee headed by retired Supreme Court Justice S. I. Imam investigating the claims made in the Channel 4 documentary on the Easter Sunday attacks.[10][11]
Analysis
Contextual background
Last week’s Sinhala media coverage focused on the release of two reports concerning the Easter Sunday attacks by former MP Udaya Gammanpila, who was neither involved with drafting the reports nor investigating the Easter Sunday attacks. The two reports released by Gammanpila were commissioned during the tenure of former President Ranil Wickremesinghe (2022 – 2024). The first report by the Committee of Inquiry (CoI) headed by retired High Court Judge A. N. J. de Alwis reviewed the steps taken by the intelligence agencies based on the intel received prior to the Easter Sunday attacks.[1] The second report by the committee headed by retired Supreme Court Justice S. I. Imam investigated the claims made in the Channel 4 documentary regarding the attacks.[2]
Despite the submission of these reports to Wickremesinghe during his tenure in office, the reports remained unpublicised. At that time, the then Opposition – including the NPP – repeatedly requested the release of these reports.[3] Subsequently, in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election, delivering justice to the victims of the Easter Sunday attacks became a key election promise of President Anura Kumara Dissanayaka.[4]
Following the release of the reports by Gammanpila, the NPP government rejected the findings of these two reports.[5] Similarly, last week’s Sinhala press reporting and TV coverage overwhelmingly censured Gammanpila’s approach. This sentiment was also evident in social media commentary, as analysed using the monitoring tool Junkipedia.[6]
This week’s TMA unravels why, despite a key election promise of Dissanayaka being to “un-suppress” the investigation into the Easter Sunday attacks, and the public interest attached to it, the Sinhala media dismissed the fanfare around Gammanpila’s release of the two reports.
The TMA will unpack: (i) the problems with Commissions of Inquiry (CoI) in Sri Lanka and (ii) the problem with Gammanpila.
(i) Problem of CoIs/PCoIs in Sri Lanka
The CoIs/PCoIs in Sri Lanka were designed to investigate misconduct, recommend reforms and promote transparency for significant national issues including political violence and corruption.[7] At the time of their introduction four decades ago, the CoIs/PCoIs were held in high regard as means to ensure independent evaluation by an esteemed and distinguished personality.
Over the past two decades the social regard for CoIs/PCoIs has eroded significantly. They are now looked at with some cynicism as mechanisms established outside of the general legal framework, delaying normal legal proceedings and serving the purposes of political leaders.[8] During the tenure of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa (2019 – 2022), the PCoI appointed to investigate ‘political victimisation’[9] was heavily criticised as a blatantly bad-faith attempt to cover up past misdeeds of the Rajapaksas and their affiliates and victimise those involved in investigating them.[10] Eventually the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka moved to squash the findings and recommendations of the report of this PCoI.[11]
While that was the most egregious case, it was part of a process in which the regard for PCoIs has been waning over the years as the political machinations behind such appointments have become more obvious. For example, during the premiership of Wickremesinghe under the yahapaalanaya government (2015 – 2019), the PCoI appointed to investigate the Central Bank bond scandal was also seen as a tool for covering up the crime rather than investigating it.[12]
Gammanpila’s fanfare around releasing these reports resulted not in creating a scandal with regard to the actions of NPP government but in re-enforcing this built-up cynicism with regard to PCoIs and reports themselves.
(ii) Problem with Gammanpila
The effectiveness of Gammanpila’s attempt was also undermined by the low public regard for Gammanpila himself.
Firstly, Gammanpila was cast in the Sinhala media as a political actor lacking credibility. For example, voices featured in political columns in state-owned Dinaminaand privately-owned Mawbima highlighted accusations that Gammanpila misappropriated funds from an Australian businessperson and promoted divisive rhetoric by falsely alleging that Dr. Shafi Shihabdeen had illegally sterilised Sinhala mothers – a claim later disproven by investigations. This perceived lack of credibility appears to have prompted the Sinhala media to view Gammanpila’s role in disclosing the reports with scepticism.
Secondly, Gammanpila was also cast as invoking the reports on the Easter Sunday attacks in bad faith for political gain. For instance, former MP Ranjan Ramanayake cast doubts over Gammanpila’s intentions for disclosing the reports, suggesting that he might be deflecting accountability from key officials involved in the original investigations. Gammanpila’s prior ties to the Rajapaksas heightened the scepticism toward Gammanpila, particularly given that the Imam report seems to exonerate former SIS Chief Major General Suresh Salley, a close associate of the Rajapaksas, while implicating officials such as Ravi Seneviratne and Shani Abeysekera, who were recently appointed to state positions by the NPP government.[13]
Overall, Gammanpila’s fanfare of releasing presidential commission reports on the Easter attacks fell flat, invoking cynicism towards such commissions and himself.
[1] For more information, see: https://www.news.lk/news/political-current-affairs/item/36490-president-appoints-committee-of-inquiry-to-investigate-2019-bomb-attacks and https://www.dailymirror.lk/breaking-news/Committee-appointed-to-probe-intelligence-handling-in-Easter-attacks/108-284691.
[2] For more information, see: https://www.ft.lk/front-page/President-appoints-3-member-committee-to-probe-Channel-4-allegations-on-Easter-Sunday-attacks/44-753046 and https://www.adaderana.lk/news.php?nid=93409.
[3] For more information, see: https://www.dailymirror.lk/breaking-news/AKD-asks-Pilleyan-if-he-is-still-paid-by-intelligence-services/108-267840 and https://slguardian.org/sri-lanka-former-cid-director-urges-release-of-easter-sunday-inquiry-reports/.
[4] For more information, see: https://www.newsfirst.lk/2024/08/20/akd-pledges-justice-for-easter-attack-victims and https://www.npp.lk/up/policies/en/npppolicystatement.pdf.
[5] For more information, see: https://www.themorning.lk/articles/qlhGs7GxRvQDaPRDDbCt and https://www.dailynews.lk/2024/10/22/admin-catagories/breaking-news/658744/government-rejects-gammanpilas-easter-attack-reports/.
[6] The TMA team monitored Facebook profiles, TikTok handles and YouTube channels using Junkipedia for the keywords Easter, Gammanpila, Israel, tourist and Arugam Bay. The monitoring period was October 21 to 25.
[7] For more information, see: https://www.srilankalaw.lk/revised-statutes/volume-ii/229-commissions-of-inquiry-act.html and https://www.srilankalaw.lk/s/1133-special-presidential-commissions-of-inquiry-law.html.
[8] See TMA Vol.11, #05.
[9]https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/04/30/sri-lanka-reject-political-victimization-findings and https://www.hindsight.tisrilanka.org/presidential-commission-of-inquiry-on-political-victimization/.
[10] Ibid.
[11] For more information, see: https://www.dailymirror.lk/breaking-news/Supreme-Court-quashes-recommendations-of-Gotabayas-Presidential-Commission/108-289164 and https://ceylontoday.lk/2024/08/10/sc-quashes-gotas-victimisation-pcoi-recommendations/.
[12] See TMA Vol.08, #01 and Vol.11, #05.
[13] For more information, see: https://www.ft.lk/news/Gammanpila-defends-ex-SIS-Chief-Suresh-Salley-against-Easter-attack-allegations/56-768547 and https://island.lk/udaya-person-who-discredited-lanka-in-channel-4-documentary-in-high-position-under-current-govt/.