Mr. Udaya Gammanpila, leader of the Pivithuru Hela Urumaya, has issued a seven-day ultimatum to the government, demanding the release of the SI Imam and ANJ de Alvis reports on the Easter Sunday attack. Failing this, he warned that he would make the reports public himself. Gammanpila expressed his belief that once these reports are disclosed, those who are misguided by political figures like Anura Kumara Dissanayake will reconsider their stance.
Speaking at a press conference held yesterday (October 14, 2024) at the Pivithuru Hela Urumaya party headquarters, Gammanpila elaborated on the situation. He recalled how, during a press conference last Monday, he had criticized the President for visiting the Katuwapitiya Church empty-handed, without bringing the reports from the two Presidential Investigation Committees on the Easter attack. He urged the government to release these reports without further delay.
When questioned by journalists, the government’s media spokesperson, Minister Vijitha Herath, stated that they were investigating how parts of the reports had gone missing. Gammanpila dismissed this claim, stating that no pages had been lost. He explained that the Presidential Commission report, led by Supreme Court Justice Janak de Silva, had merely withheld a sensitive section on national security, which was not presented to Parliament. However, this section, which pertains to identifying the mastermind behind the attacks, was handed over to Bishop Harold Anthony, President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference, on the instructions of President Ranil Wickremesinghe. Despite this, no mastermind has been identified.
Gammanpila emphasized that he and the Catholic Church are not asking for the already-public Janak de Silva report but rather for the SI Imam and ANJ de Alvis reports, which remain unreleased. The SI Imam report was submitted to the former President on June 25, 2024, and the ANJ de Alvis report on September 14, 2024. He reiterated that Father Cyril Anthony, the spokesperson for the Catholic Church, has been calling for these reports to be made public.
Challenging the government’s narrative, Gammanpila offered to provide any missing pages if necessary, stating that his party had obtained the full reports from the President’s Secretariat and the Attorney General’s Department. Although they had not published them out of respect for the committees, Gammanpila declared that if the government fails to release the reports within seven days, he will make them public.
He further warned the government against any attempt to seize the documents, as they have been scanned and securely stored online. The press conference was also attended by Sirantha Jayalath and Sekana Mangala, candidates representing Universal Power Colombo District.
