Posted on April 10th, 2021
by Rohana R. Wasala
The report of the ministerial subcommittee appointed by the president on February 19, 2021 to study the Final Report of the PCoI on the Easter Sunday Attacks and to suggest how its recommendations should be carried out was handed over to the president on April 5 by its secretary Harigupta Rohanadheera, the director general of legal affairs at the presidential secretariat. The sectoral oversight committee comprised minister Chamal Rajapaksa (chairman), and ministers Udaya Gammanpila, Prasanne Ranatunga, Romesh Pathirana, Johnston Fernando and Rohitha Abeygunawardane. Two days later (April 7), the media reported that the Attorney General authorized the proscription of some eleven Islamic organizations including all Thawheed groups, Sri Lanka Jamate Islam, and affiliated student movements, of which those directly or indirectly involved in the April attacks held membership.The international organizations ISIS and Al Qaeda are also now banned in Sri Lanka. The government has already initiated implementing the other recommendations of the PCoI as well, such as the regulation of madrasa education. Under the present president the rule of law, which was under stress during the Yahapalanaya, is steadily taking charge, free of political interference. The uproar raised over alleged governmental pussyfooting around the findings and recommendations of the PCoI was premature. Meanwhile the proposed ban on the Bodu Bala Sena, which had taken the public by surprise, seems to have been rightfully set aside.