A Sri Lankan cabinet minister has accused Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith of Colombo of failing to cooperate in the investigation into the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings, which has been making slow progress.
Tiran Alles, public security minister, criticised the cardinal in an address in parliament on 23 November, claiming that Ranjith’s interventions “were fuelling racial and religious conflicts” and “holding things up”. He alleged the 76-year-old cardinal lacks urgency and “is reluctant to provide updates”.
Church sources responded by saying they had never been informed what updates the minister expects from the cardinal or Church officials.
Cardinal Ranjith has been critical of the investigations and court cases, claiming that they have been biased and tardy.
In September, he repeated his call for an international investigation into the Easter bombings after a German broadcaster alleged the country's worst-ever terror attack was the work of government operatives.
The government has tried to deflect criticism back onto the cardinal, claiming there was a rift in the Catholic Church leadership over the investigations into the attack. The Sri Lankan bishops’ conference denied any disagreement within the country’s hierarchy over Cardinal Ranjith’s approach.
The devastating Easter Sunday explosions inside three churches and three luxury hotels in 2019 killed 275 people, including a number of foreigners, and injured for than 500 others.
Cardinal Ranjith has repeatedly demanded an explanation of the attack, both from Sri Lankan authorities and in global forums, including the Vatican and the UN Human Rights Council, alleging the incident was “not purely a work of extremists, but a grand political plot”.
Fr Rohan Silva OMI, an advocate for the Easter Sunday victims, expressed frustration last week over the continued delays.
“It's been 55 months since the disaster took place, but the masterminds are still at large, depriving the victims of justice,” he said. “If justice cannot be found within the country, if an independent investigation cannot be done, it is a very unfortunate situation.”
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