FINANCIAL CHRONICLE – April 21, 2026, marks the seventh anniversary of the tragic Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka, which were executed by Islamist extremists and shattered the peace of that day. The physical damage at locations such as St. Sebastian’s Church, St. Anthony’s Shrine, and Zion Church remains visible, but the deeper wound is the persistent lack of justice.
The slow progress in achieving a thorough investigation has become emblematic of Sri Lanka’s post-war challenges, turning a national tragedy into a lingering grievance. Despite numerous assurances from political leaders and several investigations, including a Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI), definitive answers about the events are still elusive.
On that dark morning, nine suicide bombers associated with the local extremist group National Thowheeth Jama’ath (NTJ) targeted three luxury hotels in Colombo and three churches in the regions of Kochchikade, Negombo, and Batticaloa. The attacks resulted in the deaths of at least 270 individuals, including 45 foreign nationals, and left over 500 others injured. This incident was the most severe act of violence in Sri Lanka since the end of the civil war in 2009. The situation was further aggravated by the fact that Indian intelligence had issued specific warnings to Sri Lankan authorities both weeks and hours prior to the attacks, which were overlooked due to a severe communication breakdown between then-President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.
Following such a complex incident, the independence of the inquiry is crucial for restoring public trust. It is essential not only from a legal standpoint but also as a societal necessity. The public deserves to know who orchestrated the attacks. While the immediate perpetrators have been identified, uncertainties linger regarding potential state involvement and intelligence failures. An investigation that is free from political interference is necessary to dispel conspiracy theories that have contributed to national instability. Unfortunately, successive governments have weaponized the investigation for electoral gain, a trend that has persisted from Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s administration through to Ranil Wickremesinghe’s and continues under President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, despite occasional arrests.
The protracted investigation has acted as a slow poison to national unity. By 2019, Sri Lanka was still recovering from decades of ethnic conflict, and the Easter attacks introduced a new dimension of division: Islamic extremism. The legal system’s inability to deliver a conclusive and transparent verdict has perpetuated distrust among communities. Reconciliation necessitates a shared understanding of the truth. When the truth is obscured, communities retreat into their own narratives of grief and suspicion, obstructing the social coherence vital for a developing nation. The failure to uncover the comprehensive circumstances surrounding this massacre has heightened tensions between Muslims and other communities, while certain political factions continue to exploit the situation for their own advantage.
The Catholic community has shifted from mourning to a determined pursuit of justice. They feel let down by successive governments that pledged to uncover the truth quickly but instead delivered years of inaction. For many within the Catholic community, the ongoing delays are perceived as an intentional cover-up by high-ranking officials. Meanwhile, the Muslim community faces a dual burden. They were victims of extremist actions, yet they also became targets of collective blame. The unresolved investigation has perpetuated a stigma of suspicion that lingers over the community. Subsequent search operations and discriminatory rhetoric in the aftermath of the attacks have fostered feelings of alienation among Muslims.
Since the bombings, various inquiries have been conducted to uncover the truth. The first formal inquiry, the Malalgoda Committee, was established shortly after the attacks and chaired by Supreme Court Justice Vijith Malalgoda. This three-member board, which included former Inspector General of Police N K Illangakoon and former Law and Order Ministry Secretary Padmasiri Jayamanne, was tasked with investigating the causes and background of the bombings within a strict two-week timeline. The findings from this committee laid the groundwork for acknowledging the significant intelligence failures and communication lapses between security forces and political leadership.
The Malalgoda Report indicated that specific warnings from foreign intelligence had indeed reached top security officials but remained unacted upon, a revelation that set the stage for subsequent investigations, including the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) and the Presidential Commission of Inquiry. The PSC’s report, released in October 2019, placed substantial accountability on the country’s security and intelligence apparatus, noting that senior officials had been warned about potential attacks as early as April 4, 2019, yet failed to respond, resulting in a catastrophic failure of national security. It also highlighted a fractured relationship between the President and the Prime Minister, which led to key officials being excluded from critical National Security Council meetings. The PSC concluded that the intelligence failures stemmed from not just technical oversights but were also compounded by deep-rooted state complexities and the politicization of intelligence operations.
The PCoI, established in September 2019, generated the most comprehensive official record of the events, culminating in a report that spanned thousands of pages. The commission highlighted a severe failure of the state’s duty to safeguard its citizens and recommended criminal actions against former President Maithripala Sirisena and top security officials due to criminal negligence. It elucidated how the lack of coordination between the State Intelligence Service (SIS) and other security agencies permitted the NTJ to operate and radicalize without detection for an extended period. In addition to identifying immediate security failures, the commission proposed controversial recommendations aimed at preventing future extremism, such as banning certain extremist groups and regulating madrasas. While it provided a detailed chronological account of the attacks, the PCoI faced criticism from victims’ groups and the Catholic Church for not definitively identifying the mastermind or intellectual architects behind the attacks.
In a landmark ruling on January 12, 2023, the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka found former President Maithripala Sirisena and several high-ranking security officials personally responsible for their failure to prevent the attacks, despite credible intelligence being available. A seven-judge bench determined that the respondents had violated the fundamental rights of the victims through their negligence and failure to assemble the National Security Council. The court mandated the former president to pay 100 million rupees from his personal funds to a victim compensation fund, with other officials, including former IGP Pujith Jayasundara and former SIS Director Nilantha Jayawardena, also ordered to pay substantial sums. This ruling was celebrated as a significant victory for judicial accountability in Sri Lanka, marking the first instance in which a sitting Head of State was held legally accountable for executive negligence related to national security, providing a measure of justice for the victims and the families of those lost.
However, despite these developments, the criminal prosecution of those who orchestrated the attacks has stagnated, with many cases mired in preliminary legal challenges. The Easter Sunday attacks have emerged as a potent political instrument throughout modern Sri Lankan history, with the quest for national security and the identification of the culprits being central issues that propelled the Gotabaya Rajapaksa administration to power in 2019. Nevertheless, once in office, the drive for investigation seemed to wane. Since then, various factions have leveraged the tragedy either to position themselves as protectors of the faith or to accuse their opponents of being part of a deeper conspiracy. This politicization of mourning has relegated the victims’ search for justice to a secondary concern within the electoral cycle.
In the aftermath of the attacks, extremist elements among the Buddhist clergy and nationalist groups have exploited the tragedy to promote an Islamophobic agenda, using the fear generated by the bombings to advocate for boycotts of Muslim-owned businesses and to push for contentious legislation regarding personal laws and traditional attire. These groups characterized the attacks not as the actions of a fringe group but as an existential threat to the Sinhala-Buddhist identity of the nation, inciting localized anti-Muslim riots, such as those in Minuwangoda.
The seven-year delay in addressing the aftermath of the attacks can be attributed to three primary factors, including systemic bureaucracy. The overwhelming volume of evidence and the complexity of international connections, particularly with groups like ISIS, have strained local investigators, necessitating additional resources and legal frameworks to expedite the inquiries. Intelligence sensitivity represents another crucial factor, as much of the evidence pertains to secret services, and revealing the full truth could expose the inner workings and failures of the state’s security apparatus. Moreover, a lack of political will has also contributed to the delays, with a prevailing belief that a genuinely independent investigation could implicate powerful political figures, leading to a mutual protection agreement among the elite.
Some politicians have claimed, referencing U.S. intelligence reports, that the mastermind has already been identified, and further investigations are unnecessary, while others suggest that Noufar Moulavi, currently under arrest and facing charges, is the key figure. There are also conspiracy theories alleging Indian involvement, but none of these claims have been conclusively proven, aside from the established fact that Zaharan Hashim led the suicide bombers in their attacks against innocent Sri Lankans.
Amidst the political discourse and legal proceedings, the voices of the victims have often been overshadowed. Seven years later, many survivors continue to undergo surgeries to remove shrapnel, families have lost their primary earners, and children have grown up without parental figures. Although some financial compensation has been distributed, victims consistently assert that money cannot equate to justice. The psychological burden of residing in a nation where worshippers can be targeted and where the state fails to provide explanations for such tragedies remains a heavy weight on the collective consciousness of Sri Lanka. Until the true mastermind is unveiled, the memories of Easter 2019 will persist as a haunting reminder in Colombo’s corridors of power, underscoring the reality that a nation devoid of justice cannot achieve lasting peace.
