Senior State Counsel Suharshi Herath on Tuesday pointed out to the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the Easter Sunday terror attacks the inherent contradictions in the evidence given by former Western Province Governor Azath Salley at the previous Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) hearings and the present Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the April 21 bombings.
During the hearings of the Presidential Commission on Tuesday, Salley told the Commissioners that he received an intelligence memo containing the names of the would-be perpetrators from his personal security officer on the very day of the attacks – April 21, 2019. However, he had taken steps much earlier to inform the then Defence Secretary and the intelligence chief about the extremist activities of Zahran Hashim and others.
However, Counsel Herath recalled that at the PSC hearings on June 11, 2019, that Azath Salley stated that he received an intelligence memo one week before the attacks, whereupon he had sought and got a meeting with the former IGP and several other officials to discuss the same.
Salley recalled that he had informed the relevant security agencies when a person named Haroon led a procession expressing support for the ISIS in the East. He was however given nominations by the SLFP, Salley said.
Salley also said that M.L.A.M. Hizbullah had signed a pact with Zahran to attract votes from his (Zahran’s) 700 or so supporters. It was also known that Zahran had approached Ameer Ali, but that overture was turned down.
Zahran was in the habit of holding Jumma prayers with 15 to 16 people at various places, whereas 40 persons are required to hold a proper Jumma prayer session, Salley said. He had urged authorities publicly to arrest Zahran during this period, but this call went unheeded. He even held a press conference about this, but media coverage was minimal.
Salley told the Commission that he also requested the security authorities to arrest Abdul Razik, but this too did not happen. Razik working together with Zahran gave a wrong interpretation to the religion of Islam.
“There was no room for traditional Muslims in the All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama. This also had factions such as the Tableeghi Jamath and Thowheed Jamat. While the Tableeghi was purely religious in its mission, the latter dabbled in extremist views,” Salley said.
Salley lamented that the Bodu Bala Sena was harping on a wrong translation of the Holy Quran and giving a wrong impression to the people. In order to prevent such misunderstandings, the All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama had now provided a correct translation.
Salley gave evidence before the Commission for more than five hours.
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