Buddhist monk Gnasara close to Rajapakse claims to know 'mastermind' of Easter bombings
The leader of a far right, ultranationalist Buddhist organisation claimed on Thursday that he knew the identity of the mastermind behind the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka which claimed the lives of 270 people, including many foreign tourists.
Speaking to reporters in Kandy after a meeting of Buddhist prelates, notorious extremist monk Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara of the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) added that he wouldn’t divulge the name to media but would instead inform the current Sri Lankan president and top security officials.
On Easter Sunday 2019, a series of suicide bombings took place in the greater Colombo area and Batticaloa, in the Tamil homeland on the east of the island. The perpetrators were identified as members of the National Thowheeth Jama'ath (NTJ), a group claimed by ISIS. The attacks targeted three churches and four hotels, resulting in more than 270 deaths and over 500 injuries, including many foreign nationals from the UK, Denmark, Portugal, India, Turkey, Australia, the Netherlands, Japan, Switzerland, Spain, Bangladesh, the US and China.
Allegations suggest that specific Sri Lankan intelligence and military officials had connections to the NTJ and that Indian intelligence warnings about the attack were ignored.
Law enforcement efforts to arrest members of the NTJ were hindered, with accusations of political motives behind the attack; that they were allegedly carried out to fuel Sinhala nationalism and facilitate the return of the Rajapaksa family to power.
The Sri Lankan government has faced criticism for its lack of significant progress in investigating or prosecuting those responsible.
Gnanasara has a history of controversial, racist statements and close links with Sri Lankan authorities. He was previously convicted of contempt of court in 2018 for inciting violence against Muslims but was swiftly granted a presidential pardon Maithripala Sirisena, which some viewed was a political move to maintain his influence. In January this year he was sentenced to nine months in prison for making defamatory remarks about Islam but was granted bail pending an appeal.
The monk was appointed as Chairman of the Presidential Task Force "One Country, One Law" in 2021 by the then Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapakse, giving him influence in state policy making. This role allowed him to push his agenda of Sinhala-Buddhist ultra-nationalism, further cementing his position as a key figure in Sri Lankan politics.