On behalf of the Muslim community, the President of the All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama (ACJU) Mufti M.I.M. Rizwe expressed their deepest condolences to the families of those killed in the bomb attacks and pray for the speedy recovery of the injured in the Easter Sunday terror attacks.
“There is no place in Islam for extremism, murder, and violence against innocent people and is regarded as the greatest sin. Islam is a religion of mercy for all humanity and strongly teaches us to treat all people with mercy, tolerance, equality and justice. We have lived together with all other communities in harmony. The Muslim community has always worked with the authorities to address extremism,” he noted.
He was speaking at a media briefing at the Western Province Governor’s Office yesterday.
Addressing the media, the Western Province Governor Azath Salley said this terror attack on Easter Sunday had never occurred in the country before. “Islam does not condone such acts. The government should take measures to ensure that these sort of terror attacks never occur again,” he said.
When asked if the Muslim leaders had any clue as to who is responsible for these attacks, Salley said two years ago they had warned the government and all leaders regarding these perpetrators.
“I have named these parties at press briefings but sadly no action was taken. These perpetrators cannot be called Muslims as these acts are not in line with Muslim teachings. The MSD had been warned about these eight suspects. Then we spoke to the IGP and told him that we had informed the government about these persons. Had they taken action, this tragedy could have been averted. We can only notify the authorities but we cannot take the law into our hands. When we try to take action we are blamed and branded as persons trying to help or support these criminals.”
Responding to media queries, MP S.M. Marikkar said all 225 MPs had been warned by the MSD regarding the threat by this extremist group. However, when asked he said they could not comment on MP Harin Fernando’s statement and it was up to the Police to investigate his statement and take action.
“If the intelligence units had warned the government of this danger, there was no reason why the security forces and police who were able to defeat the world’s most ruthless terrorists, could not have prevented this incident. However, the issue here was about taking decisions. Hence, this is a lapse on the part of taking the right decisions.”
He added that the blame cannot be placed entirely on the President as it’s just two months since he took over as the Law and Order Minister. The warning had been given two years ago and no action was taken and now what is needed is to carry out proper investigations and take action against the perpetrators.