The United National Party (UNP) has called on the Sri Lankan government to obtain the material gathered by United States authorities during the FBI's investigation into the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks, questioning whether it has sought the evidence as part of its renewed probe into the bombings.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the UNP recalled that after the Easter Sunday attacks of 21 April 2019, then Sri Lankan prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe requested a full investigation and report from the United States government, citing a lack of adequate expertise among Sri Lankan investigative agencies, and assured Washington of the Sri Lankan authorities' full cooperation.
A similar request was made during a telephone call between Wickremesinghe and US President Donald Trump on 22 April 2019, the party said, reproducing a message Trump posted on X at the time.
"Spoke to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe of Sri Lanka this morning to inform him that the United States stands by him and his country in the fight against terrorism. Also expressed condolences on behalf of myself and the People of the United States!"
According to the UNP, the FBI carried out a full investigation in collaboration with Sri Lankan agencies, including the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Military Intelligence and the State Intelligence Service, and subsequently issued a report to the Sri Lankan government, which was accepted by all the relevant authorities.
The statement noted that on 12 November 2020, FBI Special Agent Merrilee R. Godwin filed a 71-page affidavit in the US District Court for the Central District of California, and that following a two-year investigation a criminal case was filed on 11 December 2020 in the US District Court in Los Angeles. The defendants named in the complaint, Mohamed Naufar, Mohamed Anwar Mohamed Riskan and Ahamed Milhan Hayathu Mohamed, along with other suspects linked to the attacks, were already detained in Sri Lanka at the time.
With all the material from the US investigation remaining in the hands of the FBI and the US Department of Justice, the UNP asked whether the government had applied to Washington for access to it following the reopening of the case, and, if so, what response it had received. "If not, why has the government not done so?" the statement said, adding that the material should be made available to Sri Lanka's judicial authorities.
The appeal comes as the National People's Power government has moved to expedite the long-stalled investigation into the attacks, which killed more than 260 people at churches and hotels, with the former State Intelligence Service chief Major General Suresh Salley among those recently arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act in connection with the probe.
The UNP's readiness to seek international assistance over the Easter Sunday attacks, and Wickremesinghe's appeal to the FBI on the grounds that Sri Lankan agencies lacked the expertise to investigate, sit uneasily alongside the position successive Sri Lankan governments, the UNP among them, have taken on the killing of tens of thousands of Tamils by the military at Mullivaikkal in 2009.
On that, the state has consistently refused international involvement, insisting that accountability remain a domestic matter and invoking national sovereignty, even as Tamil families and United Nations human rights bodies have pressed for an international mechanism.