Scars, forgiveness and long wait for justice
April 22, 2020By defence.lk features desk
The Easter Sunday carnage perpetrated by a handful of fundamentalist extremist terrorists, on April 21, 2019, killing over 250 civilians and injuring over 500 has left us with many unanswered questions.
With all craze transpiring globally and locally, triggered by spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, some attention might have eclipsed the first-year commemoration of the ‘Easter-Sunday’ bombings.
While lives of many were devastated, ruined and shattered -those individuals and families urn for justice to be meted out against both the perpetrators and the neglectors. It was recently the Police spokesperson was on record stating that the fundamentalist terrorists had also planned for a second wave of attacks. This raise concerns that there is more to do in tracking and tracing the remaining nodes of this crime.
A year has gone by and defence.lk spoke to a few persons, who had become the victims of this bombing spree. At first glimpse their lives seem to have changed totally, in a twist of faith. And despite their losses, all were determined to rise against the odds in memory of their loved ones lost and in belief of God.
“We never thought something like this would ever happen. It’s like a nightmare. People ran everywhere, not knowing what happened. It was like a miracle; St. Anthony’s statue was saved. Many people died”, said Gerad, who was among few who are fortunate enough to have escaped the carnage alive.
We met Gerad who is a devoted Christian, at the St. Anthony’s Church at Kochchikade- the first target of the Easter Sunday bombing.
“The bomber had come from that area” says Gerad pointing towards a section of the church which earlier had direct access from the road.
“The church was filled with people who came to the mass. I was at the other side and witnessed the explosion. I saw a large ball of fire and immediately ran outside of the church” Gerad says recollecting the horror he had experienced firsthand.
He says he never thought that a Muslim would do such a massacre as they also come to this place to pray for their children to excel in examinations,” Gerad said with utter disbelief.
Like his unfettered devotion, Gerad finally said that he had confidence on the armed forces and expressed gratitude to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the Tri-Forces for protecting the country.
Thilina Harshani, was among many who not only sustained lifelong injuries but also lost their most dearests in the Kochchikade church bombing.
“I have three children. I lost one child in the Easter Sunday bombing. He was sitting next to me when the bomb exploded,” she recalls.
The other two children had sustained minor injuries. “My entire family went to the mass to celebrate the resurrection of Lord Jesus Christ. Still unexpectedly we had to face a dangerous situation. When I recall, at that moment, I had no idea what had happened” Thilina says.
Indeed, like Thilina, the entire country had no idea of what transpired on Easter Sunday, except for the perpetrators, their inner circles and the Sri Lankan polity and a few individuals of the security apparatus who later were known to have received some sort of advance intelligence warnings internationally about the impending suicide attacks to strike in future.
“It is nearly a year that I am under treatment at a hospital. So far, I have recovered a lot from my injuries”, she says trying to smile while hiding tears in her eyes.
Despite her injuries, she has not lost her grit and believes of recovery soon.
“I think I would recover more. Even though my recovery would not be hundred percent, I do believe to recover so that at least I could do my work alone. Due to the explosion I sustained serious injuries to my spinal chord. Bomb blast has made my both hands paralysed and an eye is fully damaged,” she keeps on explaining the damage that the bomb blast did for you.
“Despite all this, I still believe we are a bit fortunate as we are still alive”, Thilina says.
During the three-decade war, Sri Lanka has left with many courageous souls like Thilina. following the hard-earned peace in 2009, many believed an end to terrorism in the island. Contrary to these beliefs, a few radicalized groups have had other thoughts. The military was forced into a slumber and intelligence agencies were put in a disarray through a government sponsored witch hunt.
Religious entrepreneurs were offered red-carpet into the island and almost all were scot free. All these provided religious radical elements to multiply and spread their ideology exponentially in the far corners of the island.
Sharanya, the 25-year-old, mother of a baby boy believes in her future not to be a burden for her aging parents who are taking care of her.
“On that April 21, I went to the church with my husband. I was nine- months pregnant. We went to the church happily and it was just 11-months after our wedding,” she says in a quivering voice.
Sharanya says in the bomb blast ‘she lost her life, her husband died and she got lifelong injuries- Her arm and a leg are badly damaged.
“A Muslim person took me and admitted to the hospital. I was operated and weeks after I came to know that my husband had died,” she says that Easter Sunday attack would not be erased in her mind as she lost her husband on April 21 and her son was born on April 22.
Sharanya is unable to stand and attend her day –to-day work alone. The bomb blast has devastated her life and her future making her a life time dependent .
Jesuraj is another survivor of the suicide bomb that ripped off in the St.Anthony’s church.
“I had my right leg amputated following the 2019 bomb incident. With the explosion I fell off balanced. My wife and my younger brother had rushed me to a hospital in a bus. At the hospital, the doctors did their best to save my life,” he says how doctors amputated his leg to save his life.
He was to celebrate his first year wedding anniversary when he was caught in the bomb blast.
“It took my wife and our families to recover from the devastation. She was mentally down as she couldn’t bear up the loss,” Jesuraj says.
He requests the Government to ensure such incidents would not happen in the future. “Though this happened to me, I want the Government to ensure that such incidents would not be repeated in the future,” he says.
Many of the survivors living with grief are still numb from the devastating bomb blasts that not only rock Sri Lanka but also the entire Asia.
Every one of these survivors of the Easter Sunday bomb attacks are pleading only one thing – ‘Do justice for those who are dead and living by bringing culprits to book.
Archbishop of Colombo Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith’s message
“On this occasion when we commemorate the dead and pray for the wounded of last year’s Easter attacks, I wish to express our sincere gratitude to all those who stood by the victims showing their solidarity and for assisting them in every possible way. These victims belonged to all ethnic and religious groups in Sri Lanka and included foreigners,” Archbishop of Colombo Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith said in a message
“We honour especially all those who lost their loved ones and those who were injured, for their spirit of magnanimity in not reacting in anger and hatred. What was remarkable in that was the resolve to stay calm and peaceful so that an evil plot to destabilise Sri Lanka with racial or religious riots was defeated by all Sri Lankans.
We are aggrieved that those responsible for governance at that time did not take seriously the repeated warnings received concerning these attacks and so not only allowed this massacre to take place but also sought to hide their culpability in different ways after the attacks.
Still more serious is the responsibility of all those who masterminded these attacks by planning, funding and encouraging the perpetrators and deliberately covering up facts of the case. Some of them surely knew this was coming. We thank the incumbent President for his insistence in investigating these attacks thoroughly and for ensuring those responsible are brought to book.
We are indeed sad and shocked to hear that some educated and elitist people, some of whom are connected to the legal sphere, are trying to bring pressure on the President to cover up these investigations and possibly hide the authors. What are human rights when they try to use such to cover up the perpetrators and associates of those who violated the basic right to life of so many innocent human beings – men, women and children?”.