President Maithripala Sirisena will do anything in his power to stop the Parliamentary Select Committee inquiring into the Easter Sunday bombings and his recent statement at the cabinet that he has no plans to contest the 2019 presidential election may also be linked to this effort top sources close to him have told Colombo Telegraph.
President Sirisena
On Tuesday Sirisena told the cabinet of ministers that he would not contest for a second term and would neither support former President Mahinda Rajapaksa‘s team in the election.
The whole aim of this latest announcement is to divert the attention of the Select Committee from attributing responsibility to him as Minister of Defence for failing to act on detailed intelligence that the bombings were imminent the sources added. “President Sirisena is terrified that how much he knew about the attacks before April 21st will be revealed at the committee” with various security officers scheduled to give evidence before it the sources close to Sirisena said.
The president was frantically contacting lawyers and experts to ask for opinions about how he can stop the PSC from holding the sittings. For the first time on the direction of Speaker Karu Jayasuriya a select committee has been held in the full view of the media. Sirisena was even considering proroguing parliament to dissolve the committee the sources added.
On the first day of sittings President Sirisena got his brother who is the chairman of SLT to suspend the live telecast of proceedings on PEO tv channel 91. However the Parliament website continued to broadcast the sittings. PEO TV is unlikely to telecast future PSC sittings either.
“The president seems convinced this PSC wants to pin the blame on him for the Easter Attacks. Already some testimony has gone badly for him. He seems to think he is being targeted through this committee,” the source told Colombo Telegraph. He may have thought that if he indicated to the UNP ministers that he was unlikely to be a candidate in the presidential election they will back off him and call off the Committee the source added.
Colombo Telegraph has already reported that President Sirisena was briefed 3 times in advance of the Easter attacks by SIS head SDIG Nilantha Jayawardena. The final warning was on April 21 hours before the bomb went off. Colombo Telegraph can also reveal now that President Sirisena also received documents in connection to the warnings by a senior intelligence official on April new year day. He continues to claim security officers did not inform him about the warnings.
President Sirisena is very worried that SDIG Jayawardane will have to tell the Committee the truth when he is summoned. To lie to the committee would be to commit perjury and invite the censure of parliament and possibly criminal proceedings.
The PSC will reconvene in Parliament at 11am on June 6th. The Committee has summoned ex Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando and suspended IGP Pujith Jayasundara to testify. Jayasundara has already filed a damning FR in Supreme Court detailing how President Sirisena promised to absolve him from blame in any inquiry report into the Easter attacks if he quietly resigned.
Between now and the PSC sittings tomorrow morning President Sirisena’s next move might be one worth watching.
K.Pillai / June 6, 2019
MS is not the only ‘Desperate’ Lankan right now.
In fact we are ‘Desperate’ all the time, layLankans for their next meal and the Lankan Elites without political borders for their next US$ million commission.
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Back to ‘Desperate’ right now.
RW is ‘Desperate’ but does not know why.
Suspended IGP Pujith Jayasundara is ‘Desperate’ because his whiter than white IGP uniform and gloves to boot may not fit him after the ordeal.
Army Commander Lt Col Mahesh Senanayake is ‘Desperate’ because the Avant Garde Armoury project may not receive attention.
BBS Buddhist Gnanasara is desperately to get publicity. He wants to hand over his anti-Muslim and ‘Terrorist’ activities to Maheson Balakaya and get into politics. Watch out MR.
GR has gone to Singapore to find out from his promoters as to why things went outside the script.
Prof Rohan Gunaratne is ‘Desperate’ because his IS-expertise has been exposed as a fraud. He may loose his job.
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We been through ‘Desperate Hours’ for seventy years!
“Clickity-clickity-clickity-click”
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chiv / June 6, 2019
Congrats Retard you just hit a century.
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Steve / June 7, 2019
Going for a double century.
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Mano / June 7, 2019
LIKE A RAT CAUGHT IN A MOUSE TRAP ?
No more torture ! Please open the trap and let it loose back in the fields.
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Tony / June 9, 2019
Good decision by sirs not to contest he may not get even 100 votes
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chiv / June 7, 2019
It is not just MS. It is Sirisena, MR and RAJEEWA who are desperate.
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Soam / June 7, 2019
Not even Lord Venkanteswar from Thrupathi is going to save this idiot. Only a handful will shed tears.
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Eddie wijesuriya / June 7, 2019
This time the “gamarala “ is going to be exposed and no “ boru “ excuses will be accepted. The best is that he resigns and faces the music, if he is a man. He has to take the responsibility for the carnage due his gross negligence on that fateful day.
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Pon Kulendiren / June 7, 2019
Mahinda is sitting happily watching the PSC proceedings The Main man is nourishing ISIS is now in Singapore PSC should call him too and question him about the support given by Mahinda; government. They should question Mahinda as well
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gerad jabin / June 7, 2019
Not Only GAMRARALA SIRISENA, ponna ranil managala ravi rajavassas mervyns with 225 clowns in the parliament will not be given a chance again accept sarath fonseka. All 225 clowns including prime minister and the president will be gone. We will take legal action against them with the easter bombings, who committed fraud, will end up in jail. I will ask the next parliament to bring in death sentence so that we will take care of the crooked politicians, extremists who aggravate religuos racist differences, and also the idiot who sell druggies . The life imprisonment is death sentence and we will proceed with it.
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Kumara Dharmarathne / June 8, 2019
Sir, Whatever you do or say it’s a failure or go against you. When you appointed a new Prime Minister and the Cabinet, court verdict was that you violated the constitution and you had to reappoint the lawful Premier. You repeatedly said you will never ever reappoint Mr. Ranil Wickremasinghe as Premier but you had to do it. Moreover you said if Mr. Wickremasinghe became Premier, you will resign from the presidency within two days but you did not honor your word and thereby you became a mockery. Priest who was pardoned by you,now began criticizing you. Governors whom you appointed, you yourself had to tell them to resign. Although you tried to help Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa for your own political gain, his party going against you. What I personally understand as to why things happen this way is nothing but due to ignorance.
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