Four months after bombs exploded at churches and hotels across Sri Lanka, church leaders are seeking accountability for government officials who ignored intelligence about the terrorist threat.
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Sri Lanka is calling for an independent investigation, but with elections scheduled for later this year, political leaders are more focused on political maneuvering than accountability.
The attacks have become a flashpoint in this year’s presidential election, which could preclude any attempt at launching an independent investigation. Voters are worried about the incumbent president’s ability to protect the nation against terrorism, and neither the incumbent president nor prime minister, who are expected to run against one another, is eager to empower an investigation that could show they failed to act on intelligence.
William Stark, the regional manager for South Asia at International Christian Concern, an organization which advocates for the human rights of Christians, pointed to “animosity” between President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as a hindrance to any investigation.
“There’s a lot of political infighting over this particular investigation, which is what the church leaders are actually calling out, which is why they say they want an independent and impartial investigation into what’s happened so people that are accountable can be held accountable for it,” Stark told the Washington Examiner. “They feel that all of this is being used for internal politics between the president and the prime minister.”
India reportedly warned Sri Lankan officials on three occasions about a potential terrorist attack targeting churches and hotels prior to the bombings. Although Sri Lankan officials have acknowledged receiving the alerts, both the president and prime minister claim they were unaware of the information. Several officials have claimed Sirisena was forewarned.
Last October, prior to the attack, Sirisena attempted to remove Wickremesinghe from office, but was overruled by the Supreme Court, leaving lasting tensions between the two men.
Conflict between the president and prime minister, along with fears over security in the wake of the attack, have helped the candidacy of Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa, a former defense official. Supporters suggest he will better protect the country against terrorism given his reputation as a hardliner who used controversial tactics during the country’s long civil war.
While Christians are pushing for political accountability, they are also taking steps to heal the wounds wrought by the bombings.
“A lot of [the Christians] are just trying to figure out how day-to-day, or maybe [for] the long-term future, how they are going to survive. I think sometimes that’s what gets lost with this bigger political infighting,” said Stark.
There are approximately 1.6 million Christians in Sri Lanka, a predominantly Buddhist country which only a decade ago concluded a quarter-century long civil war.
The Catholic Church is addressing the psychological and spiritual trauma by sending priests to minister to the faithful.
“We’re trying to put the psychological healing also in a spiritual context,” Joop Koopman, director of communications for Aid to the Church in Need, a Catholic organization supporting Christians around the world, told the Washington Examiner. “What the church is doing is [it] has dispatched a number of priests whose job it is to go to people’s home and counsel them, and especially make known to them they’re not forgotten, that they’re not alone.”
Koopman said the church is “putting suffering in perspective, that there have been martyrs throughout the history of the church.” The church started a program where it takes survivors to a spot in northern Sri Lanka where hundreds of Christians were slaughtered several centuries ago to “help them connect with martyrs of the past.”
While the country’s top leaders may not be held accountable in the near future, the attacks cast a spotlight on the country’s Christian community and are expected to affect this year’s election.
“One priest said it’s like the whole country was baptized overnight,” said Koopman, referring to the new visibility of Christians.
