Sri Lanka must find out truth of 2019 Easter blasts, say survivors and families of victims
Almost four years ago, Rupika Rosairo's two daughters left the family home in Colombo in their Sunday best to attend Easter mass with their grandmother. But that evening, her 13-year-old younger daughter returned home in a coffin.
Rosairo's children were victims of Sri Lanka's Easter bombings that killed more than 260 people and injured some 400, after eight local Islamist militants blew up three churches and hotels in a coordinated terrorist attack.
Evidence later came to light that the government had sat on intelligence it received about the imminent assault for at least two weeks, prompting the relatives of some victims to file fundamental-rights cases at Sri Lanka's Supreme Court.
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In January, the court ruled that former president Maithripala Sirisena and a number of security chiefs were guilty of "deplorable want of oversight and inaction", and ordered them to pay amounts of between 10 million and 100 million (US$31,000-US$310,000) Sri Lankan rupees each.
Analysts say the ruling and financial reparations - described by the UN Human Rights Office as "a step in the victims' struggle for recognition of the harm suffered, and their rights to truth, justice and reparation" - pave the road to further action by survivors and families of victims, who have been left to struggle with grief, long-term physical and emotional pain, and the lack of information as to the "true masterminds" who have torn their lives apart.
Sitting in the living room of her home in Katuwapitiya, located just 10 minutes from St Sebastian's Church where her daughter died, Rosairo said the money from the judgment meant little to her.
"It cannot bring my child back," she said, her voice quaking with anguish. "I will suffer until I die. And the rulers of this country are responsible for my pain."
She said it hurt that no leader had held a meeting with the families of victims. "If the rulers truly want to repent, they should first come and talk to the families of the victims, which they have not done."
Rosairo said the attacks turned her village into one huge funeral procession, as around 100 residents from the area were killed.
Her mother, who was 75 at the time, suffered a head injury. Her older daughter continues to have difficulty hearing after the bombings and experiences psychological trauma.
"I want to know who did this to my family, who was behind the attacks, and their motive. I want them to receive a deserving punishment," Rosairo said.
Survivor Prasanna Fernando, Rosairo's neighbour, suffered a severe head injury. Once the breadwinner of his family, Prasanna is now in a state of semi-paralysis, leaving him dependent on his wife.
He has a cognitive impairment, struggles to speak, cannot move his right hand and has difficulty walking, according to his wife Marie.
With Prasanna unable to work, the family lost their chicken-farming business, leaving them reliant on church funding and donations. But private donations declined significantly after Covid-19 hit and the country underwent a financial crisis.
"My younger son is just finishing school. We had hopes to educate our children in foreign universities; all that is now shattered," Marie told This Week in Asia.
"[Prasanna] is being punished every day. He can barely walk to the washroom in time. We want those responsible to be punished."
The lives of Bernie Wijesooriya, 59, and Paul Perera, 71, were changed in an instant after their only daughter, Sajuni Rushenima, died from severe brain damage caused by shrapnel from one of the blasts that hit her in one of her eyes.
"Our lives have collapsed. [Our daughter] was the best thing we had, she was our treasure, and she was taken away from us," Wijesooriya said.
They had hoped their daughter would look after them in their old age. "Now we are old and my husband is ailing, but our only child is gone," she said.
Father Jude Krishantha, national director for social communication in the Archdiocese of Colombo, noted that families who had lost breadwinners in the tragedy would feel the economic loss for years to come, especially those with loans or who lived in rented homes.
Others living with psychological trauma would struggle to be employed, he added.
Krishantha said the court ruling provided a basis for filing more cases to understand the forces behind the terrorist attacks.
He added that while the church's congregation had "forgiven" the authorities, "this does not mean we are going to stop the process of seeking justice".
Bhavani Fonseka, a senior researcher at the Centre for Policy Alternatives in Sri Lanka, told This Week in Asia that the judgment was "very significant" and paved the way for further action by survivors and families of victims.
"It listens to the victims, recognises the violations that occurred, and holds a former head of state [accountable], while also making very damning comments on the functioning of the security establishment," she said.
One father in Colombo, who did not want to be named, expressed anger that it was the survivors and relatives of the deceased who had to do the work.
"I expect more from the state and the system. The relevant officers in charge should have taken action, without anyone having to go to the courts," said the man, who lost both his wife and daughter.
Now, survivors and families of victims had to go to court again to understand the results of the investigations, which should not be the case, he said. "I have a right to know who killed my wife and daughter. I hope [the answers] will come before my death."
This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
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