Tuesday, April 23, 2019

2019 Easter Massacre in Sri Lanka.

There were plenty of indications that some kind of incident was going to occur.  Some Muslim Leaders/Politicians had warned the govt of possible terror attack, some even naming possible suspects*. The incidents or information were either ignored or worse perpetrators were released.

*This is quite different from main stream Tamil politicians who kept shielding at minimum or encouraging the LTTE who were referred to as our "boys". eg SJV Chelvanayagam, Amirthalingam etc who finally were assassinated by the "boys".


Possible reasons for Inaction by the Govt
a) In fighting within the govt and finger pointing at the previous Rajapakse regime.
b) Current govt and President were elected on a minority vote and reluctance to clamp down on a segment of their constituency.

A simple timeline
a) December 2018.  Buddhist Statues vandalized in Mawanella
b) December 2018: Pattern of denial that radical Muslims exist.  See comments in link below.
     https://twitter.com/azzamameen/status/1078290050498977799?lang=en
c) January 2019:  Two suspects in Mawanella traced to coconut estate in Wanathavilluwa**. 
                              Large quantities of explosives found.
      http://mirrorcitizen.dailymirror.lk/2019/01/23/damaging-buddha-statues-father-of-the-two-accused-arrested/

d) March 2019: Mohamed Razak Taslim,  Minister Kabir Hasims's Coordinating Secretary is shot by muslim extremists.  Taslim had been assisting the CID  in investigating December 2018 vandalizing of Buddhist statutes.
e) April 2019: Easter Sunday Massacre targeting Christians and Westerners: 300+ killed.

**Wanathavilluwa is kind of middle of nowhere, big (for SL) rolling coconut Farms/estates and scrub jungle, but still a center.  10 km from Wilpattu National Park (Jungle).  140 km from the Colombo center.   From nearby Kalpitiya or Karaithivu by  boat approx 100 km to Dhanuskodi or Toothukudi



Mohamed Zahran (Abu Ubaida) also called Moulvi Zahran Hashim

Ancillary Information
a) National Thowheed Jamath (NTJ) and leader Mohamed Zahran (Abu Ubaida) also called Moulvi Zahran Hashim were responsible for the massacre.
b) Note there is Sri Lanka Towheeth Jamaath (SLTJ)., Ceylon Towheeth Jamaath (CTJ)and a  Tamil Nadu Thowheed Jamaath.
c)  Apparently Moulvi Zahran Hashim and NTJ have/had YouTube videos in Tamil calling for killing of Kafirs (non Muslims) and jihad. The local villagers say those videos were common and had watched at least some of them.

What can be done
a)  Stop teaching of Arabic after school.  All the Muslim children in this village do two hours of Arabic lessons after school. Prevention is better than cure
b) Moulavi/Lebbes visiting Pakistan or Saudi Arabia should be kept under investigation.
c) Madrassas should be investigated.
d) Either heavy military presence in mono ethnic enclaves, including Jaffna. Or change in population composition, if needs be by State intervention, so be it.
e) Foreign Aid, donations cannot be to a single ethnic group or religion.

Some excerpts

http://www.ft.lk/top-story/Blame-game-over-terror-attacks/26-676853
Meanwhile, Highways and Road Development Minister Kabir Hashim claimed that some of the members linked to the NTJ and suspected to be responsible for the terror attacks on Sunday had earlier been arrested over the Wanathawilluwa explosives raid on 18 January but were later released.

“I have been informed that one or two persons that were arrested during Wanathawilluwa explosive haul were released by the Police because of political influence. There is speculation that one person that got released was involved in a suicide attack on Sunday,” he added. However, Hashim said that he could only confirm this information within the next couple of days.

Police also identified the suicide bomber of the Shangri-La Hotel as Imzaan Seelavan. Presenting evidence before the Colombo Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, Police said that Seelavan’s wife, his brother and two children had died in the explosion in Dematagoda on Sunday.

Seelavan, who was an owner of a factory in the Wellmapitiya area, had about 100 people in his employment, Police told courts. Nine of his employees had been arrested during a joint operation by the Colombo Crimes Division and Terrorist Investigation Department (TID). The nine suspects were remanded till 6 May. Court ordered Police to conduct an in-depth investigation and present the findings to Court. The magistrate also gave permission for Police to obtain phone records of the nine suspects.

The three Policemen who died in the Dematagoda blasts were posthumously awarded promotions.

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Video of alleged Sri Lanka suspect moments before blast. Looks a nice peaceful run of the mill guy.
Pats the head of a little child before he walks into the church and detonates the bomb.

https://edition.cnn.com/videos/world/2019/04/22/sri-lanka-attack-new-surveillance-video-kiley-pkg-lead-vpx.cnn

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