Colombo, Apr 20 (PTI) Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake on Sunday said he has forwarded the presidential panel report of 2021 on the Easter terror attacks to CID for further action, ahead of an anticipated statement about the mastermind of the deadly strikes.

Nine suicide bombers belonging to local Islamist extremist group National Thawheed Jamaat (NTJ) linked to ISIS carried out a series of devastating blasts that tore through three churches and as many luxury hotels on April 21, 2019, killing 258 people, including 11 Indians.

“Today, I have forwarded the commission report to the CID to do their investigation. All previous investigations have aimed to cover up rather than reveal those responsible,” Dissanayakle told a campaign rally for the May 6 local council election.

The Commission of Inquiry was appointed by former president Maithripala Sirisena, who was in power during the Easter attacks.

Ironically, the report found Sirisena himself guilty and recommended action for criminal negligence on his part. The report also found other police and intelligence top brass responsible for the attack.

The report was issued in February of 2021. The then President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa’s unwillingness to act upon its recommendations made the head of the local catholic church, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, angry.

Dissanayake, who won Ranjith’s support in last year’s presidential election, directed fresh investigations into the attacks to expose the alleged political cover-up that was made public by the cardinal.

Last month, Ranjith warned Dissanayake that he would get on to the streets unless the president revealed the mastermind by Monday – the sixth anniversary of the attack.

Ranjith opined that the attack was a political plot by the Rajapaksas to regain power.

As a result of the ongoing investigations, the government, since last week, has been blaming the former Tamil chief minister of the eastern province and a Rajapaksa ally, Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan, for the attack.

The former militant was arrested earlier this month in the case of the abduction and disappearance of an eastern province academic in 2006. PTI CORR PY PY PY