Former PM admits India warned Sri Lanka ahead of Easter attacks

19 Jul, 2021

Former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe today admitted in Parliament that India warned Sri Lanka ahead of the Easter Sunday attacks.

Speaking in Parliament today, Wickremesinghe said that India had alerted Sri Lanka’s Police intelligence service about an attack on Easter Sunday, hours before the attack.

However, he said the Police failed to act on the intelligence information.

The United National Party (UNP) Leader also said that then Minister Harin Fernando had told him that his father had advised him against attending church services on Easter Sunday.

Wickremesinghe said that if the Police failed to act on Indian intelligence reports then they could not be expected to act on a warning from Harin Fernando’s father.

He condemned attempts by the Police to question Fernando over the warning issued by his father.

Maithripala Sirisena was President and Wickremesinghe was Prime Minister when the Easter Sunday attacks took place in 2019. (Colombo Gazette)

Recommended For You

Media Ministry to probe allegations of harassment of female journalists

By Ashanthi Warunasuriya The Media Ministry is to investigate allegations of harassment faced by female journalists at work in Sri Lanka. The decision to investigate the allegations was taken after a few female journalists claimed on social media that they were harassed by their male seniors at work. A #MeToo movement by female journalists is gathering strong support on social media. The movement began after one female journalist claimed she had been harassed by her colleague and later anoth

22 Jun, 2021

Travel ban to be lifted on Monday and reimposed on 23 June

By Vyshnavy Velrajh The travel ban will be lifted on Monday 21 June but will be reimposed on 23 June and lifted again on 25th June. Army Commander, General Shavendra Silva said that the travel restrictions will be lifted at 4am on Monday 21 June. He said it will be reimposed at 10pm on 23 June and lifted again at 4am on 25th June. General Shavendra Silva said that the inter-province travel ban will remain and public gatherings will also not be permitted. He said that the public will also no

18 Jun, 2021

Over 120 test positive in Wattala factory

By Vyshnavy Velrajh Over 120 people have tested positive in a factory in Wattala where several Indians are employed, the Public Health Inspectors Association (PHI) said. Secretary to the Association M. Baalasooriya told Colombo Gazette that they were among 192 employees of the factory who were subjected to PCR tests yesterday. Thirty employees who were found to be infected have been transferred to a private Covid treatment facility, while the remaining have been transferred to a Government tr

21 Jun, 2021

Colombo Gazette is a leading news and entertainment website, covering stories related to Sri Lanka. The content consists of text based news, photos and videos and is linked to social media websites including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, to provide a wider coverage for its stories.