Is Former Sri Lankan Minister Pillayan the Mastermind Behind 2019 Easter Bombings? - Frontline Magazine

Sri Lanka In a shocking development with serious ramifications for former elected top leaders, a former Chief Minister of Sri Lanka’s Eastern Province, Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, alias Pillayan, has been arrested in connection with the April 2019 serial bomb blasts in the country, which killed nearly 300 people. The country’s Public Security Minister, Mahinda Wijepala, provided the Sri Lankan parliament with this information on April 10. “No crime will be covered up. Justice must prevail,” the Minister told parliament. “A great deal of evidence has been obtained that links Pillayan to the Easter bomb attacks,” the local media reported, quoting the Minister. https://frontline.thehindu.com/world-affairs/article27056420.ece The 2019 blasts shook the nation, which was recovering from the longdrawn-out civil war, killing one of its main revenue streams: tourism. It also propelled former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s brother Gotabaya Rajapaksa to power. https://frontline.thehindu.com/world-affairs/sri-lanka-crisis-gotabaya-rajapaksa-the-making-and-unmaking-of-a-president/article38491294.ece On April 9, the Police Media division stated that Pillayan was arrested over the abduction of an unnamed person about 19 years ago. Although the police press release did not name the victim, the arrest was for the abduction of Eastern University Vice Chancellor S. Raveendranath, who was later murdered. Raveendranath, who did not agree with Pillayan on many issues, was forcibly taken from a high security zone called Colombo-7 in the middle of Colombo’s elite residences, on December 15, 2006. All eyes on contentious Adani wind power project ahead of Modi’s Lanka visit All eyes on contentious Adani wind power project ahead of Modi’s Lanka visit The visit is likely to reopen negotiations over pricing, a major issue with the new Sri Lankan dispensation. SOUTH ASIA All eyes on contentious Adani wind power project ahead of Modi’s Lanka visit storyline 1 In the Sri Lankan parliament, the Minister, while not denying the police press release, said that Pillayan was arrested for his links with those who carried out the blasts. Even before this arrest, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) had questioned Pillayan on his role in the April 2019 blasts, on the basis of information aired by a UK-based news outlet, Channel 4. In November 2024, Pillayan was summoned by the CID, and he grandly declared: “If guilty, I will hang myself.” Raising suspicion In February 2025, Sri Lanka’s Daily Mirror newspaper reported that Pillayan, while in Batticaloa prison, reached out to the main accused in the 2019 bombings, Zaharan, and aided him. This was based on information provided by a whistle-blower, Azath Maulana, who was once a coordinating secretary with Pillayan. According to one source, the charge against Pillayan, who is a former militant, is that when he was in prison he trained a group of convicts in insurgency tactics. In this Easter season, memories of the Easter Sunday blasts have been used by Christian leaders to highlight the fact that the government has done no serious investigation into the blasts. The ruling Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, or National People’s Power (NPP), government is under pressure to investigate and deliver on its promise of apprehending the real culprits behind the April 2019 bomb attacks. In rallies ahead of the forthcoming local body elections on May 6, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has been promising people that justice will be served. In this Easter season, memories of the Easter Sunday blasts have been used by Christian leaders to highlight the fact that the government has done no serious investigation into the blasts. Colombo Archbishop Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith warned the government that unless it got its act together by April 21, the sixth anniversary of the blasts, the Christian community would take to the streets in protest. “They [the NPP government] have to be seen as acting [on the issue],” said a Sri Lankan analyst. “The arrest, and the promise of more [arrests] to come, will help keep the calm,” he added. People who have lived through the years when Pillayan was Chief Minister and during the war are not convinced that he was alone in the conspiracy to propel one party to power in the 2019 presidential election. A Jaffna-based journalist, Uthaya Shalin, posted on the social media platform X: “Pillayan is a murderer—there’s no debate that he deserves punishment. But when several intelligence officers, including Gotabaya, are linked to the Easter bombings, why is only Pillayan being arrested? Is it because he’s an easy target? Or is the government nervous about a Pillayan-Karuna-Viyalendiran alliance ahead of the local body elections?” Pillayan’s clout Pillayan, a former militant who still heads a political party, the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal, has teamed up with former militant and former Minister Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan (alias Karuna), who runs the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, and Sathasivam Viyalendiran of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna to fight the election scheduled for May 6. On paper, this combination appears to have some traction in the Eastern Province since both Pillayan and Karuna still run private armies. Ravi Karunanayake and the art of entering parliament without winning an election Ravi Karunanayake and the art of entering parliament without winning an election The former Minister’s unexpected entry brings to the fore alternative pathways to power, and has set off a debate on loopholes in electoral system. Sri Lanka Ravi Karunanayake and the art of entering parliament without winning an election storyline 1 A 2020 criminal complaint filed by Special Agent Merrilee R. Goodwin of the Federal Bureau of Investigation against the plotters of the bomb blasts (Mohamed Naufar, Mohamed Anwar Mohamed Riskan, and Ahamed Milhan Hayathu Moahmed) in the US District Court for the Central District of California did not mention Pillayan at all. The charges listed against the defendants were: “conspiring to provide, providing, and attempting to provide material support to foreign terrorist organisation” and “aiding and abetting the receipt of military-type training from a foreign terrorist organisation”. In another strange twist, on April 15, former President Ranil Wickremesinghe requested for a meeting with Pillayan, who is still in CID custody. The request was declined. Wickremesinghe refused to clarify why he sought an audience. The CID is of the view that Wickremesinghe has no grounds to ask for such a meeting. However, Pillayan was allowed to meet his attorney, Udaya Gammanpila, who is also a former MP. https://frontline.thehindu.com/dispatches/ranil-wickremesinghe-sworn-in-as-prime-minister-of-sri-lanka-for-the-sixth-time/article65428665.ece In this Easter season, memories of the Easter Sunday blasts have been used by Christian leaders to highlight the fact that the government has done no serious investigation into the blasts.