An initial probe into the attack that took place on Easter Sunday in Sri Lanka revealed that the attacks were carried out in retaliation for the Christchurch mass murder that took place in the month of March. Sri Lanka, the island nation in the Indian Ocean, witnessed the deadliest attack on its soil since civil war. There were more than 700 casualties with more than 300 people dead including 30 foreigners. The targets were chosen in a way so that the attack could get maximum international media attention.
The probe has cleared the doubts about the motive behind the attack and has revealed that this was in retaliation for the Christchurch incident. The state minister of defence Ruwan Wijewardene said, “The preliminary investigations have revealed that what happened in Sri Lanka (on Sunday) was in retaliation for the attack against Muslims in Christchurch”
Fifty people were killed in shooting at two mosques in New Zealand’s Christchurch. On 15th March, a white supremacist gunman open fired at the worshippers in the two mosques. This got recorded as the country’s worst ever mass killing. The attack in Sri Lanka is therefore a retaliation of the attacks on the mosques that killed the Muslims who were praying inside the mosque.
Mr Wijewardene said that terror attacks were carried out by the extremist Islamic group National Thowheeth Jama’ath (NTJ). Wijewardene also said, “We should take immediate steps to ban any such organisation that have links to extremist elements”
The National Thowheeth Jama’ath has links with the Jamaat-ul-Mujhaheedin India, according to the defence minister. The serial blasts in Sri Lanka left the country in shock. While the casualties in New Zealand were 50, the count in Sri Lanka went up to 300 dead and more than 600 injured. The Sri Lankan government called for emergency meetings and the entire country was on curfew. The social media platforms were shutdown to prevent the spread of misinformation.
Today, the entire nation observed a three minute silence as a part of national mourning to honour the 300 dead which included both civilians and foreign nationals. Half-mast flags could be seen on government buildings. The silence was observed at 8:30 am which marks the time when the first blast took place.
The outrageous retaliation of the Christchurch incident resulted in Sri Lanka facing high number of causalities. The loss of life cannot be compensated by any financial assistance. It is important that major global players take strict actions on these terrorist groups. The countries breeding and feeding these terror groups should be pressurized to take effective measures against them. The incident that happened in Sri Lanka should not be repeated and international organisations should come down hard on these terrorist groups.