While two-thirds of the churches destroyed in the series of bombings on Easter Sunday are being held in government-sponsored renovated buildings, people in the East have had to hold services in the same church that fell into disrepair two years ago.
St. Sebastian’s Church in Katuwapitiya and St. Anthony ‘s Church in Kochchikade, Kotahena, which were destroyed in the bomb blasts, have been restored by the Navy, but the Zion Church in Batticaloa, which was badly destroyed, has not been renovated for two years.
A series of suicide bombings on April 21, 2019, targeting several churches and tourist hotels, killed more than 250 civilians.
Bomb blasts at Katuwapitiya St. Sebastian’s Church, Kotahena Kochchikade St. Anthony’s Church, Batticaloa Zion Church, Dehiwala and Colombo Kingsbury, Shangri-La, Cinnamon Grand Hotel two years ago killed at least 268 people and injured more than 500.
Various religious activities and two year commemorations were held throughout Sri Lanka yesterday (21) to mark the second anniversary of the Easter attack, Provincial Correspondents say.
Despite the tight security around the places where the religious ceremonies were held.
A minute of silence was also observed in Parliament in memory of those killed in the Easter attack.
According to Father Roshan Maheshan, the pastor of the Zion Church in Batticaloa, the renovation work of the church has come to a complete standstill after the incumbent President came to power.
“After November 2019, no money came to repair this. From the government. That is why it is still like this. ”
Journalists who visited the half-concrete framed church could see the crumbling walls and floor. The pooja was conducted with a wooden flower seat mounted on a mound of bricks. The majority of Tamil devotees attended the service, picking up broken dust from the ground amidst unfinished walls.
On Tuesday, April 20, two parliamentarians from the Samagi Jana Balawega visited the church to inquire into its current condition.
While the two were on either side, Rev. Roshan Maheshan had further told the media that less than one-sixth of the money allegedly in the treasury for the renovation of the church had been received.
“The treasury said that Rs. 37 million has been allocated to build this. I think that’s about six million to the army, ‘we think. ”
A banner with photographs of the dead devotees was displayed in front of the Temple of Zion. Among them are photographs of 14 dead children.
Addressing the gathering after the main service at St. Anthony’s Church in Kochchikade this morning in memory of the victims of the Easter attack, the Archbishop of Colombo, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, said he was “absolutely not ready to join the organized effort to bury the truth and correct the guilty.”
He emphasized that the government and the current government were indifferent to the crime that had claimed the lives of 269 people, including 68 children, and expressed deep sorrow over the sluggish policy. But the cardinal did not reveal what those facts were.
Correspondents say special poojas were held at several Hindu churches in the North and East to pay homage to the dead Christians.
A protest was organized by the Negombo Citizens’ Collective at the Negombo Bucket Junction with the participation of Christian clergy, nuns, members of civil society organizations and the community, demanding that the masterminds of the Easter Sunday attack be exposed to the country.
