Sri Lanka’s suspended Inspector General of Police, Pujith Jayasundara, who was sent on compulsory leave for his failure to prevent the Easter Sunday attacks despite having prior knowledge, today said he was told that his presence is no longer required at the National Security Council (NSC) meetings.
Testifying before Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) appointed to investigate the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks in various parts of the country on April 21 and report to Parliament, the suspended IGP said he was informed of the President’s directive by the then Secretary of Defense Kapila Waidyaratne.
During questioning Jayasundera said the Defense Secretary normally informs of the NSC meetings and he has been particiapting the NSC meetings since his appointment on 20 April 2016 until October last year until he verbally received instructions from the Defense Secretary that he is not needed to attend NSC meetings.
He further said the last meeting he attended was on 23 October 2018, three days before an unprecedented political crisis was set off by the President by sacking Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and appointing former President Mahinda Rajapaksa as the Prime Minister.
Giving evidence, Jayasundera said that there is no methodology to directly provide him with information by the head of the national intelligence. The head of national intelligence provides security intelligence to the Defense Secretary, who conveys the information to the IGP.
Suspended IGP Pujith Jayasundera and former Defense Secretary Hemasiri Fernando was summoned today before the third session of the PSC presided over by Acting Chairman Dr. Jayampathi Wickramaratne.
Giving evidence before the commission former Defense Secretary Hemasiri Fernando said that, he was aware on 08th April that there could be such an attack. He said that the head of national intelligence briefed him on that. The former Defense Secretary further said that national intelligence head provided a weekly report to him and the final report was received on 08th April.
However, the former Defense Secretary said although the National Intelligence Service was under his purview according to the Gazette, he didn’t have the administrative power to manage the activities of the National Intelligence Service. Only the Minister of Defense, who is President, has the power to manage NIS. “A Defense Secretary like me has no power to change that system,” he added.
In response to a question, the former Defense Secretary further said that the President specifically told him not to invite the Prime Minister, State Minister for defense and IGP for National Security Council meetings.
