• Says IGP not allowed to attend 23 Oct. NSC meeting but no reason given

Former Defence Secretary Kapila Waidyaratne yesterday told the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) appointed to investigate the Easter Sunday attacks that President Maithripala Sirisena had informed him to not let Inspector General of Police (IGP) Pujith Jayasundera attend the National Security Council (NSC) meeting on 23 October 2018. Waidyaratne, responding to questions raised by lawmaker Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka, held: “The President informed me to summon the NSC on 23 October 2018. But he told me that there was no need to inform Jayasundera to attend it. I did not question the President when he said that. So I conveyed the names of those who were invited to the NSC to then Chief of National Intelligence Sisira Mendis.” 

“Mendis told me that he couldn’t tell Jayasundara that the latter’s presence was not necessary for the NSC. So I told him that I would inform Jayasundera. When the IGP called me and inquired about the NSC meeting, I told him that the President said that the IGP’s presence was not necessary for that particular meeting. Till that day, the IGP continued to attend all NSC meetings.”

Waidyaratne also stated that although the President did not tell him as to why he decided to cut IGP Jayasundera’s name from the invitees to the NSC meeting, he guessed it might be because of the alleged plot to assassinate the President, which was divulged to the public by Namal Kumara. (AH)

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