This was an atrocious attack, and loss of human life is truly sad. I am not one for conspiracy theories but there seems to be something amiss here.
1- There was substantial threat warning, it was discussed in the security council meeting headed by the President. PM claims that he or members of his cabinet did not knew about it. PM and his cabinet stated that they are clueless about the identity or motives of the attackers. Within an hour or two, two of the names were shown on the media, what was the source of those names?
2- A foreign intelligence agency was the one that provided the information about a possible attack. Now the important question is which country's intelligence agency, US/UK, India or Israel.
3- How did an almost non-existent group with some very murky goals was able to pull such a well planned and executed operation right under the noses of Sri Lankan security apparatus.
4- The PM had suggested on the same day that this attack could lead to a coup attempt, by whom? The president and opposition supported by the Security Establishment, may be.
5- Sri Lankans are already stating that the operation was planned and executed from a foreign country. Any candidates.
6- Social Media was effectively clamped down to stop spread of further rumours or fake news, which could further complicate the situation. Its of prime importance which office took the decision to clampdown social media, was it from the Presidents office or PM. (Most pivotal decision in my opinion)
On a side note, Sri Lankans are being very cautious to make any kind of claims, as we have not heard the usual suspects ISIS or its affiliated groups taking any responsibility, which usually they do within hours of any such attack. Again the group being blamed had little to no foot print before this atrocity. The lofty stated goals of that group are staunch anti-Buddhist actions in a country of over 75% buddhists.
Militant Sinhalese Buddhism was one of the main cause that lead to the 30 years civil war in Sri Lanka, before LTTE came to be a force to reckon with, there were decades of oppression against the Tamil minority lead by the Buddhist clergy. Even after successful elimination of LTTE, the extremist Buddhists were allowed to rein freely, hence several riots, this time targeting Muslims and christians.
Now the most important question is who is to benefit from these attacks? Muslims or Christians, not at all. The minorities were already under threat, and this issue will effectively further a wedge between the two, if the both religious and political leadership of two communities dont take proactive steps to minimise the inflamed feelings.
After looking at the limited information available in public domain, and selection of targets (churches and hotels), I am more inclined to believe that this could have been a false flag operation orchestrated from within Sri Lanka with the help of an external partner or partners to destabilise the country, create racial riots and effectively target Tourists, at the same time pit two already marginalised minorities against each other. For the time being the situation is tense but still under control, and one the decisions that played a pivotal role in this was to social media outage enforced by the government. This might have effectively thwarted any plans for riots or further planned social upheaval, but its still too early to say anything.
Who is to benefit from this? Those expecting to benefit are within Sri Lanka.
My condolences to the people of Sri Lanka, no human being should be killed in such a horrific manner while performing their religious duties and I hope the sanity prevails.
