Cardinal Ranjith calls on govt to step down over Easter Sunday bombings

Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the head of Sri Lanka's Roman Catholic Church, has called for the government to step down due to its alleged failure to prevent Easter Sunday bombings that claimed the lives of more than 250 people.

"Leaders in this country are scared to take bold decisions. This is because they have allowed the international forces to move freely," Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka) quoted Ranjith as saying on Sunday. "Time has come to tell these leaders to go home and handover the nation to able people."

Ranjith said that he has no faith in the inquiries set up by the authorities to probe security lapses that led to the April 21 attack.

"Investigations are being carried out on the attacks. We have been told that the report of one commission had come out. We have not seen it. Another committee is probing on it. We don't have faith in any of these probes. It seems that the political leaders are getting one committee to submit a report according to their whims and fancies," said Ranjith.

Ranjith even criticised the United Nations (UN) for only showing interest towards the welfare of the suspects arrested in connections with the incident, and not towards the victims of the attack.

"None of the UN officers has visited those who were affected by the bomb blasts but had only visited the suspects who have been arrested after the attack including the doctor who is at the centre of controversy," he said.

Ranjith further asked the Catholics to not hold grudge against the Muslims or harm them, as "they are not the ones to be blamed."

More than 250 people were killed and 500 others sustained injuries when multiple coordinated explosions, carried out by local jihadist group National Thowheeth Jamaath (NTJ) linked to the Islamic State (IS), rocked three luxury hotels and three churches on April 21, this year.

( With inputs from ANI )