SLPP MP Namal Rajapaksa has raised strong objections to the appointment of former CID Director Shani Abeysekara to the special committee tasked with reviewing the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) report on the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks, calling the move “a breach of every ethical standard.”

Posting on X (formerly Twitter), Rajapaksa described Abeysekara’s inclusion in the review panel as deeply inappropriate, noting that the former senior police officer had not only been directly involved in the original investigation but was also named in the Commission’s report and summoned as a witness.

“This is not merely a procedural misstep. It is a breach of every ethical standard. This casts a dark shadow over the credibility of the entire process,” Rajapaksa said. “Justice must not only be done, it must be seen to be done.”

Abeysekara, who served as Director of the Criminal Investigation Department during the time of the Easter Sunday bombings, played a central role in the initial probes. Rajapaksa said that appointing someone so closely linked to the original investigation to a position of oversight “raises justifiable concern,” especially as the Commission itself had identified him in its findings.

The MP also criticised what he described as Abeysekara’s “recent political statements,” alleging they revealed a clear bias that compromises the neutrality required for such a sensitive assignment.

“How can the public be expected to believe in the neutrality of this process when the person overseeing it has clear political entanglements?” he questioned.

Rajapaksa concluded his statement by urging for a fair, transparent, and credible process, stressing that the victims of the attacks and the nation as a whole deserve nothing less.

“This is not a partisan issue. It is a matter of moral clarity and institutional integrity,” he said.