OPINION | What’s Happening In Sri Lanka Should Also Concern India

The month of February in 2026 will go down in the geopolitical history of South Asia for several factors. It will be remembered not just for the most consequential elections that took place in Bangladesh in its modern history, it will also be known for other major developments taking place in India’s immediate neighbourhood. Notable among these, is the recent arrest of Sri Lanka’s former intelligence chief Major General Suresh Sallay on 25 February in connection with the 2019 Easter Sunday Bombings.

The developments have rattled Sri Lanka’s political landscape and its impact can have a spillover effect on India. Indian intelligence agencies provided multiple, specific warnings to Sri Lanka about the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings weeks in advance, including identifying the mastermind and potential targets (churches and hotels). Despite this, actionable intelligence was not acted upon, resulting in a major security lapse that killed more than 250 people. The bombings were carried out by local Islamist extremist groups, primarily National Thowheeth Jama'ath (NTJ) and Jammiyathul Millathu Ibrahim. The bombers were motivated by radical Islamist ideology and inspired by ISIS.

The Sri Lankan government of the day led by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe admitted to a “major intelligence lapse” while many Sri Lankan analysts at that time observed that Easter Bombings marked a return of terrorism in the Indian Ocean island nation exactly a decade after the defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the elimination of its chief V. Prabhakaran in May 2009.

Sallay, who has been arrested under Sri Lanka’s Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), was made the chief of the country’s top intelligence agency, State Intelligence Service (SIS), by the former Gotabaya Rajapaksa government, which was ousted from power owing to a violent mass protest (Aragalaya) in 2022. The former intel head was eventually removed from the post in 2024 by the current Anura Dissanayake administration.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country on July 13, 2022, to the Maldives and later Singapore, following the storming of his official residence by protesters on July 9. He was succeeded by Wickremesinghe.

Sallay’s arrest by Sri Lanka’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has become a turning point in the Dissanayake government’s commitment to reopening the Easter Sunday bombings case to uncover what it calls a "political conspiracy". Sallay has been arrested on the charges of conspiracy and aiding and abetting the 2019 attacks.

Senior police officials stated the arrest was a "major breakthrough" based on adequate evidence uncovered through fast-tracked investigations under the new administration. Sallay allegedly met with the bombers in 2018 to facilitate a "destabilising situation" that would help Gotabaya Rajapaksa win the 2019 election on a national security platform.

The former Lankan intel chief has denied the allegations. The Sri Lankan government has reoriented the investigation to ensure it remains "independent and impartial," recently handing over all volumes of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) to the CID for action. The Catholic Church in Sri Lanka has welcomed Sallay's arrest as a long-awaited step toward identifying the "masterminds" behind the tragedy.

India’s Concern

In Sri Lanka's political circles, many have suggested that the arrest of the ex-spy chief could revive tensions related to the LTTE and the civil war in the Indian Ocean island nation. While some have welcomed the arrest, several politicians in Sri Lanka have expressed concerns, arguing that this move will only lead to more chaos and distract investigators from addressing the real issues at hand.

Ali Sabry, Sri Lanka’s former Minister for Foreign Affairs, Finance and Justice said on social media, “A deeply troubling day for the Sri Lanka Army and its Intelligence Corps. The arrest of Major General Suresh Sallay, an officer widely associated with the dismantling of the LTTE’s intelligence network, intelligence operations that led to the targeting of senior leadership … These were officers who once placed their lives on the line to protect the nation during its most dangerous years. Today, many feel that those same individuals are being drawn into a political battlefield shaped less by evidence and more by competing narratives. Accountability under the law is essential in any democracy, but it must be pursued with fairness, restraint, and respect for institutional integrity.”

Under the Dissanayake government, bilateral relations between India and Sri Lanka have shifted from initial ideological caution to a pragmatic and investment-led partnership. While Dissanayake’s Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna/National People’s Power (JVP/NPP) has historically held anti-India views, his presidency has prioritised economic stability and security cooperation in which New Delhi plays a key role. However, the Tamil reconciliation factor remains a sensitive point of negotiation, with India continuing to advocate for the aspirations of the Sri Lankan Tamil minority.

As a career intelligence officer, Sallay was a key figure in the military intelligence establishment that dismantled the LTTE. He apprehended senior LTTE leaders such as S.P. Thamilchelvan, and the militant outfit’s international financier, Kumaran Pathmanathan (KP). During the final months of the war in 2009, he served in high-level military intelligence roles. Many in Sri Lanka argue his current arrest is "revenge" by separatist-leaning elements for his role in defeating the LTTE.

Sallay’s career has been dogged by accusations of abuses against the Tamil community and the suppression of war-time evidence. In 2016, while Sallay was Director of Military Intelligence (DMI), the Jaffna peninsula saw a wave of violence by a group known as the "Aava gang". Critics and some investigators alleged this group was a military-backed proxy used to destabilise the Northern Province and suppress Tamil civil society.

While Sallay’s arrest will be seen as Sri Lanka’s internal matter, India’s role in the country’s past, the pending Tamil reconciliation issue and sharing of intelligence before the Easter bombings cannot be overlooked. The arrest has significant implications for Sri Lanka's relationship with India regarding security and intelligence sharing. New Delhi should monitor the developments closely and also get involved in the investigation process before the matter spirals out of control in an already tense and hostile neighbourhood.

(Nayanima Basu is an independent journalist writing on international relations and strategic affairs. Basu is also the author of 'The Fall of Kabul: Despatches From Chaos'.)

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