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puts about a possible terror attack in Sri tifying her as a suspect linked to the namon Grand Hotel, one of the targets
Lanka, targeting the Indian High Com- bloodshed. in the series of bomb blasts that ripped
mission, were shared by Indian agencies The name attached to the picture was through luxury hotels and churches on
with their counterparts in the island na- Abdul Cader Fathima Khadiya — but the Easter Sunday.
tion earlier this month after the National picture was of Baltimore-born Majeed, Recounting the day, Chari said that
Investigation Agency completed its whose parents are from Sri Lanka. “I have he and his wife were in the middle of the
probe into an ISIS-inspired module plan- this morning been FALSELY identified by Easter service when the priest requested
ning to kill prominent leaders in south the Sri Lankan government as one of the people to leave the church premises
India. ISIS Easter attackers in Sri Lanka,” she calmly, saying he has received reports
The inputs were sent through diplo- tweeted.”What a thing to wake up to!” about bombings in other churches, the
matic channels to Sri Lanka after a thor- “This is obviously completely false and Gulf News reported.
ough investigation pertaining to the ISIS frankly, considering that our communi- “After we left the church we got into
case in Coimbatore was carried out by ties are already greatly afflicted with is- a taxi to go get some breakfast because
the NIA, which has filed a charge sheet sues of surveillance, I don’t need more that is what we would normally do after
against seven people. During investiga- false accusations and scrutiny,” Majeed Easter mass. We started noticing a com-
tion, the probe team had stumbled upon wrote on Twitter. “Please stop implicat- motion on the roads and decided it was
videos of NTJ leader Zahran Hashim, ing and associating me with these hor- better to go back to the hotel,” he said.
which was indicative of a terror attack on rific attacks,” Majeed urged. “And next He said that on reaching hotel, they
the Indian High Commission in Colombo. time, be more diligent about releasing saw everyone out on the lawn and
After further investigation which in- thought that it was just some sort of secu-
cluded cyber trailing of some of the ac- rity protocol. The gravity of the situation
counts associated with the ISIS, the cen- Though the ISIS had not struck yet but soon it became
tral security agencies shared an input has claimed the clear that it was much more. Chari’s wife
with their Lankan counterparts about Navroop said, “It was too soon to know
the churches being the likely target of the attacks, Sri Lanka anything on the news or social media, we
ISIS module, the officials said. has banned two still hadn’t registered the scale of the in-
cident. I could not believe what was hap-
Travel advisory Islamist groups — the pening in front of us.”
The government of India has advised the National Thowheed “It was all like a movie. I saw the am-
people not to undertake non-essential bulance come in ... I saw the bodies be-
travel to Sri Lanka in view of the prevail- Jamath and the ing taken out. I saw the blood. It was too
ing security situation in the island nation Jammiyathul Millathu much and I could not believe it was real,”
following the terror attacks. she said, adding that when they saw the
In a statement, the External Affairs Ibrahim news of churches and five-star hotels
Ministry said, those undertaking essen- been targeted, did it sink in that this was
tial or emergency travel can contact the huge. “We felt the attack was not some-
High Commission of India in Colombo such information that has the potential thing that was planned at a local level. It
or the Assistant High Commission in to deeply violate someone’s family and was something at an international scale,”
Kandy, or its Consulates in Hambantota community.” Sri Lankan police con- she said.
and Jaffna in case of requirement of any firmed the error in a statement, saying Two Dubai-based Indians, Razeena
assistance. The helpline numbers of the “the individual pictured is not wanted for Kukkady, 58, and Juno, 42, were killed in
Indian High Commission are available on questioning”. blasts. According to Sri Lanka’s Foreign
the Mission’s website. Ministry, the number of foreign nation-
Recounting the horror als who have been identified as killed
False implication A Dubai-based Indian couple, who had remained at 40, including 11 from India.
The Sri Lankan police which wrongly a narrow escape in the Sri Lanka blasts, Sri Lanka has a population of 21 mil-
identified an American Muslim woman said the whole scene looked like a movie lion which is a patchwork of ethnicities
as a suspect in the deadly bombings has and unreal, recounting that they saw and religions, dominated by the Sinha-
apologised for the goof-up. On April 25, blood spilled everywhere as bodies were lese Buddhist majority. Muslims account
the police had issued a flyer with the taken out from the hotel they were stay- for 10 per cent of the population and are
names and photos of six persons — three ing in. the second-largest minority after Hindus.
men and three women — wanted in con- Abhinav Chari, manager at a health Around seven per cent of Sri Lankans are
nection with the attacks. On the flyer, a insurance firm in Dubai, and his wife Christians.
photograph of Amara Majeed was put Navroop were visiting the island nation
wrongly by Sri Lankan authorities, iden- for a business trip and staying in the Cin- letters@tehelka.com

Tehelka / 15 may 2019 53 www.Tehelka.com