Sarath On Surrender
Photo* by Perambara
The Sunday Leader ran another interview with Sarath Fonseka, this one alleging that Gotabaya Rajapakse ordered surrendering LTTErs to be killed. Sarath seems to be on the phone with Frederica Jansz every week, without too much of a filter. I think the story may be true, probably is true, but not exactly prudent to tell.
The post, which has almost 1000 comments now, posits that
General Fonseka the then Army Commander said he had no information communicated to him in the final days of the war that three key LTTE leaders had opted to surrender to Sri Lanka’s armed forces as the battle drew to a bloody finish.
Fonseka charged that communications were instead confined between the LTTE leaders, Norway, various foreign parties, Basil Rajapaksa, Member of Parliament and the powerful senior adviser to the President and such information was never conveyed to him as he supervised the final stages of the war. “Later, I learnt that Basil had conveyed this information to the Defense Secretary Gothabaya Rajapaksa – who in turn spoke with Brigadier Shavendra Silva, Commander of the Army’s 58th Division, giving orders not to accommodate any LTTE leaders attempting surrender and that “they must all be killed.”
General Fonseka explained how on the night of May 17th this year desperate efforts of three senior LTTE leaders trapped in the war zone to save their lives failed as they were instead shot dead as they prepared to surrender to government forces.
This is probably true in the sense that it happened, and in the sense that Gotabaya did probably control the battlefield to that extent. The Geneva Conventions prescribes surrender under a white flag, but war is also war. For me the bigger moral issue is what happened to Prabhakaran’s family (including his preteen son). I think they were killed.
Whatever hot water this gets the government in, it gets Sarath Fonseka in more. He should be careful talking to the Sunday Leader and figure out what to leak to further his own ends. I think his staff is trying to retract this interview post-mortem, but it’s really too late.
*SRI LANKA, Colombo, November 29 – Former Army Commander and the subsequent Chief of Defence Staff Lt Gen Saratth Fonseka today announced that he would be challenging President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the January 26, 2010 Presidential election. “Can I win? Yes, I can,” Fonseka told a media conference attended by over 100 media personnel. (Amantha Perera/Perambara)
I think SF screwed up this time. :)
dbsj reported on this
“The seven servicemen turned themselves in to the 59 and informed them of the tiger offer to surrender. They were advised to return and bring the tiger political leaders.
So Nadesan, Pulidevan and Vijitha the Sinhala wife of Nadesan came out with the released prisoners, carrying white flags.The idea was to negotiate terms of surrender with the army.
Subsequently all three were found dead in mysterious circumstances. The LTTE has charged that both were shot dead in cold blood. A Tamil website says that Nadesan’s wife an ex-police constable hailing from Matara district had remonstrated with the army to save her husband and got shot. She had come along for interpreting.
It is alleged that 35 tigers were following Nadesan a little behind to surrender. They too were shot dead.
But foreign secretary Palitha Kohona has said that some tigers who disapproved of surrendering to the Army had fired and killed Nadesan and Pulidevan.”
http://dbsjeyaraj.com/dbsj/archives/615
Fonseka has turned into a right royal twat in my opinion.
+1 chanux
Just for the recored SF says it was a misinterpretation of his interview. -> http://www.adaderana.lk/news.php?nid=6501
If he actually said so, question is what made him do this statement? In what way does it help his campaign?
And Indi, I wonder what make you say this? Do you really think that top leaders of the terrorist group who not only invited suicide bombing, but actively used it through out their organization, and known for carrying a cyanide capsule with them, were ready to surrender when they had lost virtually everything? Or is it something else?
In other news Times UK has started batting again…
@Indi Please don’t mind my saying, but don’t you think that Janz went a bit too-sensational with the article this time ?
And the writer should be a super idiot to get it _that_ wrong.
What I find hilarious is how Fonseka is whining about the state media defaming him and has just lauched legal cases against them. Why doesn’t he sue The Sunday Leader if he was mis-represented? It’s done more damage to him that anything else.
I work with Frederica and respect her very much. But asking why the Sunday Leader went sensational is a bit like asking which fish swim. I do think the paper often goes too sensational, but that’s what it is.
I think this was a Kinsley gaffe in the sense of a politician accidentally telling the truth. I think it is what he said, and there was a fair amount of detail, he’s just trying to pull it back. The case against the state media is not for misquoting but for using state resources for Mahinda’s campaign.
erm, Is the Pope catholic ?
I think this Sunday Leader story has legs and it will go beyond elections and internal party politics of Sri Lanka to the international stage. This story will echo in UK parliament and US congressional hearings and people who are waiting to condemn SL will use this as a great weapon.Also this statement will have negative impact when SL try to negotiate grants and deals like GPS+ with international bodies.
On the other hand this is a real setback for people who promoted war against LTTE terrorists as a humanitarian operation to save Tamil people from clutches of terrorists to the world media. I hope and pray ex-general (who was a real hero for many people) will not reveal any more state secrets as an ethical ex-soldier since people like Francis A. Boyle are waiting to rip our just and equitable case to unite Sri Lanka. See Mr. Boyle’s statement below:
http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=30802