Fonseka Arrested, Law Molested
Fonseka press conference, by me
The only law is ‘don’t oppose Mahinda’. General Sarath Fonseka is being arrested for “revealing military secrets and also plotting the assassination of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.” It’s a bit preposterous that he was plotting a coup with his government security and hypothetical Army deserters. ‘Revealing military secrets’ would imply that his allegations were true, which is another kettle of fish.
I guess there are two points, one is whether the charges make sense and two, whether the law is applied equally.
To me, it simply doesn’t make sense that a military men would give up the uniform and personal security, file election papers, campaign, and then decide to stage a coup. He had already given up any powers that would have made a coup even possible.
Furthermore, there seems little possibility of a coup during the election, as Fonseka was holed up at the Cinnamon Lakeside. A coup, generally, involves occupying key buildings. Mahinda had already occupied them with troops.
In this case I think the law is being applied as a weapon. People with connections can get away with murder and those without can get framed for anything. It’s a sad day for General Fonseka personally, but it’s sad day for us as well. Fonseka is no saint, but this is not even an issue of law. It’s the law being corrupted to serve a man. Sarath Fonseka’s real crime was opposing Mahinda. For that he’s in jail.
This is my first comment on your blog, which I started following after you reported on Fonseka’s Cinnamon Lakeside press conference. So let me start by saying, great job on reporting and commenting on events in Sri Lanka! The following sentence of the above post caught my attention and I thought I throw in my $0.02 –
‘Revealing military secrets’ would imply that his allegations were true, which is another kettle of fish.
It is probably more accurate to call this a can of worms! The basis for the arrest is confused at best and its effect is going to polarise Sri Lanka at a time when the paramount need is to build bridges and work in co-operation. Adaderana has a report that includes the charge that “General Fonseka was arrested for discussing with certain sections of the Opposition” (http://bit.ly/ci5lhL). Discussing what? When? The only outcome of any discussions Fonseka had with the opposition is to erode their vote base – so surely the Govt. should be thanking the General for his contribution to their consolidation of power rather than persecuting him :-)
To quote Charles Dickens’ Mr. Beadle – if this is the law, then the law is an ass!
Another step in eroding democracy in Sri Lanka. If the government (read Rajapakshes) behave like this, who will trust them? And who will trust that they will work genuinely for the country and its people and not only for themselves?
Well, General should have kissed Mahinda’s ring. Hope this “head on” approach will work for him.
After the destruction of Generals reputation and anything else that can be destroyed, Mahinda will give him a general pardon. And people will love the kind president who reach his arms and spread the kindness to the man (traitor?) who “planned to murder him”.
[...] you want more reasons to doubt the government’s allegations, Indi.ca says it best: To me, it simply doesn’t make sense that a military men would give up the uniform and personal [...]
Arresting SF is not a politically smart thing for MR and he may pay a political price for that. Then again what can a responsible government do in a situation like this, where a former Senior Officer of the government, who sat at the “SECURITY COUNCIL”, keeps threatening to reveal “HIGHLY CONFEDIENTIAL” state secrets? And how do you deal with an ex-army head who had already exposed his former boss and one of his commanding officers through a newspaper interview for potential war crimes?
If anything of this nature happened in a country like America, where “NATIONAL SECURITY “is considered as “the # 1” thing of the state, you will see a massive uproar. Last time anything remotely similar to this happened was when Karl Rove (George Bush’s political guru) and Vice President Dick Cheney’s staffer Lewis (Scooter) Libby were accused of exposing an undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame through a journalist. As a result of this betrayal Libby Scooter was convicted and sentenced to 30 months in jail.
Anyway, since nobody gives a shit about “National Security’ in Sri Lanka (including the Prime Minister of the country) , government should come to a plea bargain with SF and get him to sign an affidavit promising that he will not divulge any more state secrets, and if he does, he is will face the court martial. And in return SF should be pardon but should restrict his overseas travels.
This is a win-win situation for both SF and the government.
hang on a second…
let’s assume for a second that what the general is saying is true – that one of the “Raja” brothers did in fact order the 58 division commander, Shavendra Silva to shoot LTTE leaders, even though they came forward with white flags to surrender.
Lets assume that this order was issued to junior commanders by the said Shavendra Silva. Lets assume that these orders were indeed carried out, and that LTTE personnel bearing white flags with the intent to surrender were shot.
This is in contravention of the Geneva Convention, and by definition, a war crime.
So if this was all true, should we not commend the General for coming clean and ensuring that justice is done? The General has also stated publicly that he will take reprehensibility for actions of serving soldiers, as the serving commander of the army at the time.
Instead, we brand the General as a “Traitor” for “betraying our heroes”.
So does this mean that we have to “protect our own” despite any grievous offenses committed by them? They can kill, rape and torture our own citizens and it is “patriotic” of us to turn a blind eye to these offenses? What kind of mentality does this breed in the armed forces? “ah its ok machan… we can kill these fuckers for fun… we can rape these women… the people will forgive us… even the corrupt politikkas will go to new york and geneva and lie on our behalf… they will even come back and kiss the ground and say that they saved us, and get a few more votes…”
No. we need transparency. We need politicians, the civil service and the armed forces to act in the best interests of the people, our citizens. This sadly does not happen in our beloved country.
I think we all need to re-analyze this whole “betrayal” and “rata paava dunna” story…
No one should be above the law.
Unfortunately, our “leader”, idi mahin, summed up the situation quite well… “no one is above the law. Except me” (and my supporters)
@Mercy:What nonsense, i suggest you wake up from your NGO wet dream. That was a war people fought to the bitter end. Shit happens. people get executed; that is the reality of the situation. there has never been a war on the history of this planet where both sides didn’t commit war crimes. Allies firebombing of hamburg & tokyo, the american use of chemical agents in vietnam, israeli bulldozing of civilians all of these are war crimes that could be bought in front of the international courts. The reason these aren’t bought before the courts is that there is an explicit understanding within a nation and a tacit understanding among nations that we should keep our collective mouths shut, because there is no such thing as a clean war. SF doesn’t care for justice, all he wants is his petty revenge. What a pathetic megalomaniac.
A war crimes hearing would be disastrous for Sri lanka. We will loose all of our trade concession, and many countries will refuse to trade with us. Garment factories will close en masse, millions of poor people will be suffering. All of our allies even countries like china, india and russia will refuse to acknowledge us. The LTTE will become martyrs. those are the consequences of a war crimes hearing
One more thing: You compared MR to Idi Amin. If MR was anything like Idi Amin he would have executed SF in public without trial. Premadasa would have gone for a random claymore trap. If this were russia SF would die of acute radiation poisoning. if this were america he would be gunned down by an anonymous sniper or meet with a tragic automobile accident. None of that has happened because, MR is ultimately not a tyrant.
ok, dodo, I think I understand the point you are trying to make…
so lets analyse what you are saying…
“The reason these aren’t bought before the courts is that there is an explicit understanding within a nation and a tacit understanding among nations that we should keep our collective mouths shut, because there is no such thing as a clean war”
then why does the geneva convention even exist? we could just do away with that saying “ok buddy… we live in a dirty glass house too, so we ain’t going to throw stones…”
why are “Rules of Engagement” a part of most Officer Training programs? we might as well do away with them as well, no?
It is ok for troops to shoot unarmed militants bearing white flags with the intent of surrendering?
I take the points about the US using chemical weapons, The Isreali Bulldozers and the Russian Radiation pills. That’s all true. But if we keep turning a blind eye to such incidents and “covering up” all the time, what attitude does that breed?
ALSO
you will notice that I started with “Lets assume…”
Because the fact of the matter is that SF never did say this… immediately after the controversial Sunday Leader article, he issued a clarification. This clarification was quoted by the secretary to the Ministry of HR in his relpy to the UN.
The government subsequently retracted the secretary to the Ministry f HR’s reply, in order to turn this into an “issue” in order to extract political mileage.
So MR is a great guy you say.
what the deal with the rampant nepotism? is that ok? you know that the Sri Lankan ambassadors to the US and Russia are MR’s cousins, right? and that the only academic qualifications they hold are O/L’s? and there are so many more… no academic qualifications or experience, just MR’s or his wife’s relatives or sons friends.. all holding to positions, with top salaries… Ashantha De Mel… Sajin Vaas… the list goes on and on and on…
And have you watched Rupavahini or ITN news lately? even you would be hard pushed to describe them as true, unbiased, professional news reporting. Its a joke!
I’m just a regular guy, and i’m telling it like i see it. if you honestly believe in what the government is doing, then set the record straight. After all, this is a democracy, right? is it?
Whatever his faults may be, if not for General Sarath Fonseka, Prabhakaran would be alive and well, and the LTTE would be stronger than ever.
General Sarath fonseka is a great man. He is not a good speaker and is not very politically correct at times, but he is a man of action. A man who loves his country. A man who does not really care about money. a bold, innovative leader.
If you were to ask why I say he was the most instrumental person in defeating the LTTE, I will outline these below:
He was always a bold, courageous, fearless Officer who lead from the front. He was loved, feared and respected by his superiors, colleagues and soldiers.
As Commander, he completely restructured the Army, placing emphasis on performance rather than seniority. He sidelined several senior Officers who performed badly.
He was not at all corrupt – he never went after commissions – he always got the best possible equipment for his troops. These “hicorp” allegations are a joke. I can tell anyone for a fact that Hicorp never supplied arms or ammunition to the Sri Lanka Army, and even from the few items that were supplied by Hicorp to the army, Gen. Fonseka did not make one cent (Hicorp has only supplied equipment worth Rs. 30 million to the army, and all of it was approved as fit by the army).
Gen. Fonseka also completely rid the Army of corruption, and turned it into a force capable of defeating the LTTE, one of the most formidable terrorist organizations the world has ever seen.
Even though Gotabhaya recently belittled Gen. Fonsekas achievements in a recent interview with the Straights Times, it was Gotabhaya that was Gen. Fonseka’s chief cheerleader previously – who convinced his elder brother of Gen. Fonsekas capabilities. Gota should know – he served with Gen. Fonseka after all…
Dodo has it right. Mercy is having wet dreams for SF and is living in a pink tinted world. Pathetic.
Man you must be so close to Fonseka to know how innocent he is. But ever since he surfaced as a contender for the presidency, he acted like a fool and being a fool does not automatically make him innocent. When one is/was in the army, you play by different rules than civilians. I do not vouch for what I do not know. But I know Mahinda was elected. I would have the same respect if Fonseka was elected.
What I do not get is why a military tribunal or military court? He is a civilian now and thought a civilian court could address what ever the case is.
(I might get molested by some people for this comment but I am just exercising my thoughts on the matter, democratically. If you think I am wrong you can try to correct me)
A military court is necessary because the charges against SF have no standing in the public courts. It is not a crime for a civilian to speak to the Opposition or to oppose the government, though possibly it is for a soldier. Also, actual evidence has far less bearing in courts martial, where witness statements are more important.
[...] Samarajiva at indi.ca offers his opinion about the incident. According to him: In this case I think the law is being applied as a weapon. [...]
[...] Samarajiva at indi.ca offers his opinion about the incident. According to him: In this case I think the law is being applied as a weapon. [...]
Bear in mind that just because a guy runs for president, he is not above the law. If he has broken it, he will be punished. That is how democracy works. Or didn’t you know that?
That’s not how the law works in Sri Lanka. Mahinda broke election law by transferring police, giving food to potential voters, and putting up hoardings after they were banned. Those things seems small, but I mention because they are quite explicit in the law, and the violations quite blatant. The government is also in direct contravention of large parts of the Constitution daily (13th and 17th mainly) and ignores Supreme Court decisions it doesn’t like (raving the Slave Island slums, hedging deal).
No one should be above the law, but under Mahinda the powerful are immune. Law is applied as a weapon of the state, a glove of respectability on a fist.
SF had become a major contingency. It is entirely possible for him to go in front of the international courts and testify, as he has been threatening to do this for while now. infact, on the day of the arrest he had told the BBC “I am definitely going to reveal what I know, what I was told and what I heard.”
SF was arrested right after he made a comment to BBC saying that he will testify against the government on war crimes charges…
So i guess the charges are true at least.
Wow, there you are living off a couple of whiteys and some Tamils but still think you have the right to blabber on about Sri Lanka.
I just wonder whether they will be using chilli powder, the elctric prod or anal rape to get Sarath to confess to committing treason.
Confess he will though. He’s probably cursing the day he did not buy himself a cyanide capsule so that he can die with some dignity left.
COOL ! TV CHANNELS ARE NOT BROADCASTING THE NEWS ON ARRESTING ! Not even Sirasa !
Look at You tube!
Lies, accusation, and manipulation is exactly what Tamils been screaming for years. Until it hit you, you’ll be blind to it. This is the State Terrorism that Tamils were trying to tell you guys. Welcome to Sri Lanka.