Sarath Fonseka Is Bluffing On War Crimes
S. V. Kirubaharan
A reputed newspaper in the
United Kingdom, “The
Independent”, published a disturbing news item and an article on
18 February 2013, under the headlines, ““Handed a snack, and then
executed: the last hours of the 12-year-old son of a Tamil
Tiger” (Photographs show boy was held before he was
killed at close range) and “This is proof, beyond reasonable
doubt, of the execution of a child – not a battlefield death”. The
author of this news item is Callum Macrae, director of “No Fire Zone: The
Killing Fields of Sri Lanka”.
The
article establishes how 12 year old Balachandran, an
innocent child, son of the leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam – LTTE
was brutally killed. The first photograph shows him sitting in a bunker, alive
and unharmed, apparently in the custody of Sri Lankan troops. Another
photograph, taken a few hours later with the same camera, shows the boy’s body
lying on the ground, his chest pierced by bullets.
While
the civilised world is ashamed and denouncing the inhumanity of this
cold-blooded killing, ex-army commander of Sri Lanka Sarath Fonseka is bluffing
and denying this War Crime. Sri Lankan PresidentMahinda
Rajapaksa is Commander in Chief of the Sri Lankan Security Forces and
one time good pal ofFonseka.
Analysing
the statements of ex-army commander Fonseka, it can be easily understood that
his statement on the inhumane killing of 12 years old Balachandran has no value,
but is pure bluff. His present statement seems rooted in political expediency
during his apprenticeship political career, and in hunger for power.
It
is not surprising that this dishonest ex-army commander has joined Rajapaksa in
an attempt to divert the attention of the international community. There is no
other way to save the Rajapaksa brothers and other culprits from allegations of
war crimes and crimes against humanity, than the ex-army commander posing as an
opponent of the government, making unrealistic statements regarding this
inhumane act.
In
an exclusive interview to the Daily Mirror in Sri Lanka, Sarath Fonseka said on
19 December 2009:
“I
was personally supervising down to a very low level. But those who did
not know, how we fought the war, who were just trying to pass down irresponsible
instructions and trying to deal indirectly, not indirectly, unprofessionally
with the junior people, secretary of defence tried to contact the junior
commanders in the field, never heard these systems in any armies. In disciplined
armies, you don’t do that. So he was trying to deal with direct people,
talking all nonsense, giving wrong instructions, like ’don’t disfigure the white
flags and various things. He thinks that’s heroism or something. If you say, ‘go
to hell, if white flag, kill every bugger… everybody.’ Something like that, is
not leadership, this is you known trying to, without knowing the job, trying to
behave a ‘cardboard hero’. That is the manner he has been behaving. But they
were not carrying out those stupid instructions, but they were carrying out my
instruction. I had tight control throughout the war and they behaved very well
and I don’t think there were any abuses. I saw in an American report, I will
give you the reference later on that says the secretary of defence has admitted
there were abuses from the government side during the war. So to whom is he
referring, when he says government? The government did not fight the war, the
military fought the war. So in other words, he says there were abuses from the
military, he has said that, to those US official. So we will get that report
out, one of these days”.
In
this interview and in many other interviews, Sarath Fonseka admitted that
secretary of defence Gotabaya
Rajapaksa was bypassing him and directly in touch with a few army
commanders on the ground. Likewise, the secretary of defence Gotabaya Rajapaksa
acknowledges the same.
Given
this dual reality, how can Sarath Fonseka have the audacity to make the
following categorical statement on 20
February 2013, to the Daily
Mirror : “About these pictures I don’t know, we
had no knowledge about this youngest sons whereabouts when I was the Army
commander during my time and I can give the assurance that the Army had
no information of his youngest son” he
said.”
If
he can speak with such certainty, why does Sarath Fonseka use terminologies such
as : “I don’t know……I think……. To my
knowledge,…..” ?
Can
he deny that the bunker where the 12 year old Balachandran is sitting
alive and unharmed, belongs to the Sri Lankan Army?
The
question is, how can Sarath Fonseka give his assurances
regarding this incident, whereas when he referred to the White
Flag incident to the “Sunday
Leader” of 13 December 2009, he stated that “Gota Ordered Them To
Be Shot”. This news item again clearly indicates that, Sarath Fonseka had
no clue about much that was happening during the last days of the war.
The
same news item of 13 December 2009 revealed that, ‘General Fonseka said it
was Basil Rajapaksa together with the Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa who
through foreign intermediaries conveyed a message back to the LTTE leaders who
wished to surrender to walk out carrying a piece of white cloth. “It was their
idea,” he said’.
Sarath
Fonseka’s latest statement gives rise to serious doubts as to whether he is
aiming for the impending vacant position of Prime Minister.
While
the international community received confirmation from President Rajapaksa on 4
February 2013, that there will not be any political solution to the Island’s
bloody conflict, many may have missed the fact that Sarath Fonseka expressed the
same view in an interview on 28 December 2009.
Fonseka
said that, “…thirteenth amendment is now out dated. It was dated 20
years ago, during the war. Now we have better understanding within the
communities. We have better respect towards communities. There is no
mistrust…all
the communities to live together, like take example from America, how
blacks and the white live together. They live like one country one nation…Still
live together as one Nation…”
This
is the man who polled more votes in the last Presidential election, from the
Tamil areas, the North and East, than from the South. This is how every
politician from the South cheats the Tamils.
There
are only a very few honest politicians from the South who consider that Tamils
have grievances and that there must be a durable solution to the long-standing
political issue.
Meanwhile
those who worked internationally with the Sri Lankan government on the subject
of child soldiers, must be ashamed at the hypocrisy and crocodile tears
of the Sri Lankan government. They wonder, if such heinous brutality can be
inflicted on one child of 12 years, what else would have happened to
others?
