A War Hero Betrayed
Hilmy Ahamed
Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka has charged that his successor, General Jagath Jayasuriya committed war crimes during the ethnic war. The Joint Opposition (JO) of Mahinda Rajapaksa has got yet another platform slogan to hype their anti-government campaign due to Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka. The “Patriots” of the Rajapaksa bandwagon are forgetting that Sarath Fonseka, the decorated war hero was the commander of the Army in May 2009 when the Sri Lankan armed forces wiped out the brutal terrorist force, the Liberation Tigers of Thamil Eelam (LTTE). Later, Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka over estimated his popularity and blundered by attempting to challenge Mahinda Rajapaksa to the Presidency, which landed him in jumpers at the Welikada prison. Overnight, the war hero and savior of the Sinhala race became a traitor in the eyes of the Rajapaksa cohorts.
Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka has said the RIGHT thing at the WRONG place many times and has faced the wrath of the rulers. His loose tongue landed him in trouble during the white flag controversy due to an interview with Fredrica Jansz, the Editor of the Sunday Leader. He probably spoke the truth about the brutal killing of surrendering LTTE cadres, but the mood of Sri Lankans after the euphoria of the war victory was not to hear the truth.
Sri Lanka has a battled hardened, professional and disciplined armed force that defeated one of the most feared and ruthless terrorist organizations in the world, the LTTE. Sri Lanka is probably the only country that wiped out terrorism through a military option.
The two faces of Yahapalanaya, President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe continue to contradict each other. The Prime Minister and the United National Party are reaching out to the international community and investors by committing to international conventions and traditional diplomacy. President Maithripala Sirisena on the other hand blundered and played to the gallery to counter the JO onslaught, declaring that he would protect every soldier against any charges of war crimes irrespective of their conduct during the Eelam wars. President Sirisena probably forgets that he is a leader of a democratic nation with international obligations. There is no question that soldiers who fought the hard battle against the Tamil tigers should be protected, but any rouge elements within the forces should be investigated and charged not by any international body, but court martialed by the Sri Lankan military itself, thereby clearing the good name of the security forces. The President could have said, any rogue elements if any would be severely dealt by a local mechanism.
The Sri Lankan military victory had widespread allegations by the International Community and Tamils in Sri Lanka as well as the Diaspora that the government security forces committed extensive war crimes during the 30-year-old ethnic war between the Sri Lankan armed forces and the Liberation Tigers of Thamil Eelam (LTTE). These allegations probably should be leveled against both sides, as there have been gross violations of human rights and rules of war by rouge elements on both sides. The LTTE has been declared a terrorist organization by the Sri Lankan government as well as the International Community and are listed as such by many countries in the West.
In May 2009, at the end of the war, Sarath Fonseka was declared the “Man of the Match”. Field Marshall Sarath Fonseka was the decorated war hero and his Commander in Chief; President Mahinda Rajapaksa invited him to cut the victory cake.
The credit for the war victory no doubt should go to the tri forces. President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s political commitment and Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s logistic support cannot be underestimated. Even though Sri Lanka had its battle hardened military, the nail that sealed the coffin of Velupillai Pirapaharan was the political will of the government that asked the interfering foreign governments to “go to hell”.
