Lanka determined to Court Martial Fonseka despite protests
by P.K. Balachandran
Despite protests from the national opposition parties and the international community, the Sri Lankan government appears to be determined to Court Martial former Army Commander and defeated Presidential candidate Gen.Sarath Fonseka, reliable sources say.
It is unofficially learnt that the Court Martial would be headed by the senior most officer in the tri-services, Air Chief Marshal Roshan Goonetileke.
The choice of ACM Goonetileke is expected to meet the criticism from Fonseka’s lawyers that he cannot be tried by officers who are junior to him in service. Since Fonseka was Chief of Defence Staff ,with jurisdiction over the three services, and the charges against him relate to his tenure as CDS also, a non army officer could also be on the panel of judges.
That the government is keen on going through the process which it had begun, has been evident from some events and actions.
Firstly, Fonseka was arrested under the Army Act using the Military Police, and then he was lodged in a house once used by the present navy chief, Adm. Tissara Samarasinghe.
MAHANAYAKES MANAGED
Secondly, the government was not alarmed by the letter which the top leaders of the Buddhist clergy, called the Mahanayakes, had written to President Rajapaksa, on the Fonseka affair. The letter had asserted the Mahanayakes’ “traditional right” to intervene in matters of State, and on that basis, demanded the release of Fonseka.
The government did not openly challenge the Mahanayakes, but it is learnt that it put it to them firmly that it was doing the right thing.
It said that it had clinching evidence against Fonseka.The war hero had been plotting against the government, gathering his own clique within the army, using deserters ,encouraging desertion, and joining hands with subversive political forces outside even while in service.
The Mahanayakes, who were to meet on February 18, to discuss the response to their letter and chalk out the next course of action, indefinitely postponed the meeting.
INTERNATIONAL PROTESTS DISREGARDED
While the Indian government expressed the hope that Sri Lanka would go through “due process” in the Fonseka case, the opposition BJP sought New Delhi’s intervention to stop the persecution of the Lankan war hero.
The US too pleaded for due process, subtly indicating that it did not approve a Court Martial. British opposition MP and foreign affairs specialist Dr.Liam Fox was more direct. He told President Rajapaksa here on Wednesday, that Fonseka should be tried by a civil court to ensure transparancy and safeguard Sri Lanka’s reputation abroad.
But the Sri Lankan government appears to have disregarded these pleas. Liam Fox was told that the Court Martial would be carried out under what is basically and originally, British law.
IMPORTANCE OF GOTABAYA
It is said that Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa is particularly keen that Fonseka’s should be tried by Court Martial, partly because Fonseka had publicly tried to implicate him in “war crimes”.
Even as Fonseka’s lawyers argued in the Supreme Court that Fonseka could not be tried by Court Martial, Gotabaya told Straits Times that he would be tried by Court Martial. In the Rajapaksa regime, Gotabaya is the final word in military matters.
GOTABAYA BRIEFS INDIAN OFFICIALS IN DELHI
Significantly, Gotabaya is currently in New Delhi, briefing Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and the National Security Advisor Shivahankar Menon on the evidence gathered against Fonseka and what the Rajapaksa government plans to do in the case.
Ostensibly, the Lankan Defense Secretary is in New Delhi to see the DEFEXPO INDIA 2010, an event for which he had been invited by the exhibition authorities.But really, Gotabaya has other more important business to attend to. ~ courtesy: Express Buzz ~
10 Comments
The poor man, has been found guilty even before the trial can begin, by the mere fact that the Air Force Commander, who is a loyalist of the government maybe appointed.
This has become a joke better than ' Sergent Nallathamby ', which made the late Nihal Silva, lots of fame and maybe money, pity he is not alive another victim of an army bullet.
Anyone can come up with any suitable names for the funniest play, a sure medal winner and a box office hit. a j.
This court martial will put sri lanka in the ranks of Myanmar or lower than that and label the Rajayakshaya in the ranks of Idi Amin or lower.
At least here they speak of trial and enquiry. How about the Tamils who were just taken into custody and killed without any judicial process.
What a man sows he reaps is a spiritual law. It is similar to a law like gravitational law. If a person or people think that this spiritual law is nonsense or is not applicable to them, it does not matter, it will have its effect.
It is foolish to think that gravitational law is not applicable to me and jump out from the 12th floor of a building !!!!
Gotabaya is the final word in military matters
MR is the final word in politic & media
BR is the final word in finace
MR'S BIG bro is final word in port & air.
etc, etc, etc, for another 8 more years..... so all our courty courts, poloce etc , can go to sleep.
What a paradox! Now the prelates and those who looked upon them for spiritual guidance for life must be wondering about the llimitations of the power of the throne the enlightened that so many politicians took refuge behind as a short-cut to popularity, creating never-ending dissention between religions and communities.
"If the concept of God has any validity or any use, it can only be to make us larger, freer, and more loving.
If God cannot do this, then it is time we got rid of Him."
James Baldwin
Would such thoughts now even fleetingly pass through the minds of the followers? Then the tyrant is beginning to achieve his ultimate goal!
Lets see who wins. Mahanayake or Govt. The buddhist priests need to be put in place. I hope this is the showdown.
This commedy was enacted by different actors in a diferent time and in a different place Yes Idi Amin did this nothing is going to happen General will be sent to prison along with his supporters MR is the King and if any body dares to question the King you could either disappear or join the exgeneral.
Peri Nathen
It is a sad indictment of Sri Lankan society that a man who has served the nation can be harrassed and locked up without charges and even his friends and relatives subject to the same treatment without nary a word of condemnation by the majority of the population. In fact many seem to say 'íts a good thing that this happened this way'.
Isnt there a word called Justice or Gratitude in Sri Lanka? Shouldnt a man who laid his life in jeopardy on behalf of his nation be given a fair trial. Instead we see a blood sport of attacking him and his family, like jackals and hyenas moving in for the kill. A nation without morals is doomed whatever the pundits of the govt may say. There is no Subha Anagathayak in hounding and killing a man even if he be your worst enemy.
RAW wants to keep him detained.They think he is a threat to their soverign authority in the region.MR and goons are instrumental in this process.
Why Sri Lanka cannot come out of poor? Mainly people has no idea about the politicics and what politicians do once they get voted from them. The are many things that can be done in Sri Lanka to bring prosparity for people. We need to improve the thinking patterns of people in new ways. Not like thinking as before through a set frame. This is what we received from the god for Sri Lanka. Many bulls elect some shit then other to suffer.