Sri Lankan opposition parties nominating Chief of Defence Staff General Sarath Fonseka as the common candidate in the forthcoming Presidential election hinges on his resignation from his present position.
But it is learnt that the acceptance of his resignation is not that easy as US Department of State in its report has alleged of the killing of the innocent civilians during the last days of the war by the Sri Lankan Army and the Sri Lanka Government has to go into this allegation to find out whether any armed forces personnel were involved in any such crimes as alleged by the US State Department.
As the allegation has been raised by US State Department, it is important that Sri Lanka has to investigate whether there is any truth in those allegation leveled against Sri Lanka in its fight against terrorism in the country.
According to Sri Lanka’s Minister of Foreign Affairs the President of Sri Lanka has appointed a panel to consider the matters raised in the report of US State Department .
To go through this investigative process the head of the armed force too has to be brought under scrutiny.
Therefore if Sri Lankan President accepts the resignation of Srath Fonseka it will amount to President trying to cover up the excess committed by the Sri Lankan armed forces.
Furthermore the country needs answers to many issues connected with General Sarath Fonseka.
One of the most compelling issue is Sarath Fonseka acquiring alien residence status in the US.
It is highly intriguing to note as to how he was able to acquire the alien residence in US. It was revealed that he acquired this alien residence status in the US while he was the commander of the army. Another question arises whether this status of alien residence in US was approved by the Government of Sri Lanka .
Also the issues connected with the Chief of Defence Staff who visited Washington on 24th of October in the guise of official visit to renew his alien residency and there he without the prior permission of the Sri Lanka Government agreed for a voluntary interview by the Homeland Security officials.
It took 48 long hours for Sarath Fonseka to disclose to the Sri Lanka Government about the invitation he received from the officials of the Human Rights Violations and War Crimes Unit of the ICE in the Department of Homeland Security when he was clearly told that the ‘voluntary interview’ was connected to alleged human rights violations of Sri Lanka’s Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.
It is important that these issues have to be investigated before General Sarath Fonseka’s resignation is accepted by the Commander in Chief – Sri Lankan President.
According to Major General (retired) M.D.Fernando, any officer in the armed forces neither can resign and say I want to remove my uniform and I want to go tomorrow or day after.
However this is only possible only after the officer’s resignation is accepted by his superior and then only the said officer can be relieved from the armed services.
If it is a soldier it is the army commander and if it is an officer it is commander in chief who has to approve the resignation.
As Sarath Fonseka is an officer, and his superior is Commander in Chief who should accept his resignation.
The Commanderin Chief of the armed services is the President. According to the Sri Lanka Constitution Clause 30 (1) (Quote) “There shall be a President of the Republic of Sri Lanka, who is the Head of the State, the Head of the Executive, and the Commander-in- Chief of the Armed Forces.”(End Quote)
Major General (retired) M.D.Fernando speaking to Asian Tribune further said that General Sarath Fonseka as Army Commander, he was given an year extension of service in the beginning of this year and his extension was to expire by 18th December 2009.
In the meantime President also elevated him as the Chief of Defence Staff.
Under the Chief of Staff Defence Act No: 35 of 2009, Sarath Fonseka was appointed under contract for two years.
According to the Act Sarath Fonseka was appointed by President and he will hold office for two years or else until the pleasure of the President who is the Commander in Chief.
Furthermore According to the Act 3 (1) Chief of Defence Staff may by letter addressed to the President , in that behalf, tender his resignation from the Office of the Chief of Defence staff before the expiry of his term.
Again Section 3 (4) categorically states “ Notwithstanding to the provision of the subsection 3 (1) the Chief of Defence Staff who tenders his resignation shall not be relieved of duties of his appointment till the acceptance of such resignation by the President is notified to him in writing.
The pertinent issue is whether Sri Lankan President in his capacity as Commander in Chief agrees to a accept the resignation of Sarath Fonseka without inquiring into the allegation that Sri Lankan army was involved in the killing of the innocent Tamils at the last days of the battle with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. This was an allegation made by the US State Department.
- Asian Tribune -
Comments
Resignation of SF
I cannot believe what type of a commander Sarath Fonseka has been to put him in to such a sorry situation. This shows SF had never been an able Army Commander if not for the leadership given by the government of Sri Lanka specially the Defense Secretary. If one probe into Fonseka’s junior days in the Army will find that he was not a disciplined officer at that point. In fact there were several incidents of misbehavior reported in the officer mess in various regiments. The person, who very elaborately spoke about his passion at the interviews before the war, now has become a joke. Perhaps all this may be advocated by the media. May be USA has an involvement trying to get him to oppose the president. However, Sarath Fonseka to join the clique of jokers Ranil, Managala, Mano, Range, Ravi and Jayalath is suicidal and insane.