When there was a move by some disgruntled group in the army to surreptitiously stage a coup with a view to snatch power through the barrel of gun, Sri Lanka Government rightly turned to India which kept it troops on high alert on the 15th October to overcome any eventually.
This startling disclosure, made by General Sarath Fonseka himself in his letter of resignation addressed to President Mahinda Rajapaksa, clearly shows that Sri Lanka had survived another grave disaster, so soon after an end to the 30-year-old ethnic conflict. Yet, the General finds fault with Sri Lanka Government for having taken such a precautionary measure to safeguard the country from the brink of a new disaster.
The army commander, who was elevated as the Chief of Defence staff after the war, in his letter of resignation has admitted that after a point of time President, who is also the Commander-in-chief, had lost confidence in him and his integrity.
Even casual perusal of the letter shows the Chief of Defence staff failed to display his loyalty to Commander in Chief. Instead the letter displayed his carnal urge for power and powerful position.
It clearly showed that his trustworthiness became a questionable factor to the President who is elected by the people of the country and who has been entrusted the responsibility to administer the country.
Sarath Fonseka was never entertained or trusted by earlier President Chandrika Kumaratunga. She kept him at her arms length, but Mahinda Rajapaksa who succeeded her on 19 Nov 2005, rehabilitated him.
On the recommendation of Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the President elevated Sarath Fonseka as Lieutenant General and made him the Commander of the army.
Sarath Fonseka was one of the hundreds of people recruited to assist the President in implementing his promises to the people during the election.
One poll promise of President Rajapaksa was fight against the LTTE terrorism and liberation the country from scourge of terrorism in this country.
To fulfil the promise, President appointed Gotabaya Rajapaksa as the Secretary to Defence and named new Navy, Air force, and Army commanders.
On 25 April 2006, Lt. General Fonseka survived an LTTE suicide bomb attack by a pregnant Tamil woman who infiltrated the army base by attending the regular maternity clinic provided for civilians at the base hospital. Nine soldiers were killed; he however escaped with injuries.
The bomber infiltrated the heavily-secured Sri Lankan army headquarters in Colombo and attacked the General's limousine when he was on his way to the officer's mess. The General was rushed first to the headquarters military hospital and then transferred to the General Hospital in Colombo. Later on, he was flown to Singapore for treatment; he resumed his duties in July.
By the time Fonseka re-joined the active service, the President decided to take the Tigers head-on and undertake a military operation with a humane face to secure Mavil Aru sluice-gates. The Commando troops launched the operation on July 21, 2006 after seriously considering the ground realities. The Government saw no other solution than a military intervention to restore drinking water supply for 30,000 people.
From thenceforth, Commander in Chief President Mahinda Rajapakse launched humanitarian operations to free the Tamils from the iron grip of the LTTE who styled as Tamil Tigers.
The Mavil Aru Anicut operation ended in retrieving entire Eastern province from the LTTE. After nearly a year of fighting, the government captured Thoppigala (Baron's cap) on July 11, 2007.
The campaign to fight to finish LTTE continued in the Northern Province which included the jungle stretch of Wanni region. This phase of the operation successfully came to an end by 19 of May 2009.
Former Navy Commander Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda has rightly said that outcome of the Wanni War effort was a combined effort – ‘everybody, starting from the President, worked diligently with unwavering commitment. Everyone from the highest in the land to the lowest orderly in a front line formation contributed 100 per cent in their areas of responsibilities’.
But Sarath Fonseka in his resignation letter speaks of war outcome as a result of his ‘vision’ and ‘command’ and ‘leadership’.
‘During my command of 3 years and 7 months, the Sri Lanka Army managed to eradicate the terrorist movement having apprehended an unbelievable stock of arms and munitions and decisively defeating the LTTE and its murderous leadership, which Your Excellency is obviously aware of’, the General wrote in his letter of resignation.
And then went on to claim credit for the ‘historic’ victory.
‘I would not be exaggerating to state that I was instrumental in leading the Army to this historic victory, of course with Your Excellency’s political support, which helped to materialize this heroic action. Though the field commanders, men and all members of the Army worked towards this common goal, it is with my vision, command and leadership that this yeomen task was achieved’, Fonseka wrote in self -praise.
Mark the grudging acknowledgment – the victory (against the Tigers) was ‘of course with Your Excellency’s political support’.
Contrast this with what Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda says of how the victory came. His navy contribution was no mean to the war effort but see how he goes about sharing the credit.
The Admiral begins saying: ‘… Yes, I will start with the President. He made all the difference as the Head of State and the Supreme Commander. His decision to go for humanitarian operation and for dignified peace was the starting point of our victory.’
Then he goes on to observe: ‘…. To have dignified peace, he (the President) gave the go ahead for humanitarian operation to liberate the North. To have dignified peace, he, as the head of the government, ensured a stable government without which we would never be able to conduct the operation’.
The Admiral recounts how the President ensured financial flow to kept the war machinery fighting fit. And galvanised the support of the people behind the forces.
‘….. As finance minister he gave all the necessary funds for us. As a head of the Security Council, he supervised all the operations and all the planning and the discussions that were taking place. He gave instructions where corrections were necessary. The directions were all clear, precise, unambiguous, no wavering …As the President he galvanized the support of the people behind the forces. As president of the country he never gave into international pressure to stop the operation,’ says Navy commander.
Admiral Karannagoda showers fulsome praise to the leadership of the Secretary of Defence, who, he says, ensured no shortages of any kind in the war theatre.
‘He (the Secretary) played a key role by coordinating the matters with army, navy, air force, police and civil defence forces. He was like a conductor of an orchestra. When there was a shortage in one area, quickly replenishments were brought in from another area so that (operational) momentum was maintained. So he did his part 100 percent. President did his part more than 100 per cent. As Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces of Sri Lanka, President Mahinda Rajapaksa gave unwavering leadership (for the Operation).”
Elaborating further, the Navy commander points out that war campaign is always a combined effort that demands nothing but 100per cent commitment from the participants.
‘The Army Commander (Gen Fonseka) gave his 100 percent. So did I as the navy commander in respect to naval commitments to work as a team. The Air Force Commander too did his 100 per cent commitments to work as a team. The Police also did likewise and maintained security. All of us did our best as expected of us. The point is if not for the dedicated and astute leadership of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the operation to liberate North and East could have still remained a pipedream’, he remarks bluntly.
Needless to say, it is the leadership of President Mahinda Rajapaksa as the political executive that freed Sri Lanka from the scourge of terrorism that plagued the country for well over 30 long years.
Sarath Fonseka’s was a component in Mahinda Rajapaksa’s endeavour in waging a humanitarian operation to evict the terrorists led by Prabhakaran from the country.
The very same Mahinda Rajapaksa also saved Sri Lanka from the suspected coup leaders by resorting to the help of India in case a fight broke out to snatch power from the democratically elected Government,
- Asian Tribune -
Comments
If we view Mr. Fonseka’s
If we view Mr. Fonseka’s resignation from the post he held up to the date he tendered his resignation and his desire to engage in politics (still not known for sure) and plan to contest in the forthcoming presidential election as the opponent of President Rajapakshe, I think he is going to lend President Rajapakshe a supportive hand to win the election with an unprecedented victory as he had done in the war which was fought against terrorists. Therefore, being general public or the president or his government should not take this issue seriously. There is a vast difference between the leadership in politics and leadership in a security force of a country. To be armed with leadership qualities, knowledge, skills and experience to rule a country composed of diverse cultures, religions, languages and socio-economic issues with international relations aw well as pressures can not be gained overnight. It needs a genuine dedication and sacrifice on the part of the person himself/herself with a sound self-discipline. Further, I wish to raise two questions here. They will be important for Mr. Fonseka to think and rethink of what he is going to do. If he is going to join the UNP, he will automatically be a bull. How? Because Lakasman Kiriella said when the war was going on in a news briefing that any bull can fight if he is provided with arms. Further, if he plans to join the newly formed alliance headed by UNP, it includes Manoganeshan who has been a strong advocate of LTTE, then, he will become a traitor. Given these two option, whichever, he selects, his true fame and dignity as a war hero will be lost.
No more MISTAKES
Nobody is perfect.Everybody is having weaknesses.When people are not deplomatic and think only of their own interest this type of things may happen.General SF should think whether he fulfilled the duty entrusted by the President or not.He (general) did his part as expected not only to the satisfaction of president but also to the satisfaction of the patriotic people in the country.Therefore we should respect him(General).He is a war hero !
If General SF wants to enter to politics he has a right to do so.However he should get into the correct political decision.If General wants to lead the country more perfectly compared with the rule of the president he should get into the seen when president fail to fulfill the expectations of the people.We have a faith in him.But currupted political vision (backed by western countries) of the opposition political parties is not matching with the expectations of the general public.They are always ahead of the crrupted media as well as politiciens. They know that they made the worest political mistake in 1977 by bringing JR into power and later Ranil
in 2000s.No more mistakes.
Fonseka Saga
Mr. Rajasingham writes a brilliant analysis of Fonseka saga. This General’s conduct seems to galvanize this theory. Some body commenting under Swadheena trying to polarize the account by still glorifying the un-General. With the path Sarath Fonseka is taking no wonder President would have lost trust in him long before.
As the article goes the major planning of the war has been done when Fonseka was ailing from his self inflicted injuries sustain from suicide bombers he himself planted in his own quarters in the Army HQ. He handpicked the cook who did the mayhem from his days in Jaffna. This shows the poor judgment of Sarath Fonseka though he is boasting as if he is the man.
He was also part of 30 years of sordid past who inflicted such a lot of pain on average citizen. What changes this fate was the leadership of the President, not the commander of the Army. Perhaps the opposition should say that any fool can be the Army Commander if he has a good commander in chief.
Then the death of Chief of Staff Parami Kulathunge should be attributed to Sarath Fonseka who did not allow him to take residence in the Army HQ. The reasons for Sarath Fonseka to hold on to several quarters in the Army HQ will come to light in due course. Fonseka’s ill treatment of former commanders is legendary. He assumed that he is the only brave soldier though the real commanders were fighting the ground war and laying their life in the enemy hands. Fonseka never commanded troops at ground level at this war though he is boasting so much of his skills.
Some of the utterances Fonseka made almost halted the war and brought unnecessary pressure on the government. The early days of Fonseka as a Junior Officer may have to be examined now he has joined the political fray. With this type of conduct I salute the President for elevating him to be a General after the war. What command he was seeking after the war unless he had ulterior motives? It is time to sweep this un-general from the Sri Lankan landscape.