On My Beat: No public reaction to Fonseka’s arrest

The arrest of Sarath Fonseka on Monday late in the evening, has not clearly evinced any sympathy in the country. Asian Tribune reporters in Colombo, Jaffna and in the East inform that life is going on smoothly and the arrest of Sarath Fonseka has been considered similar to ‘a flee being removed from the body politic of the country’.

Fonseka’s challenge to the Government “dare if you can, then arrest me” precedes his arrest.

He had said in the morning, “The government should arrest me first if I had planned to stage a military coup; and they have not done so because it is a fabricated story.” The Retired General said this speaking to family members of the former military personnel, who were taken into custody for having been employed under him during the presidential elections.

The taunting and the challenges thrown by Sarath Fonseka came to an end when the Military Police went to arrest him at his Rajkeeya Road Office.

The Government claimed that Sarath Fonseka was arrested under the Military Act for divulging military secrets and acting against the government while serving in the army.

When the news of his arrest was made public, there was no public reaction forthcoming.

There was no uprising, no agitation and no protest. That there was no reaction in the country after the arrest of Sarath Fonseka is a biggest disappointment to the Opposition leaders. Only a few vested interest organizations have released statements about the arrests.

Furthermore, it is learnt Janatha Vimukthi Perumuna is making arrangements to exploit the situation to their political program.

It is learnt that they are trying bringing bus loads of people into Colombo to protest the arrest of Sarath Fonseka.

Some sources in Colombo told Asian Tribune that it is very difficult to bring in people from outside to stage a protest in Colombo, as people never had any trust in Sarath Fonseka.

The 40 per cent of the votes he polled was not because the people were attracted either by his personality or by his political candour. That was only the UNP and other party supporters’ votes.

‘Arrest’ or ‘Abduction’

In the meantime when Asian Tribune contacted Mano Ganeshan, the Leader of the Democratic People’s Front who was one of those present when Sarath Fonseka was arrested.

He told Asian Tribune that he will not describe that as an arrest. He said that Sarath Fonseka was abducted by the Army. But When Asian Tribune tried to seek clarification as to what he meant by abduction, he failed to clarify and failed to give a definition to the word ‘abduction’. It amounted to making cheap politics out of the arrest of Sarath Fonseka.

He said that he is well aware of the numerous Tamils being abducted and what happened at the Rajakeeya Office of Sarath Fonseka was abduction and nothing else.

As Asian Tribune was unable to understand a Sri Lankan Army personnel who came to perform their legal duties of arresting a former Army commander on charges could be termed as abduction.

It became evident that Mano Ganeshan and their ilk are trying to play with words to evince the attention of the international community and force them to interfere in the internal affairs of the law and order of the country.

A similar statement was also made by Anoma Fonseka, the wife of the former Army Commander and the former Chief of Defense staff.

Asian Tribune learnt that already investigation has been launched about the reported malpractice she was involved, when she was the Chairperson of Ranaviru Authority.

Just because someone was involved in politics that does not means that he can be absolved from all the malpractice, and corruption he was involved in.

The Opposition was a rudderless ship after Mahinda Rajapaksa was able to bring the 30 years of terrorism to a successful end. By the time Sarath Fonseka who enjoyed 4 years of extended service in the Army and was made the commander and later the Chief of Defence Staff.

Once he was made the Chief of Staff, it was a rude shock for him when his wings were clipped. It is said that he was thinking in terms of a plot to overthrow the legally elected government.

When he was contemplating of moves to overthrow the government, the Opposition leaders began to initiate contacts and aided and abetted a man in uniform to do the most horrible thing, politicking and work against the commander in chief of the army.

Sarath Fonseka was in a deep depressed mood. The assurance by the leaders of the Opposition and contact person of the American and Norway Governments embolden him. He seized on the opportunity as he felt that this would give him an opportunity to cover up all his corrupt practices in the Army procurement he and his son – in – law Danuna Tilakaratne was involved.

In fact the leaders of the Opposition too have to be charged for aiding and abetting a uniformed army officer getting involved in politics.

In the meantime we have already reported in this column that Military spokesman Prasad Samarasinghe has been promoted to the rank of Major General. He assumed duty as the Military Spokesman with effect from Monday at the Media Centre for National Security.

He has been appointed as Military Spokesman apart from his present positions as Chief Signals officer and Chief Controller of the Centre for Research and Development under the Defence Ministry.

Meanwhile, former Military Spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara has been appointed to the post of Chief Field Engineer of the Army.

In the meantime the arrested Retired Police Captain Senaka Arnold Haripriya de Silva alias Captain Shah Silva is now under the Police custody and they have started questioning him.

Judgment of anticipatory bail today

As far as the Arms Dealer Son-in-law of Sarath Fonseka – Danuna Tilakaratne is concerned; he is till dodging the police. His whereabouts is still unknown.

In the meantime Colombo Fort Magistrate and Additional District Judge Lanka Jayaratne is expected to deliver his judgment today on the anticipatory bail application by the Senior Counsel for Danuana Tillekeratna, son-in-law of Sarath Fonseka.

Senior State Counsel Dammith Totawatta objecting to the anticipatory bail application by Danuana Tillekeratne when it came up for hearing on 08 February, said the investigations in connection with the arms deal had revealed that the Sri Lankan Company had forwarded several forged documents to a foreign company in respect of the contract.

The Senior State Counsel in his lengthy submissions told court that the Power of Attorney issued by the Foreign Company had stated that they never supplied any items to the Sri Lankan Defence. They also stated that they have not received any money in respect of the arms transaction.

According to the CID investigations a massive fraud had been committed. The investigations into the fraud had also not been completed. The CID had not recorded any statement from the applicant who had submitted an anticipatory bail application before court, the Senior State Counsel said.

The Senior State Counsel also said that the CID had informed the applicant to appear before the CID on February 1, but he had admitted himself to a hospital. Later the CID found out that he had left the hospital on the same evening. The CID is unaware about his whereabouts up to the time of writing this report.

- Asian Tribune -