Arresting Fonseka Was the Right – and the Legal – Thing to Do

About twenty protestors gathered in the sunshine yesterday in front of the high-rise building housing the Sri Lankan Consulate in Mid-Wilshire Los Angeles. They very vocally voiced their displeasure over the arrest and detention of retired general Sarath Fonseka – who is in Sri Lanka, of course.

When I heard about the feeble, not-well-attended protest I wondered why in the world those people were protesting his arrest in America – a country where the retired general surely would surely be arrested should he show his face here again. Among other things, suspected illicit arms trading by a US Green Card holder is not generally tolerated in this country; and the retired general most definitely would have been nabbed and detained at the airport.

Furthermore, here in the US he would not have been lodged in a comfortable, Navy officer’s, five-star apartment. He would have been unceremoniously dumped in a cold, lonely jail cell without the good food, service, and visits he gets from his good wife. You’ve all heard the horror stories about over-crowded jails in America; the retired general would truly have been horrified had he been thrown in one.

I couldn’t understand why they were protesting on Wilshire Boulevard – rather than going back to Sri Lanka where the protest really belonged – that is, if they felt so inclined and so in need of expressing their outrage. These sorts of protests on American soil only make Sri Lanka’s image even worse than it already is in the eyes of the State Department, and they provide even more fuel for LTTE-paid lobbyists and journalists like Bruce Fein.

It is interesting to note here that before the end of the war the LTTE Diaspora, some unscrupulous international NGO’s, and certain meddling “foreign powers” used their money to stage protests against the Government. When the war finally ended the various political parties of Sri Lanka were mostly united in spirit, if not in ideology. During the recent presidential election the same LTTE Diaspora, the same NGO’s, and the same foreign powers used their funds behind the scenes to promote protests by blind followers of the UNP and JVP, which caused the country to become polarized and divided. The unwitting protesters – including the ones in LA yesterday – have been used as pawns in a vicious conspiracy to cause a breach in the country, where before there was unity; and to cause unnecessary divisiveness where just a few months ago there was a shared energy directed towards a bright future.

Also note that according to Mr. Mangala Samaraweera, both he and Mr. Ranil Wickramasinghe of UNP fame, clandestinely visited the retired general while he was still wearing his uniform. In fact, they had several top-secret meetings – even going so far as to change vehicles en route to their rendezvous point to evade the CID. The purpose of these meetings was to convince Fonseka to join their efforts to unseat the president by serving as their common candidate.

This comes from an actual statement made by Mr. Samaraweera. In my book, this is a very good reason for Fonseka’s arrest.

Remember when the retired general was last in the US and he was called to testify before the State Department about possible atrocities committed during the end of the war? Remember that the retired general fled the country before his scheduled appointment with his questioners? We have recently learned that the secretary of the JVP, Mr. Tilvin Silva, was the person Fonseka consulted before making his decision to leave the US on that late night flight.

This information comes directly from Mr. Silva, who proudly announced it to the press. In actual fact, if Fonseka was going to consult with anyone, he should have sought the advice of his superiors in the Government, don’t you think?

Perhaps the retired general’s most serious alleged offence against Sri Lanka are the statements he made to the BBC and other international media, in which he had the audacity to accuse his own military colleagues, albeit by inference and innuendo, of war crimes during the end of the war. This offence alone is cause for arrest.

By the way, no need to mention here that little matter of his son-in-law selling illegal weapons on both sides of the front line. This has been covered ad nauseum elsewhere by this writer and others.

Oh yes, as I said before in a previous article, the retired general was an ignorant cat’s paw for a motley collaboration of vengeful political enemies, and he was unknowingly way, way over his head – thanks to his inflated ego. Don’t say I didn’t warn him.

Apparently the LA protesters didn’t realize – and neither did the US State Department complainers and the congressional finger pointers – that there are very strict laws in the US about military personnel who are suspected of sedition and other such crimes committed while in uniform. If a retired general in the States ran for president, and it was learned that during his service in the armed forces he might have divulged privileged state security secrets, harbored approximately 500 army deserters (armed with illegal weapons, no less), and was suspected of trying to overthrow the government and assassinate the sitting president, he would have been locked up for good – perhaps in Guantanamo Bay (they’d say it was for his own protection, of course).

The US Government has zero tolerance for such offences – alleged or at least until proven otherwise in court. Think about it: the crimes the retired general is accused of committing are very, very serious. The Government couldn’t possibly make their accusations without solid, clear evidence gathered from very good sources of intelligence. And why should they? President Rajapaksa is more than capable of defending himself at the polling station – and just about everywhere else, for that matter. Didn’t he prove he could stand up to just about anything during the final days of Eelam IV – including the arrogant, duplicitous so-called “Western Powers” who exerted extreme pressures on him to capitulate to their inappropriate demands? I was proud of him for defying the neo-imperialists and their conniving NGO’s.

I wonder if those protesters in LA and elsewhere realize that the President of Sri Lanka actually learned of Fonseka’s “questionable activities” (I’m being kind) before the general retired, and that the Government exercised great restraint by not jumping the gun and having him arrested as soon as they found out. When the general announced his candidacy, President Rajapaksa was very reticent about raising the issue – knowing perfectly well that such an action would be construed by the public, the media, and the beloved international community as trying to unfairly eliminate a valid opponent. The timing simply wasn’t right – particularly since plans for the announced election were already at an advanced stage. The Government authorities calmly waited until after the election to take legal action, which I think was a very wise decision. Keep in mind that the President’s intelligence people (infiltrators in Fonseka’s inner circle, I’m told) had already advised him what Fonseka was planning to do – way before he retired from the military.

Sri Lanka has very clear, concrete laws about all this. The Army Act, Section 57(1) reads as follows: “Where a person subject to Military Law commits any offence and thereafter ceases to be a person subject to Military Law, he may be taken into and kept in Military Custody and be tried and punished for that offence by a Court Martial. Provided that he shall not be so tried after the lapse of six months, from the date of the commission of such offence unless such offence is the offence of mutiny, desertion or fraudulent enlistment.” Please keep in mind that when this law was written in 1949 it used the British military system as its model. In the UK when military law is interpreted, reasonable suspicion is usually considered adequate grounds for arrest. And I believe that the Government had quite a bit more than “reasonable suspicion” to back their decision to arrest Fonseka.

There you have it. Fonseka’s arrest is not only totally legal, but completely justified as well. Very soon the Government will record a Summary of Evidence, it will be read to the retired general, and he will sign it. Then the Summary will be recorded on a basic Charge Sheet, and the defendant will be advised of his right to remain silent, and be allowed to call witnesses on his own behalf. He can also engage his own defense attorneys – something that might not happen in a US Court Martial, though I admit I’m not completely sure.

I feel confident that the Government is proceeding according to the law of the land, and that the general is being treated in a humane and compassionate – shall we say quite comfortable – manner. I’m sure we’re all pleased he’s not receiving the inevitable harsh treatment he would have gotten in the US for similar alleged offences.

Before any more protests, I think we should all wait and see the evidence against the retired general when it comes out in court. Even though the retired general’s trial will not be open to the public, there is no doubt in my mind that the whole story will eventually be revealed – verbatim. The Government, I’m sure, will be quite transparent about this case; it is to its own advantage to do so. Meanwhile, as things are progressing according to law, let’s not forget that Fonseka is still innocent until he is proven guilty. He has his rights, and I’m sure the Government is acting with all due respect. Don’t forget that the retired general also has the right to go to the Supreme Court and appeal the military court’s decision, should the verdict not go in his favor.

Finally, my advice to the protesters who were used as pawns in Los Angeles: get real, grow up, and go home! Your protest is about a series of tawdry, albeit serious, crimes on the other side of the world, and it doesn’t belong on the streets of LA. I’m not saying that in America you don’t have the right to protest about things that take place in foreign lands. It’s your American constitutional right to protest against anything you want. I am saying that when you do protest – find something to protest against that’s really meaningful – like the shameful pillage of Darfur – or the Southern Baptist missionaries who think they can walk into Haiti and take home a souvenir child. Come to think of it, I might just protest that one myself.

- Asian Tribune -