Army purged; last it was done was in 62, over coup attempt

President Mahinda Rajapaksa last week sacked 14 senior military officers purging the military for the first time since 1962, which was the only other occasion in post independent history that the heads rolled in the military after a section of military was accused of plotting a military coup.
The Media Centre for National Security announcing the presidential decree stated that the military officers concerned were being sent on compulsory retirement for being a “threat to national security” and hatching a “political conspiracy.”
The exact nature of the charges leveled against these officers is not known. When asked, whether the sacked officers had been shown their charge sheets, Director General of the Media Centre for National Security, Lakshman Hulugalla declined to answer. (See interview on Page 6)
However, it is public secret that the officers concerned were loyalists of the common opposition candidate, General Sarath Fonseka, when he was the commander of army.
Given this context, it is a fair conjecture to assume that their loyalties to the former army chief, who is now at the receiving end of the government, is at the root of their misfortune. The compulsory retirement of the senior officers came after a major shake up in the top level military appointments, which was announced last week. Accordingly, major changes in the Army Headquarters, Security Forces Commanders, Division Commanders and other major army installations have been announced. The majority of the officers who received transfers from their plum positions were, again, the loyalists of the former army chief.
The exigency of the military shake up, which was announced just days after the poll victory of President Mahinda Rajapaksa against his main rival General Fonseka, should be an indication of the underlining security fears of the government.

Justice not delivered

If their involvement in politics has been the raison d’entre for sacking the military officers loyal to the former army chief, justice seems to have not been evenly delivered. At least, many in the opposition camp believe so.
UNP MP Dayasiri Jayasekara told a press conference that “Yoshitha Rajapaksa must be the first to retire as there is video and photograph evidence to show that he actively took part in political rallies”. In contrast, the 14 Army officers who were forced to retire didn’t attend political rallies, he argued.
Lakshman Hulugalla told that Yoshitha had attended a rally as a family member and that the “Tharunnayata Hetak” of which the presidential scion was the vice president - along with his elder brother, who is the president of the organization - was not a political organization.
In the meantime, Gen Fonseka has charged ex military officers who supported him in the election campaign are being targeted in a witch hunt. He said 35 ex military officers had been arrested and journalists who helped him in his campaign had been forced into hiding.
In a context of conspiracy theories increasingly dominating the local political discourse, the government spokespersons now say that they have uncovered a plot to assassinate President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his two influential brothers Gotabhaya and Basil.

‘Bolshevik Committees’

Cabinet Spokesperson and Media and Information Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa told reporters last week that Gen Fonseka had planned to appoint ‘Bolshevik Committees’ at every state institution after assassinating President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his bothers.
Gen Fonseka pooh-poohed the allegations of plotting a coup, claiming that it was a “mess waiters’ coup” that the government was talking about.
He says the first person from the Fonseka campaign camp to be arrested on the Election Day night was a mess waiter who ventured out of the hotel Cinnamon Lakeside. He said the mess waiter had been given a charge sheet. The charge was plotting a coup. He said this was followed by the arrest of retired senior officers involved in his campaign.
Gen Fonseka says it is ridiculous to suggest that he plotted a coup from a hotel within the firing range of the machine-gun from the President’s House.
Needless to say that people in this country deserve a clearer picture of developments unfolding since the election victory and of the accompanying saga of the purported military coup. Their confusion is worst confounded when information they receive may be slanted and manipulated. All they are left with is whatever they have to discern facts from fiction.