Govt. cites army act, then Gota rubs it in

On Monday evening, defeated common opposition candidate, General Sarath Fonseka met with leaders of constituent parties of his former electoral alliance. JVP leader Somawansha Amarasinghe, Muslim Congress leader Rauf Hakeem and Western People’s Front leader Mano Ganeshan turned up at Fonseka’s Office in Rajakeeya Mawatha to discuss the future electoral strategy. With the main constituent party of Fonseka’s alliance, UNP having opted to contest under the party’s trademark symbol, —Elephant, the JVP and other small parties were looking for an electoral alliance. Gen Fonseka himself wanted the UNP contest under the Swan symbol, but the UNP working committee turned down the proposition. The meeting on Monday was to discuss how Gen Fonseka and other minority parties seal a deal on an electoral pact. Coordinating Secretary of Gen Fonseka, Senaka de Silva was in attendance. As the meeting was in progress, at 9. 30 pm, they had some uninvited guests.
A group of military police personnel burst into the office. Brigadier Wijesiri, the head of military police ordered the political leaders to leave the room, leaving Gen Fonseka and Senaka de Silva in the room.
But, politicians refused to go. Brigadier Wijesiri then informed Gen Fonseka that he would be arrested. Gen Fonseka contested claiming that he was no longer a military officer and that if there were any charges against him, it was the police which should arrest him.
Somawansha Amarasinghe, who was a witness to the incident, told reporters that Brigadier Wijesiri told Fonseka that he had accompanied a team of police personnel, who were downstairs. Fonseka then told the Brigadier to bring the cops to his office so that he could negotiate his arrest.

The request

The request was turned down. At this moment, a contingent of soldiers, led by Major General Sumith Manawadu entered the room. Major General Manawadu ordered the soldiers to arrest Fonseka. Soldiers bewildered by the orders remained unmoved. Then, Manawadu shouted orders: “Go and grab!” Fonseka objected to the arrest. He said that the army had no powers to arrest him and told them “don’t touch me” (engata athak thiyanna epa).
Somawansha Amarasinghe said, “At that moment, soldiers grabbed the former army chief by his legs and arms and carried him to the vehicle. Amarasinghe said the war-winning army General was “hauled like a terrorist.”
Military spokesman Major General Prasad Samarasinghe denied the allegations of harassment of Gen Fonseka. (Read the box story)
Fonseka’s wife Anoma Fonseka told reporters that her husband, once a war hero, celebrated by the political establishment was now “treated like an animal.” She told reporters, her husband was forcibly taken, not arrested.
“The small flat he is being kept is literally a jail. I was not allowed to speak to him freely. I could not ask him how he was coping.”
“The whole place was surrounded by soldiers. After 48 hours of his arrest, the government had not submitted him a charge sheet,” Anoma Fonseka told reporters after she was allowed to meet her husband.
“This tragic situation which befell my husband today could happen to your husband tomorrow. I called on the women in this country to rally with me to fight against this situation.”
“Why can’t the government reveal the “conspiracy” which General Fonseka is alleged to have hatched?”
“I know very well General Sumith Manawadu, who came to arrest my husband. He is an officer, junior in his rank and is not empowered to arrest my husband.”
Mrs Fonseka fears that the arrest of her husband would worsen his health condition.
She said, injuries sustained in the suicide blast had severely damaged functioning of his heart, lungs, kidneys and intestines, which need continuous medical attention and that metal particles left inside his body should be monitored as they could move close to vital organs. Immediately after the arrest of Gen Fonseka, Mrs Fonseka requested ICRC assistance to locate her husband. That is, in fact, a strange paradox for Fonseka, a war winning general, whose reign in the army was however tainted by a string of abductions.
Fonseka’s arrest would likely create fresh diplomatic dilemma for a government, for which new found legitimacy derived from the electoral win is fast fading. (Read box story on the international reaction)
Let alone international concerns, the government’s spokesperson seemed to be at a loss over addressing local concerns.

Rambukwella’s remarks

Keheliya Rambukwella, the government’s defence spokesman told reporters that Gen Fonseka had been arrested for maintaining political contacts with various political groups while he was serving as the commander of army and chief of defence staff.
Rambukwella said the arrest was done under the article 57.1 of the Army Act.
The article 57 (1) outlines the procedure for the “trial of offenders who have ceased to be subject to military law.”
It states, “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”
Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardene echoed the same sentiments, when he told the reporters that Fonseka was “involved in politics while he was in army.”
Lakshman Yapa told reporters that Fonseka had conspired against the Commander in Chief, President Mahinda Rajapaksa, harboured army deserters and attempted to create divisions within the military”
He said that the retired army chief had told the BBC that he would give evidence in a war crime trial and that the army had a right to question him over these claims.
A day before his arrest, BBC Sinhala website quoted Gen Fonseka as saying: “I am not going to save anyone who has committed war crimes”.
“Those who reveal the truth are not traitors” he added.
It is, in fact, a quirk of fate that Fonseka’s now stands accused of conspiring against his commander in chief. In very words of Wimal Weerawansa, it was Gen Fonseka who telephoned the then JVP parliamentary group leader on the eve of the 2008 budget and pleaded with him to save the government from an imminent collapse. Fonseka urged Weerawansa not to vote against the budget as that could impede military operations.
Political dealings in support of the ruling party seem to be acceptable in the eyes of the government. The bone of contention over the Fonseka affair, however, was Tylvin Silva’s statement that Gen Fonseka had contacted him from US to seek advice when the homeland department was about to question him over war crime charges.
Tylvin Silva had not retracted the statement; neither did Fonseka deny the report.

Gotabhaya’s interview

Last week, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa who oversaw military operations along with Fonseka before the two men fell out, came strongly against the former army chief.
In an interview with Singapore’s Strait Times, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa charged that Fonseka was planning a military coup. ( See page 13)
In the same interview, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa stirred a hornet’s nest charging that Norway and United States funded Fonseka’s election campaign “paying journalists to write against the government”. Both the United States and Norway rebuffed the allegation.
Not many people are convinced by the government’s explanation of Fonseka arrest. Understandably, politicians in Fonseka’s former electoral alliance are in the forefront of the protest. For instance, Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe challenged the legal basis of the arrest. He said neither the constitution nor the army act provides any legal ground for the continued detention of General Fonseka.
The Army Act states that if an army officer is arrested, he should within 24 hours be informed in writing of the charges that required arrest. But with regard to General Fonseka, this has not been done,” Mr. Wickremesinghe said
He said journalists had been forced to censor reports about international criticism of Fonseka’s arrest and the illegality of the arrest. He said: ‘I doubt whether what I say here would also be censored.’
On Friday, the Supreme Court granted leave to proceed with the Fundamental Rights Petition filed by Mrs Anoma Fonseka and Mrs Sharmila Perera on behalf of Gen Fonseka, who have challenged his arrest and demanded his immediate release. The case will be heard on February 23. Meanwhile, the attorney general gave and undertaking that General Fonseka would not be transferred to any other detention centre.
Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe met President Rajapaksa to request the release of General Fonseka. The UNP stated in a media communique‚ that the opposition leader told the president that the General’s detention was illegal. Meanwhile, the government’s news portal reported that the “president informed the opposition leader that all facilities would given to General Sarath Fonseka without causing him any inconvenience”. “The president added that investigations into these allegations will be carried out immediately. General Fonseka will be released, if he is proven not guilty of the charges, the president had assured,” the official news portal reported.
One thing could surely be said...despite initial optimism that Rajapaksa victory would lead the country in the path of reconciliation, Fonseka’s arrest had widened the rift in the body politic.
Signs of growing disunity were evident in the street protests and ensuing clashes in many parts of the country including Colombo, Matara, Ampara and Maharagama, last week. The lopsided police reaction to the protestors - as manifest in the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s reprimanding of the OIC, Colombo Crime Division- highlights the eroding credibility of the law enforcement agencies.
Uncertainty and chaos, inevitable by-products of political maneuvering stand to rob the country’s economic prospects and drive away prospective investors just after country emerges from a bloody 30 year war.
Symptoms of this infinite Sri Lankan proclivity to squander its potentials have already appeared now as they did in early 80s, before reducing a prospective Asian Tiger to a veritable economic basket case. History repeats when its lessons are not heeded.

Theras to difuse tension

Mahanayake theras have intervened to diffuse the tension. In a letter sent to Maha Sangha, Maha Nayaka theras have requested them to attend a special conference on February 18.
Ven Thibbotuwawe Sri Sumangala,Mahnanayake thera, Malwatta chapter Ven. Udugama Sri Buddharakkhitha, Mahanayake thera, Asgiriya chapter Ven. Dawuldena Gnanissara,Mahanayake thera, Amarapura chapter, and Ven Weweldeniye Medhalankara, Mahanayake thera, Ramanna chapter have signed the letter sent to temples.

The full text of the letter is as follows: “Honourable Maha Sangha,

We believe that you all are already convinced that an uncertain situation has been developed in Sri Lanka with regard to the democracy and good governance. It is our understanding that this will be disastrous to the future of our country.
It is not our duty as Buddhist monks to be silent under these circumstances. Although the Buddhist monks have been long been contributing to the progress of this country you all might admit that this was somewhat challenged in recent times.
Considering these factors, we call upon you to take part, together with other Buddhist monks in the area, at historic Maha Maluwa in Kandy on 18 February at 3pm for a special conference of Buddhist monks under the auspicious of Mahanayake theras of three main chapters in order to find a common agreement to find a solution to the uncertainty in Sri Lanka and to re-establish democracy and good governance.”

Major General Samarasinghe on alleged harassment...

We asked military spokesman Major General Prasad Samarasinghe on the reports of alleged harassment of the former army chief:
On alleged harassment of General Fonseka:
“That is a lie. Our pro- marshal who visited General Fonseka read out the article 57.1 of the Army Act and informed him, that he was under arrest as stipulated in the procedure outlined in the said article.
Gen Fonseka objected to the arrest and kept arguing with the officers for over ten minutes, scolding them in filth. There was no harassment. He was not assaulted. He refused to go with the army and sat in his chair. Soldiers took him with his chair. Then he told them to put him down. When they put him down, he walked to the van.”
“A delegation from the National Human Rights Commission visited him and if there were any indication of assault or harassment, they should have noticed that.”
On health condition of General Fonseka:
The Commander of Army had replied to the written request by Mrs Anoma Fonseka. He had said Major General Munasinghe would be available to treat Gen Fonseka outside his working hours. In addition, there is a medical team round the clock.
Army Headquarters later issued a media statement:
“Commander of the Army Lieutenant General Jagath Jayasuriya, in response to a written request made to him by Mrs Anoma Fonseka, wife of General Sarath Fonseka over provision of medical consultations to General Fonseka intimated on Friday (12) that a special medical team from the Military Hospital is on call round the clock for him in case of any emergency.”
“Similarly, Lieutenant General Jayasuriya has instructed Major General S.H. Munasinghe, Medical Advisor at Military Hospital to make himself available after normal working hours, in case General Fonseka or his wife, Mrs Anoma Fonseka seeks assistance in his sphere of medicine, in relation to General Fonseka’s health.”
On the progress of legal process
“Summary of evidence has commenced. Our Judge Advocate Major General Indra Wijeratne is looking into evidence. She will decide whether there is evidence to try General Fonseka. The judge advocate would consult the attorney general if necessary.”

International concern over the arrest

n United Nations said in a statement that Ban Ki- moon "expressed his concern (to Rajapaksa) about recent developments in Sri Lanka," brought up Fonseka's arrest and "urged the government to respect the due process of law and guarantee (Fonseka's) personal safety."
Ban also agreed with President Mahinda Rajapaksa that Lynn Pascoe, head of the U.N. political department, would visit the island soon after the presidential inauguration this month, the statement said.

n Indian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Vishnu Prakash said in a statement: "We have been in touch with the government of Sri Lanka about the detention of Retired General Sarath Fonseka. As a friend and neighbour, we trust that due processes of law will be observed in democratic Sri Lanka in this matter,"
n Erik Solheim, Norway's environment and international development minister, told news agency NTB: "There is no doubt that this arrest is a cause for major concerns,"
"The arrest will have consequences on the possibility to progress towards lasting political stability" in Sri Lanka, he said, adding "many other events since the election justify being worried.

n The Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj in a statement said:
"We are disturbed by the news reports about the arrest and detention of Gen Fonseka, the opposition candidate in the recent presidential election in Sri Lanka,'' the BJP leader said, adding, ``As the world's largest democracy, we cannot approve of this, particularly when it is happening so close to us. We call upon President Rajapaksa to ensure the safety and well-being of the opposition leader and request his release immediately.''