SARATH
FONSEKA SAGA
Apparently
General Sarath
Fonseka has been asked to give information on the Defence Secretary Mr.
Gothabhaya Rajapakse by the American state department and as neither
them is a pavena parandela our series on Pavena Parandel has to give
way to add our two cents worth comments on the latest episode of the
American involvement in our affairs. Both Sarath Fonseka and Gothabhaya
Rajapakse are “war heroes” and it is unfortunate that the relationship
between them after the killing of Prabhakaran has not been very cordial
to say the least. I use the words “war heroes” within inverted commas
as there was no war in this country during the last sixty five years or
so and we have experienced only operations against the JVP and the
LTTE. Those were legitimate operations and only a humanitarian from the
state department or his or her henchmen and henchwomen (or shall we say
henchpersons) would think of war crimes against the President, Defence
Secretary, Army Commander or any other officer in the armed forces. The
Americans and the other westerners who have committed more war crimes
against humanity during the last five hundred years or so in the name
of western Christian modernity than during the entire previous history
of mankind have no moral right whatsoever to speak of the so called war
crimes of the others. Even at present the Americans are involved in war
crimes and it is well known that during the humanitarian operations
against the LTTE under the leadership of General Sarath Fonseka the
army behaved excellently setting an example to the Americans and the
others.
The
Assistant secretary of
state Robert Blake cannot be considered as a friend of Sri Lanka and
neither Hilary Clinton. It appears that Clinton has no clue as to where
Sri Lanka is, except perhaps that it is closer to India than to USA,
and what sort of problems the country faces. She is neither friend nor
foe of Sri Lanka and as a seasoned politician she would not try to
upset Sri Lanka on her own. Though Clinton made that infamous statement
on using rape as a weapon by the Sri Lankan armed forces it would not
have come from her pen or the word processor. However it is very
unlikely that Robert Blake did not know anything about the statement
before it was made and this tall man who used to run on the roads of
Colombo and admired by some English speaking ladies and gentlemen who
also probably ran with him cannot be considered as a friend of Sri
Lanka by any stretch of imagination. Robert Blake is a different kettle
of fish and knows what he is up to even while sipping a “thambili”
using a straw.
In
our articles to “The
Island” as well as “Divaina” we predicted long rime ago that there was
a possibility of framing charges of “war crimes” against the President
and the others by the western countries. In fact in one of the articles
in “Divaina” we mentioned that it would not be advisable for the
President to visit the western countries. Now General Sarath Fonseka is
in USA and the USA state department will try to make use of the visit
to harass the General and the government of Sri Lanka to take revenge
of killing Prabhakaran, their hero of the latter part of the twentieth
century. It is not clear as to whom the state department is targeting
at present but what is clear is that in the long run neither the
Rajapakses nor Fonsekas are safe in the so called land of
opportunities.
It
is the western oriented
education that we receive in the schools and the universities that make
us to seek green pastures and green cards in the west. Certainly we do
not dream of living in India or Myanmar if we have to leave Sri Lanka
for some reason or other. Our educational system is more geared to find
jobs in the west and we flee the country to seek freedom to the west if
it is possible to do so. Some of us may have had experience of a
sojourn in western Asia or the so called middle east but it is entirely
to make a quick buck (I am using the American jargon though may not be
the sociological jargon of third rate sociologists) and return home.
The pastures are not so green in those parts of the world and neither
would they issue green cards to the people from the rest of Asia.
It
is unfortunate that
General Sarath Fonseka had to go to USA at this juncture apparently in
connection with his green card issued by the government of USA. As a
person aspiring to become a citizen of USA he could be questioned by
the FBI or the equivalent of the Ministry of home affairs but not by
the Department where Robert Blake is employed. If the state department
questions one of the would be citizens of USA in order to gather
information on the Defence secretary or any other official including
the former commander of the army and the present chief of Defence staff
it tantamounts to using would be USA citizens to spy on officials in so
called friendly countries and it is downright treachery and nothing
else. On the other hand if the General is questioned as the former
commander and/or the present chief of Defence by the American
Department of state it is almost equivalent to declaring war against a
so called friendly country. The face of ugly American is seen not only
in that of Robert Blake but unfortunately in the entire American nation
though the ordinary American has nothing to do with these dirty traps
set up by the American state department.
The
government of Sri Lanka
should immediately take action to mobilise the entire non western world
against this high handed activities of the American state department.
The former non aligned movement, should be reactivitated, with the
inclusion of Russia, China and other countries of the former socialist
block as a movement against the dominating western countries. The
government of Sri Lanka should not lose any time to campaign against
the forced questioning of General Sarath Fonseka. The USA that speaks
on human and fundamental rights of individuals should be forced to
honour those rights of the General and allow him to come to Sri Lanka
immediately if he wishes to do so.
It
is clear that if not for
the political leadership given by the President the operations against
the LTTE would not have succeeded. He had the courage and the political
conviction to stand up to the pressure exerted by the western powers
and move forward with the operations. The Defence secretary played a
key role in the operations and he too deserves the credit that he has
been given. However, it is clear that the role played by General Sarath
Fonseka had not been appreciated enough and not much credit has been
given to him. I may be wrong on this but if so then it is the duty of
the government to correct me and so many others who think like me.
Removing him from the position of army commander is not the best way to
appreciate his services, though one could claim that he was given a
promotion. It is a well known fact that in the Sri Lankan society there
are so many people prepared to carry tales and may be to produce so
called reports adverse to others and General Sarath Fonseka did not
receive the credit he was due as a result. The General is not a mere
“ranaviruwa” and the wholesale credit given to the armed forces is not
sufficient in his case.
However,
whatever credit
given or not given it is the due of General Sarath Fonseka to ignore
these and think of “ata lo dahama” and carry out his duties. He should
not allow himself to be used by either the opposition parties as the so
called common candidate or by the American state department to frame
charges against the Defence secretary, if the Americans are after this
information. He should say not divulge any information that the
American state department would try to extract from him. Any of this
information would be used by Blake and the crowd against the General
himself.
The
government and the
General have been provided with a golden opportunity to close ranks and
work as a team once again this time against the mentors of the Tamil
racism and terrorism USA, UK and the rest of the west. While the
General should be instructed to provide no information to the American
state department, the government should take action immediately to
protect and to bring back the General to Sri Lanka. The General on the
other hand should say no to the local agents of Tamil racism and
terrorism in Sri Lanka in the opposition and should dissociate from
them. The Americans and the UNP and the JVP when it comes to opposition
to the government are on the same wave length and especially the
Americans and the UNP are trying to make use of dissensions between the
General and the government, again created by traitors with vested
interests, to their advantage. Both the General and the government
should realise the Americans and the UNP leadership are doing all these
only to satisfy Tamil racism and separatism which both the President
and the General have said should be defeated without much delay.
Professor
Nalin de Silva
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