General Fonseka warns the government

By Kshanika Argent - Former Army Commander General Sarath Fonseka, speaking at a press briefing a short while ago, warned that he will expose government secrets should anything happen to him and demanded that the government stop harassing him.

The former Army Commander said that he has filed detailed documents in which he has listed malpractices of government officials who have been harassing him since he decided to run for President.

General Fonseka said, “If anything should happen to me I’ve given evidence concerning those people who have been threatening my life and evidence ofmass scale rigging at the elections.”

The General added that recent developments involving his office premises raided by the STF, his security 'reduced to zero’ and officials close to him either arrested, sacked or harassed, lead to the conclusion that the Government is preparing for his assassination.

He added, “Ninety soldiers were replaced by 4 policemen armed only with pistols. Close associates of mine, who are legally retired from the army have been arrested including 3 generals, 3 brigadiers and 2 colonels today, one of whom the government says is connected to Lasantha’s (Wickrematunge) murder. This is a blatant lie. Twenty staff members from my office were remanded yesterday and the CID confiscated 23 computers and they had no search or arrest warrants on them at the time.”

The General also declared that all law and order in the country has broken down. He said, “You can’t go to the police or the courts. You can be arrested at any time. There’s no media freedom. Everyone is under pressure and cannot carry out their rightful duties.”

On whether the General plans to flee the country he stated, “I have no plans of leaving at this moment. I want to stay and represent the people. If I need to hide in order to survive that’s a different matter. But in any case, I can’t leave the country and neither can my family, we’ve all been blacklisted at the airport, myself, my wife and now my two daughters who study abroad.”

As for the allegations leveled on the General of planning an assassination attack on President Mahinda Rajapakse, the General said, “We stayed at the Cinnamon Lakeside for our own protection, booking 20 rooms on the 2nd floor after we received news that there was going to be an assassination on either the opposition leader or myself. The government is now trying to twist that story, they say whatever pops into their heads without any thought and their stories don’t even match.”

When contacted by Daily Mirror online, Defense Affairs Spokesman Minister Keheliya Rambukwella stated, “I don’t think anyone can take him (Fonseka) seriously considering he’s not even a registered voter. A man who talks about discipline and good governance who is not even registered to vote has clearly forgotten his franchise.”

© Daily Mirror