Sri Lanka president confirms 30-month jail for Fonseka

By Amal Jayasinghe | Agence France-Presse
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Sri Lanka's president has confirmed the 30-month jail term imposed on former army chief Sarath Fonseka following his conviction by a military court, an official said Thursday.

President Mahinda Rajapakse approved the prison sentence for a period of two-and-a-half years after returning Wednesday from New York where he addressed the UN General Assembly, a senior government official said.

"The court martial has recommended up to three years in jail, but the president has decided he will be in prison for 30 months," the official, who did not want to be named, said.

Fonseka, 59, was charged with four counts of making irregular purchases for the military when he was its commander at the height of fighting with Tamil Tiger rebels.

The conviction on September 17 came after Fonseka was stripped of his rank and pension following another court martial that found him guilty last month of dabbling in politics while in uniform.

Fonseka's Democratic National Alliance (DNA) has said the military court process was seriously flawed and is appealing to a civilian court against the verdicts.

Fonseka fell out with the government and unsuccessfully tried to unseat Rajapakse, 64, in January presidential polls.

Fonseka was arrested two weeks after his defeat in the elections and has remained in military custody since. However, he won a seat in parliamentary elections in April allowing him to attend parliament.

He has said the government is seeking revenge for his decision to stand against the president and wants to keep him from speaking in parliament.

The first court martial ordered the removal of the medals he had earned during his 40-year military career as well as stripping him of his rank and pension.

He also faces civilian charges of employing army deserters, as well as revealing state secrets -- offences that carry a 20-year jail term. He has also challenged in the Supreme Court the re-election of Rajapakse.

The 37-year ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka ended in May last year when government forces led by Fonseka wiped out the Tamil Tiger separatist group which had fought since 1972 for a Tamil homeland.

The United Nations estimates that at least 7,000 ethnic Tamil civilians were killed in the final months of fighting between government troops and the Tamil Tigers.

© AFP

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Navies of India and Lanka hold discussions

By C. Jaishankar | The Hindu
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Officers of the Indian Navy on Wednesday held talks with Sri Lankan Navy personnel on the reported attacks on Indian fishermen, and discussed ways to avoid such incidents.

The talks were held on board the INS Kukri, an offshore patrol vessel, at the International Maritime Boundary Line near Point Calimere.

On board INS Kukri

Commodore Rajiv Girotra, Naval Officer In-Charge, Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry, who led the Indian Navy delegation, told The Hindu that the Indian Navy had brought to the notice of the Sri Lankan Navy reports of incidents allegedly involving the Sri Lankan Navy and Indian fishermen.

Besides Commodore Rajiv Girotra, the Indian team included Deputy Inspector General Y.K. Singh, Chief of Staff, Operations, Coast Guard, Eastern Region and six others.

The Sri Lankan side was represented by a 7-member delegation.

While the Indian delegation, which flew from the INS Parundu, a naval air station at Uchipuli, landed on the INS Kukri in a helicopter, the Sri Lankan delegation reached IMBL by a ship of the Sri Lankan Navy.

Besides the attacks on the fishermen, a number of issues, including the post-war scenario, security challenges along the International Maritime Boundary Line and poaching by fishermen of both countries were discussed at the mid-sea meeting.

Asked about the outcome of the talks, Commodore Girotra said the Sri Lankan Navy, which knew of the issues concerning the Indian fishermen, particularly those from Tamil Nadu, promised to address them.

According to him, there would not be any further incidents of harm to the fishermen.

It was important for the Indian Navy to ensure safety and security of the fishermen. It would extend cooperation in many areas.

Mr. Girotra added that there was adequate mechanism for patrolling along the International Maritime Boundary Line.

The Indian Navy and other agencies would intensify patrolling wherever it was required.

© The Hindu

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Sri Lanka seeks help for 90,000 war widows

Agence France-Presse | Beverly Hills Courier
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Sri Lanka is seeking foreign help to care for nearly 90,000 women who have been widowed due to the island's Tamil separatist war which ended last year, a minister said Wednesday.

Child Development and Women's Affairs Minister M. L. A. M. Hizbullah told reporters some 12,000 war widows were below the age of 40. Around 8,000 widows have three or more children to care for.

"We need help to look after the war widows and we are seeking help from abroad for this," the minister said.

He said the government had already asked neighbouring India to provide vocational training for the widows.

He said his ministry had a list of 49,000 widows in the island's embattled eastern province and another 40,000 in the the northern province where final battles between troops and Tamil Tiger rebels were fought last year.

The minister's latest figures suggested that the number of people killed in Sri Lanka's Tamil separatist conflict from 1972 to 2009 could be higher than the 100,000 estimated by the United Nations.

The military has estimated it killed more than 25,000 Tiger rebels in the final months of fighting while official estimates show 20,000 to 25,000 troops, police and paramilitary personnel were also killed between 1972 and 2009.

Security forces crushed the top leadership of the Tamil Tigers in May last year after a no-holds-barred offensive which has attracted calls for an international probe into alleged war crimes by both sides.

© Beverly Hills Courier

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