Sri Lankan refugee camp: pressure and a privilege

Michael Edwards - As with life, sometimes in journalism you have to be careful what you wish for.

I had been wishing, and pushing, for a trip to Sri Lanka's notorious Manik Farm internal refugee camp for months.

And at about 7pm sitting in my hotel room in Colombo the Australian High Commission rang - I was booked on a military plane leaving early the next morning.

The news was a big relief, but also a big burden for what I perceive to be my journalistically narrow shoulders.

It was a pressing story. A clue as to why so many Tamils might be risking life and limb to come to Australia illegally. And a story I'd have to cover for television and radio, completely on my own.

I have been sent to South Asia to be a video-journalist. The J side of it isn't the problem; the V side, yes.

I was on a big story and I wasn't sure I had the skills to see it through.

The eventual product you see on your nightly news may only run a few minutes. But the production involved will take hours - filming, interviewing, scripting, editing. Usually, this is done with a reporter working in combination with a highly skilled cameraman.

But I wasn't going to have this luxury. I was going to be in northern Sri Lanka for a matter of hours and I had to get the story.

How I longed to have the ABC's South Asia cameraman Wayne McAllister with me at that time.

Journalists tend to think about the words. A skilled camera operator thinks with his eyes - how what is in front of them can be translated onto a television screen.

I lack this ability. It was a massive frustration during my trip to Manik Farm.

Because the scale and the squalor of the camp is just something my small camera couldn't fully capture.

130,000 Tamils still live at Manik Farm. They do so in makeshift tents without access to proper power, running water and with access to only basic medical care.

The few sequences I was able to capture in our short military escorted tour can't fully tell the tale.

Nor will this blog.

But each of the residents had their own tale of survival from Sri Lanka's war.

Some had lost children, many had husbands who had been taken away by the Sri Lankan military and most faced an uncertain future once they were returned to their home villages.

Their smiles took nothing away from the potency of their stories.

Many had been at Manik Farm for as long as six months. Six months pretty much exposed to the elements. Six months with no income. Six months of little or no education for their children.

Six months under the watchful eye of Sri Lankan soldiers.

And this is on top of a three decades long civil war.

Fairfax Newspaper's South Asia Correspondent Matt Wade was on the trip with me. He had visited northern Sri Lanka earlier in the year.

On his return, what struck him was that the countryside still remained so battle scarred.

It's almost with guilt that I look and realise it is impossible to capture the full extent of this.

As a VJ, when you are capturing images your mind is focused on, well, focus and exposure of the shots.

The story can get swallowed in the process of capturing it.

It's not intentional. It's just the way it is. It's a conundrum every journalist faces. We're privileged to face it.

© ABC News

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Will Bonapartist Foneska outgrow Sri Lankan democracy?

M K Bhadrakumar - When a tea sapling was brought into Ceylon -- present-day Sri Lanka in 1824 from China and planted in the Royal Botanical Gardens, the British had no commercial interests in mind. It took another forty years before a plucky Scotsman planted the first seedling, which blossomed into the famous Ceylon Tea and became today's unshakeable pillar of Sri Lanka's economy.

The 'Emerald Island' has obscure tales to tell. That is why when a swash-buckling army chief by the improbable name Gardihewa Sarath Chandralal Fonseka abruptly discards the uniform and plunges into the country's steamy politics, it becomes no simple matter. Sri Lankan democracy may never be the same again.

Bonapartism isn't altogether new to the region. Pakistan's Ayub Khan showed the way back in the 1950s. Bangladesh followed twenty years later. Now Sri Lanka, an entrenched democracy, seems fatally attracted to it.

There is nothing necessarily fatal if a soldier develops a passion for politics. An Indian commentator pointed out that, after all, there is the precedent of Dwight Eisenhower. But then, the nagging worry remains whether in the South Asian clime, like the sapling brought in from distant China, Fonseka, a US Green Card holder, may blossom and outgrow the botanical garden that Sri Lankan democracy used to be.

On the face of it, there is nothing ingenious in the choice by the Sri Lankan Opposition parties led by the United National Party to field Fonseka as their common candidate against Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse [ Images ] who will be contesting the election for a second term for the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance.

Tapping into Sinhala nationalism

The Opposition is blatantly tapping into the reservoir of Sinhala chauvanism and triumphalism and contesting Rajapakse's monopoly claim about vanquishing the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in the recently concluded war.

Actually, there is no fundamental difference between the UNP and the ruling alliance in their approach toward the Tamil problem. The UNP was never lagging behind in supporting the war against the LTTE or the draconian emergency regulations prevailing in the country. The UNP sees it primarily as tactical that Rajapakse can be possibly trumped if a 'war hero' is pitted against him.

Fonseka, former chief of the Sri Lankan armed forces's defence staff, fits the bill. He has no qualms about stoking the fires of Sinhala nationalism and is easily recognisable in local folklore as the warrior who hunted down the Tamil Tigers.

Unsurprisingly, Fonseka is a man of many parts. He hails from the Karava community, which dominates economic activities and comprises the new bourgeosie and is estimated to account for over one-third of the Sinhala population. Although caste controversy is never explicitly expressed in Sinhalese politics, there has been dialectic at work involving the land owning Goyigamas (who account for half the Sinhala population) and the merchant capitalist Karavas.

Though milder than its Indian counterpart and lacking in the stratifying ideology, caste organisations or caste endogamy of Hinduism, the Sinhalese caste system plays a role in politics, as most Sinhala people see caste as a positive principle of affiliation -- although like Hindus in neighbouring India, they fight shy of admitting it.

An achievement-oriented national elite based on education (knowledge of English) has accrued over time, but local elites continue to be dominated by powerful castes like the Goyigama and Karava.

Karavas are concentrated in the southern coastal towns like Moratuwa, Panadura, Ambalangoda (Fonseka's hometown), Kalutara, Galle, etc. Therefore, Rajapakse (who hails from Hambantota to the east of Galle) can no longer hope to trade on southern provincialism.

Fonseka brings into the Opposition presidential ticket a formidable caste combination insofar as the UNP already enjoys a strong Goyigama base. To boot it, Rajapakse hails from the upper caste landed gentry and is not part of the English-educated elite of Colombo, the capital.

With the mounting economic crisis in Sri Lanka, the support for the Rajapakse government has been fading as the recent provincial council elections signaled. Many factors -- Rajapakse's autocratic methods, austerity measures demanded by the International Monetary Fund, unrest among salaried class and wage earners, price of cash crops -- have generated fluidity in the public mood that may result in a political backlash as the economic and social crisis deepens.

Meanwhile, the Tamil problem festers. No worthwhile initiative has been taken to address the root problems leading to Tamil separatism. Tamil detainees herded into camps ('welfare villages') -- numbering 255,551 according to the United Nations -- live in appalling conditions. Entry into the camps is barred to the media and aid organisations operate under severe restrictions.

A visionary army general

In short, Fonseka's candidature can gain traction. For a fleeting moment, it seems Sri Lankan democracy may be the gainer. However, Fonseka introduces a dangerous streak. Consider his resignation letter dated November 12 addressed to Rajapakse. He wrote:

"I would not be exaggerating to state that I was instrumental in leading the Army to this historic victory (over the LTTE), of course, with Your Excellency's political support, which helped to materialise this heroic action. Though the field commanders, men and all members of the Army worked towards this common goal, it is with my vision, command and leadership that this yeoman task was achieved.'

Fonseka went on to allege that Rajapakse dishonoured the Sri Lankan army's reputation by encouraging cronyism, which has 'already led to a deterioration of the high standards I (Fonseka) was capable of introducing to the army.' With an eye on the growing disaffection within the officer corps, Fonseka taunted Rajapakse:

'Your Excellency has commenced mistrusting your own loyal Army which attained the unimaginable victory just a week ago... the same army which gained victory for the Nation was suspected of staging a coup and thereby alerting the Government of India once again on the 15th of October 2009, unnecessarily placing the Indian troops on high alert. This action did tarnish the image and reputation gained by the Sri Lanka Army as a competent and professional organisation... in the eyes of the World. This suspicion would have been due to the loyalty of the Sri Lanka Army towards me as its past Commander who led the Army to the historic victory.'

'(The) Army which I toiled to transform into a highly professional outfit is now losing its way. Increased desertions…disciplinary problems... indicate an unprofessional organization in the offing. During the last two months, the members (who) deserted are higher than the recruitment.'

Surely, he didn't fail to accuse the president of gross all-round misgovernance -- neglecting the plight of the hundreds of thousands of Tamil refugees displaced during the war; mismanaging the economy, promoting 'waste and corruption', curtailing 'media freedom and other democratic rights', etc.

What explains it all? Fonseka only recently derided Indian politicians as 'a bunch of jokers'. Temperamentally and by reputation, he is not cut out for politics. In his resignation letter, Fonseka listed out his post-retirement benefits:

'Your Excellency would be kind enough to grant me sufficient security which includes trained combat soldiers, a suitable vehicle with sufficient protection (bullet proof) and escort vehicles for my conveyances... I wish to bring to Your Excellency's kind notice that over 100 men, six escort vehicles and a bullet proof vehicle have been placed at the convenience of the former Commander of the Navy... I presume that such arrangements would be made available to me...'

Indian Ocean geopolitics

No aspiring politician ever likes to be seen as self-seeking. Indeed, what prompts someone like Fonseka to dive into the dangerous depths of politics? Is he acting on own volition? If so, what is his agenda? If not, who is promoting him?

The geopolitics of the Indian Ocean region does seem to provide the backdrop to the engrossing power play. The UNP, which props him up, is traditionally right-leaning and favors neo-liberal market-oriented policies. It consistently toed a pro-Western (pro-US) orientation in foreign policy. UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe enjoyed close equations with the George W Bush administration.

The US has been stepping up pressure on the ruling circles in Colombo, especially on Defence Minister Gotabhaya Rajapaske, the president's brother (who is a US citizen), as to any involvement in policy matters that constituted human rights violations in the conduct of the war against the LTTE.

The Rajapakse government is deeply concerned that Fonseka, who is a US Green Card holder, has darkly hinted he is privy to 'very highly sensitive' issues related to the final stages of the war that are known only to a handful in the top echelons of the defence establishment. Indeed, the last phase of a brutal war can never stand the scrutiny of covenants regarding Prisoner Of Wars.

The US agenda goes beyond concerns over war crimes and human rights abuses. Washington has been feeling uneasy about Rajapakse's growing economic and political ties with China. A malleable power structure in Colombo is crucial for US geo-strategic interests in the Indian Ocean that connects the Persian Gulf with the South China Sea.

A Bonapartist may just be the crowbar Washington needs to rudely tear apart the social contract on which Rajapakse based his political fortunes brilliantly so far.

M K Bhadrakumar is a former diplomat.

© Rediff.com

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In Sri Lankan politics, not even an opposition astrologer is safe

By Emily Wax - With candles glowing next to his computer, Chandrasiri Bandara, the nation's most popular astrologer, looked at his birth chart and predicted that he would soon be assassinated.

Bandara, 48, fears for his life because of a string of death threats that followed his bold forecast that Sri Lanka's president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, would be booted from office or killed. Bandara was charged with being a threat to national security and jailed for nine days for his premonition this summer.

Though a judge dismissed the case, his brief arrest is being taken seriously in this South Asian nation, where astrologers are so respected that few people arrange marriages or make business decisions, and elections are rarely held, without their consultation.

"Even astrologers have horoscopes," said Bandara, who has his own Web site and writes a column for an opposition newspaper. "Mine does not show a long life. Until 2012 there is a chance of someone in the government killing me."

Arresting and intimidating political dissidents, from journalists to aid workers, is nothing new in Sri Lanka. That was especially true in May when a final government assault on the separatist Tamil Tigers ended one of the world's longest-running civil wars.

But the "battle of Bandara and his horror-scope," as the astrologer's plight is known in the media here, also shows the president's increasing vulnerability. Sri Lanka could hold presidential and parliamentary elections in April, and the opposition parties recently formed an alliance to oppose Rajapaksa.

Other potentially serious problems are stirring for the president. The man who led the army to victory, Gen. Sarath Fonseka, resigned Thursday amid speculation that he would run for president.

Political experts in Sri Lanka say he had a falling-out with Rajapaksa and his brothers and thinks the president has taken too much credit for the war. He was offered a role in the sports ministry but recently declined. "We should not allow the country to go on the wrong path," Fonseka recently said while visiting a Buddhist temple in Washington. "If this happens, I am ready to correct the path, leaving behind my uniform."

Analysts and ordinary Sri Lankans say that Fonseka is the only credible challenger to Rajapaksa. His Facebook page is filled with messages from Sri Lankans expressing adulation. One person posted a mock-up billboard that resembles Obama campaign literature but shows Fonseka's face and the slogan "Hope." Sri Lankan presidential spokesman Lucien Rajakarunanayake defended the president and said the Rajapaksa brothers can claim a rare distinction for ending decades of terrorism by military means.

For the past year, Rajapaksa's popularity has rested squarely on success in the war. He has enjoyed especially broad support in the Sinhalese-dominated south, where many army families sang songs about him being crowned a king for vanquishing the Tigers, who are labeled a terrorist organization by governments around the world, including the United States.

Still, dissent is slowly building. During a street demonstration last week by thousands of Rajapaksa opponents, protesters shouted that the country was heading toward a dictatorship, that the government was growing increasingly corrupt and that the economy was sinking.

Opponents also accuse Rajapaksa of nepotism; two of his brothers occupy top government posts, and critics contend that as many as 300 family members are in the government.

"The war euphoria is over now. We can see clearly we are dealing with an autocratic group of brothers that silence journalists, aid workers, political leaders, even an astrologer," said opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe.

At least seven journalists have been killed since 2007, including the still unsolved January murder of Lasantha Wickramatunga. A government critic, Wickramatunga predicted his own death in an editorial called "And Then They Came for Me."

The United States has called for an investigation of possible human rights abuses during the final days of the war by both the Tigers and the government. The European Union is considering withdrawing trade concessions worth tens of millions of dollars to Sri Lankan industries because of the military's conduct.

Rajakarunanayake, the presidential spokesman, said the crackdown on Bandara, the astrologer, came because Bandara was speaking as an opposition political figure and had also given a motivational speech to opposition leaders. "We have to wonder why an astrologer would say such a thing," Rajakarunanayake said. "In Sri Lanka, astrologers are not just for fun. They play powerful roles in steering outcomes. Saying it can make it so."

Still, advocates for freedom of speech say that it doesn't matter what the astrologer's political beliefs are, and that his arrest was unjust.

The threats against Bandara and his arrest have prompted astrologers around the world to send e-mails to Sri Lanka's president on Bandara's behalf. The World Wide Parapsychological Association asked all newspapers from Asia to replace their horoscopes for a day with a petition demanding his freedom.

As Bandara's wife fried rice and fish and his two young daughters listened nearby, he proudly displayed a file of columns in which he had made predictions that came true.

Bandara, a tall man with a baritone voice, strolled through his home and onto his leafy veranda. He said that he is ethnically Sinhalese but that he is against the nationalism and anti-Tamil feelings that were stirred up during the final days of the war.

"I cried when I saw people celebrating and eating rice in the streets after the war. So many are still in camps. It's sad, because the scenery in our country is good," Bandara said as he looked over his garden of fragrant fragapani flowers and lush mango trees. "But our soul is bad."

© The Washington Post

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Oceanic Viking breakthrough: asylum seekers to come ashore

The month-long impasse on board Australian customs vessel the Oceanic Viking has been resolved, with all 56 Sri Lankan asylum seekers agreeing to leave the boat tomorrow morning.

Australian embassy staff spent this morning finalising a deal with the 46 men, five women and five children on board, all of whom are Tamils and say they are fleeing ethnic violence in their homeland.

Indonesia's chief negotiator, Dr Sujatmiko has sent Indonesian officials a message - seen by The Age - asking them to put extra staff on at Tanjung Pinang detention centre to accommodate the new arrivals.

“The Australians have just informed us that the 56 people are ready to come down, we will verify and evacuate to detention centre Wednesday starting 7.30am. The same process like last Friday, please add two more immigration officers and quarantine (at Tanjung Pinang detention centre),” Dr Sujatmiko said.

The decision by the 56 asylum seekers ends a stand-off that began on October 16 when a boatload of 78 Sri Lankan asylum seekers, all ethnic Tamils, were rescued from their sinking boat by the Australian ship, but in Indonesia’s search and rescue zone.

Initially Indonesia refused to allow the boat to dock at an Indonesian port, but after negotiations between Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Indonesia took the boat “on humanitarian grounds” because there was a sick child on board.

But the asylum seekers refused to leave the Australian ship, demanding they be taken to Christmas Island for processing by Australian authorities.

Since then, Australian officials have been in near-constant negotiations with the asylum seekers, guaranteeing them speedy processing in detention and additional resettlement help including language lessons and family reunifications.

Those carrying UN refugee papers, of which The Age understands there are several on board, have been promised resettlement in Australia within a month.

Last Friday 22 of the asylum seekers agreed to leave the boat and were taken to Tanjung Pinang detention, where they will be joined by their compatriots tomorrow.

UN officials have already begun processing their claims.

The stand-off has sparked a furious political debate in Australia, with the Opposition accusing the Government of misleading the Australian people over special treatment being offered to those on board the Oceanic Viking.

Mr Rudd has maintained there was no “special deal” offered, telling parliament this week “the group is being treated in a manner consistent with that afforded to any other asylum seeker in Indonesia”.

But the impasse involving another boatload of Sri Lankan asylum seekers, nearly 250 Tamils docked at Merak, shows no sign of abatement.

The International Organisation for Migration, which was assisting the asylum seekers, has withdrawn its staff from the port, out of fear of attacks from the increasingly desperate and frustrated asylum seekers.

© theage.com

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Full-scale strike after thuggery at CPC

By Damith Wickremasekara - The go-slow campaign of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) workers has turned into a strike after supporters of a UPFA politician provoked two incidents outside the Kolonnawa fuel distribution centre on Friday and yesterday, trade union leaders said.

As a crisis created a fuel shortage yesterday with several filling stations being closed, Petroleum Minister A.H.M. Fowzie met TU leaders later yesterday, but the talks failed. Treasurey Secretary P. B. Jayasundera also joined the talks to discuss the salary demand, but these talks also failed to produce results.

TU leaders said a gang had waited outside the CPC premises at Kolonnnawa on Friday to assault workers while some of them carried placards saying they were willing to work for a salary of Rs. 5,000. The Army on guard had intervened to prevent an outbreak of violence.

Union leaders said that yesterday morning another group of women came close to the gate and made obscene gestures, further aggravating the situation.

“We had decided to end our three-day work-to rule-campaign on Friday and return to work when the first incident occurred. After the second incident happened yesterday, the situation worsened and workers do not want to get back to work,” joint trade union front spokesman D.J. Rajakaruna said.

JVP trade union wing leader K.D. Lalkantha warned yesterday they would draw other vital state institutions into the strike, if the government resorted to thuggery.

Other union leaders in the CPC, the Ceylon Electricity Board, the Water Board and the Ports Authority also warned they would launch an all-out strike and invite other public sector trade unions to join them if the demand for a salary increase was not amicably settled.

However, government leaders said they were able to maintain essential services despite the work to rule from Wednesday.

Minister Fowzie said private tankers were used to send additional fuel supplies while Ports Authority officials said some of the workers cooperated to maintain the services.

© The Sunday Times

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Defence analysts lose their guns

In Sri Lanka's media firmament, the new breed of defence correspondents proliferated as the military campaign against Tiger guerrillas intensified. In May this year, the guerrillas were vanquished.

And now, the scribes who reported on the issues of the victor and the vanquished are in trouble. This is in both the state-run and sections of the private media.

It has very little to do with the guerrillas. It is over General Sarath Fonseka, the man who gave leadership to militarily destroy them. Some are under orders not to refer to him. Others have been shifted around from one medium to another so their reports no longer appear.

Yet, two of the affected called on Gen. Fonseka last Tuesday evening for a friendly chat over recent developments. Sad enough, they cannot report what he said. One of them was busy last Thursday sending out SMS messages to inform media and diplomatic missions that Gen. Fonseka was on his way to the Kelaniya Raja Maha Viharaya.

© The Sunday Times

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Lasantha murder: Police unable to obtain information

By Ananda Weerasuriya - The Mirihana police informed the Mount Lavinia court that they have been unable to obtain any valuable information from the suspect in custody in connection with the killing of Sunday Leader Editor Lasantha Wickramathunga.

The police submitted a supplementary report on the investigation into the killing before the Mount Lavinia Chief Magistrate Harsha Setunga on Thursday.

The suspect B. Sugath Perera has been remanded on suspicion in connection with the killing on January 8, 2009. Mr. Wickramathunga was attacked by several persons on motorbikes near the Aththidiya Malagalage Junior School and he succumbed to injuries on admission to Kalubowila hospital.

B. Sugath Perera had been remanded on suspicion of theft of the telephone of the victim Wickremetunga.

When the case was called for the 24th time, the Mirihana police special investigations unit informed court that continued interrogation of the suspect had failed to produce any useful information on the killing and investigations should proceed.

The Magistrate ordered police to finalise investigations and produce a report to court on November 26 and the suspect was further remanded till that date.

© Daily Mirror

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UN 'perplexed' by Lanka reluctance

A top UN envoy says he is "perplexed" by Sri Lankan government's reluctant to allow him for a fact finding mission despite unofficially agreeing for the visit months ago.

Frank La Rue, the UN Human Rights Council's special rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression told the BBC that he has been making the request unofficially since March this year and sent an official letter seeking permission to visit Sri Lanka in August or September.

"I have no official response yet but unofficially the Sri Lankan mission in Geneva told me that yes, I would be welcome but that the government would have to find the appropriate time for that to happen," he told BBC Sinhala service.

"And yes, I find it a bit perplexing for the government to take this long to respond."

Reconciliation after conflict

Speaking with the BBC from Guatemala Mr. La Rue said he understands that Sri Lanka has just gone through a serious armed conflict between the government forces and the Tamil Tigers.

The special rappoteur says the freedom of opinion and freedom of expression are key components of a process of reconciliation after decades of civil war.

"I think this should be definitely one of the crucial issues for that reconciliation. It is precisely at that moment that is the best effect for my visit," Frank La Rue said.

The government, as well as the LTTE, are accused of curtailing press freedom during the decades of conflict. The government earlier admitted that at least nine journalists had been killed since January 2006.

Sri Lanka media minister told the BBC that he was not aware of such a request from the special rapporteur.

"There are no special issues regarding the freedom of expression in Sri Lanka," media minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena told BBC Sinhala service.

If certain groups and individuals need to investigate "internal affairs" in a country, the minister said, the country has the right to allow or refuse such a request.

© BBC Sinhala

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Why General Fonseka and Rajapaksa broke up?

By Ameen Izzadeen- Sri Lankans now know why their highly-respected war hero wants to quit his top military post and serve the people in some other capacity, possibly as their next President. According to a leaked version of what is said to be General Sarath Fonseka's retirement letter to President Mahinda Rajapaksa, it all boils down to the government's fears of a military coup and its mistrust of Sri Lanka's first and only serving four-star general.

The tone of the letter indicates that the general was highly perturbed when the government last month alerted India on a possible coup in Sri Lanka and sought its help to thwart it if it happened.

The tone of the letter indicates that the general was highly perturbed when the government last month alerted India on a possible coup in Sri Lanka and sought its help to thwart it if it happened.

The letter fired a 16-canon salvo at the President -- a kind of you did this to me, you humiliated me, you mistrusted me and you gave me a post that had no command responsibility.

The letter pointed to the recent replacement of soldiers loyal to General Fonseka with soldiers from a regiment which was close to President's brother and Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa for security duty at army headquarters.

It also had a political tone aimed at wooing the Tamils, many of whom probably love to hate him.

The general told Rajapaksa, his commander-in-chief, that he won for him the war but the President failed to capitalise on it and win the peace.

'Your Excellency's government has yet to win the peace in spite of the fact that the army under my leadership won the war. There is no clear policy to win the hearts and minds of the Tamil people, which will surely ruin the victory, attained (sic) paving the way for yet another uprising in the future,' the leaked letter said.

The general's disgust and the government's fears of a possible coup date from the beginning of the final phase of the separatist war. As the Sri Lankan armed forces scored victory after victory, General Fonseka, who in 2006 survived an LTTE assassination bid, emerged as a super hero and became more and more powerful. So much so, the President seldom said no to his requests.

Some months before the war ended, Rajapaksa honoured a senior editor with a top diplomatic posting in Pakistan. The editor and his family took wing to Islamabad. But no sooner he assumed duties than the editor received a letter from Sri Lanka' foreign ministry, asking him to immediately return to Colombo. No reasons were given why he was being called back. The editor later learnt that it was General Fonseka who told the President to do so because the editor had once blamed elements in the army for the abduction of a defence columnist who worked for him.

The power General Fonseka wielded during the war was such that many asked whether the civilian leadership was in awe of him. Analysts who were close to Rajapaksa would opine that the general was more powerful than the President.

A Machiavellian to the letter, Rajapaksa let the general have his say, but he always had an eye on his movements and waited for the opportune moment that he foresaw as coming after the war victory, to clip his wings.

Less than two months after General Fonseka's troops successfully ended a 30-year war with Tamil militants, the President 'honoured' him with a gazetted position of Chief of Defence Staff.

It took a few days for the general to realise that he had been misled and kicked upstairs with a position without power to command the armed forces. Moreover, in terms of the CDS Act, the general could act or advise only with the consent of the defence secretary, the President's brother, who was junior to General Fonseka in the army.

In his letter to the President, General Fonseka said he was humiliated by the promotion. This was how the General describes his humiliation in the leaked letter.

'Further, prior to my appointment I was mislead (sic) on the authority vested with the CDS. I was made to understand that the appointment carried more command responsibilities and authority than earlier, but subsequent to my appointment a letter by the Strategic Affairs Adviser to the defence secretary indicated that my appointment was purely to coordinate the services and not that of overall command.

'Such actions clearly defines Your Excellency's and the government's unwillingness to
grant me with command responsibilities which leads to believe in a strong mistrust in me, which is most depressing after all what was performed to achieve war victory.

'During a subsequent Service Commanders Meeting, the Defence Secretary was bold enough to state an unethical and uncalled (for) statement by mentioning that 'if operational control of all three services is granted to the CDS it would be very dangerous', which indeed was a loss of face to me in the presences of subordinate services commanders.'

Many analysts also believe the promotion of the general as the CDS was linked more with the fears the Rajapaksa brothers had about a military coup than with any intention to promote the general.

Two weeks before General Fonseka was given the post, the state-run Daily News carried on its front page the story on the military coup in Honduras on June 28. That a distant country with which Sri Lanka had hardly any diplomatic or trade relations made news on the front page of a state-run newspaper was no accident. Neither was it a sub editor's desperate attempt to fill space on a news-starved day.

The story was included by the government to send a signal to the highly-popular general who still commanded the respect of the rank and file of the army that the government was prepared to face any eventuality.

Not used to such indirect salvoes, the general felt that he was being used and discarded by the government. As days passed, the rift deepened. The gap between the President and the general continued to widen with government ministers at pubic meetings saying that it was because of President Rajapaksa's leadership that the army was able to defeat the terrorists.

The general felt such remarks were distinctly a bullet below the belt. The remarks prompted the general to say that 95 percent of the credit for the victory should go to the troops.

Fishing in the troubled waters was the opposition. It succeeded in netting in the general and held secret talks aimed at fielding him as the common opposition candidate if and when the President announces the election. With many in the opposition holding the view that the United National Party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe would cut a sorry figure contesting Rajapaksa at the polls, General Fonseka became their obvious choice.

Even the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna has hinted that it will support Gen. Fonseka as the common opposition candidate, notwithstanding its ideological differences with the free-market UNP, Sri Lanka's Grand Old Party.

Rajapaksa was obviously agitated by the news. Suddenly the glow on his chubby face disappeared and dark patches appeared under his eyes, indicating that he is now a worried man. The counter offensive began.

Last Thursday, hours after the general returned from a controversial visit to the United States, he was engaged in a war of words with the defence secretary, according to the Sunday Times newspaper. The duel was not about the US Department of Homeland Security's request to General Fonseka to be a 'source' in a possible war crimes probe against the defence secretary, a US citizen, but over a question of discipline in the army.

Billboards that showed a jubilant Fonseka with his heroic troops disappeared from busy junctions. His pictures on billboards where he was seen with the President and his brother Gotabhaya, were tarred or torn. A hero has become a zero in the eyes of the government.

But the real battle will begin in the coming days after General Fonseka makes his political intentions clear.

An indication of his intention was found in the final paragraph of the letter.

'The peace dividend the whole country expected at the conclusion of the war has yet to materialise. The economic hardships faced by the people have increased while waste and corruption have reached endemic proportions; media freedom and other democratic rights continue to be curtailed. The many sacrifices the army made to end the war would not have been in vain, if we can usher in a new era of peace and prosperity to our motherland.'

The rift between General Fonseka and Rajapaksa has not gone down well with the masses, especially the Sinhala majority, who regard both as war heroes. The ultra nationalists' ire is aimed at the opposition whom they accuse of dividing the Sinhalese. They even tried to get the chief Buddhist monks to issue a 'Sangha order' -- an edict -- urging General Fonseka not to enter politics.

But General Fonseka is as ultra nationalist as those who blame him for flirting with the opposition alliance -- which include parties representing the interests of Muslims and Tamils of Indian origin beside the UNP and former foreign minister Mangala Samaraweera's Sri Lanka Freedom Party Mahajana Wing, a breakaway group of the ruling party.

General Fonseka in an interview with Canada's National Post in September last year said he 'strongly believed that Sri Lanka belongs to the Sinhalese, but there are minority communities and we treat them like our people. They can live in this country with us. But they must not try to, under the pretext of being a minority, demand undue things.'

A majority of the Tamils, many of whom were hurt by the vulgar jubilation displayed on the streets following the victory, see no difference between Rajapaksa and Fonseka.

Disturbed by the deaths of thousands of innocent Tamils in the last days of the war and the suffering of hundreds of thousands of displaced Tamil people in camps, a majority of the Tamils are unlikely to support either of the candidates. However, the opposition alliance is trying its best to woo the mainstream Tamil party, the Tamil National Alliance, which was once regarded the mouthpiece of Tamil Tigers in Parliament.

A majority of the Tamils also feel that neither candidate is committed to finding a solution to the Tamil problem by devolving power, despite the pro-devolution UNP's presence in the opposition alliance offering them a glimmer of hope.

Another factor which worries the government is the possibility of certain state secrets coming out to the open in the heat of the election campaign. This might be damaging, especially in view of the international human rights community's call for war crimes probes against the Sri Lankan government.

© Rediff.com

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Coup fears led to crisis: Sri Lanka's top general

Sri Lanka's government sidelined top general Sarath Fonseka because of fears he would launch a coup, he wrote in a bitter resignation letter ahead of an expected election battle with the president.

The letter, seen by AFP on Friday, criticises the government for a host of failings, including its inability to "win the peace" after the end of a 37-year separatist war here in May.

It gives a rare insight into events following the conflict, which claimed an estimated 80,000-100,000 lives, and shows the total breakdown in trust between Fonseka and his civilian bosses.

Considered a war hero at home for his role in the army's victory, Fonseka said the government had asked neighbouring India on October 15 to prepare its troops to be deployed in the event of a military coup here.

"This action did tarnish the image and reputation gained by the Sri Lanka army as a competent and professional organisation which was capable of defeating a terrorist group," he said in his letter, written in English.

Fonseka quit on Thursday as chief of defence staff -- a ceremonial position he was given after the military campaign and is now widely tipped to challenge President Mahinda Rajapakse in polls slated for April 2010 at the latest.

Sri Lanka's army, led by Fonseka, wiped out the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebel group in May, ending the decades-long conflict but prompting allegations of gross human rights violations.

The United Nations reported that more than 7,000 civilians may have perished in fighting this year, though this is denied by the Sri Lankan government.

Fonseka, the country's only four-star general, sidestepped questions on his retirement plans, but associates and analysts expect him to stand against Rajapakse as an opposition candidate.

"He is certainly entering politics. It is an irreversible process for him now," Sumanasiri Liyanage, a political science professor at the University of Peradeniya, told AFP.

"In the short term it is good because he is helping to mobilise the main opposition. A stronger opposition is good for democracy," Liyanage said.

Fonseka, from the majority Sinhalese ethnic group and known as a nationalist, criticised Rajapakse for failing to make peace with the Tamil minority on whose behalf the LTTE rebels launched their separatist fight.

"Your excellency's government has yet to win the peace in spite of the fact that the army under my leadership won the war," he said.

"There is no clear policy to win the hearts and minds of the Tamil people, which will surely ruin the victory attained, paving the way for yet another uprising in the future."

He said he opposed holding tens of thousands of Tamil civilians who survived the final stages of the fighting in internment camps and wanted them re-settled at the earliest opportunity -- a call repeated by the international community.

He also accused the Rajapakse administration of corruption and waste and said media freedom and personal liberties had been curtailed

"The many sacrifices the army made to end the war would not have been in vain, if we can usher in a new era of peace and prosperity to our motherland."

He also made it clear in his resignation letter that the government feared his power after the end of the war, which was the reason for his new ceremonial position.

"The government's unwillingness to grant me with command responsibilities which leads to believe in a strong mistrust in me, which is most depressing after all what was performed to achieve (the) war victory," he said.

He said he had wanted to remain as army chief until the organisation's 60th anniversary in October, but was promoted to the more senior but less powerful post of chief of defence staff in July.

"Various agencies misleading your excellency by stating a possible coup immediately after the victory over the LTTE obviously led to a change of command in spite of my request to be in command until the army celebrated its 60th anniversary.

"This fear psychosis of a coup is well known among the defence circles," he wrote to the president.

Sri Lanka has no history of a military coup except an abortive attempt in the early 1960s.

There was no immediate comment from the government.

© AFP

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Sri Lanka army head told to go now - BBC News

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