Sri Lanka's war hero Sarath Fonseka walked free from prison on Monday on a presidential pardon after spending two years behind bars for crossing swords with the powerful president and dabbling into politics.
As protests against the arrest spilled onto the streets, riot police used tear gas, water cannons and canes to break up thousands of clashing pro-Fonseka supporters and ruling party activists as the government said claimed that the arrest of the country's former four star general was 'not an act of vengeance'.
Defeated joint opposition candidate Gen Sarath Fonseka rejected the Sri Lankan government's allegations on Thursday that he had attempted to assassinate President Mahinda Rajapakasa, terming it as "trumped up charges" to arrest him.
Nearly 70 percent voters cast their franchise in Sri Lanka's first post-Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam presidential election on Tuesday, expected to be a close finish between incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa and his main challenger General Sarath Fonseka.
A Sri Lankan military court on Friday stripped the country's war hero and former army chief Sarath Fonseka of his rank and medals after finding him guilty of dabbling in politics while in service. The General was convicted by a three-member military court which began deliberations five months ago. The court verdict has to be ratified by President Mahinda Rajapaksa in his capacity as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, the Sri Lankan media reported.
Dubbing ex-army chief Sarath Fonseka as a 'fool', Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has ruled out an early pardon for the General, who is being court-martialed on charges of engaging in politics while in uniform and defence procurement irregularities."He is a fool. On November 16 (2009) he was sitting right here (the President's office in Colombo) and I asked him if he was interested in contesting (the presidential election) and he said, No, sir."
In a major boost to the presidential campaign of former top Sri Lankan army general Sarath Fonseka, the dominant Tamil party, Tamil National Alliance on Wednesday announced support to him.
According to 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 fallout of the spat between two headstrong and powerful personalities like Mahinda Rajapakse and Sarath Fonseka does not augur well for this small and beautiful Island nation struggling to leave the ravages of war behind, writes Nitin Gokhale.
Sri Lankan Chief of Defence Staff General Sarath Fonseka's resignation has been accepted by the president with immediate effect, rejecting his request to serve for two more weeks, officials said on Friday.
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Sunday ordered the release of his former army chief turned political rival Sarath Fonseka, paving the way for him to walk out of prison after two years
Sri Lankan forces eliminated surrendering Tiger leaders on the orders of the defence secretary who had instructed that 'all Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam leaders must be killed,' ex-army chief General Sarath Fonseka has claimed, prompting the government to describe it as a 'great betrayal.'
"Over 80 per cent of the war against the LTTE has been completed after regaining 80 per cent of the areas under them and killing over 12,000 of their cadres," Lieutenant General Fonseka said. Fonseka's remarks came on Monday as the troops reached about seven kilometres south of Kilali lagoon which separates the Jaffna peninsula from the mainland.
Sri Lanka's former army chief Sarath Fonseka has been moved to prison to serve out his 30-month sentence ratified by president Mahinda Rajapaksa, even as the opposition termed his incarceration as a 'degrading form of revenge'. Fonseka was court-martialled on charges of corruption in defence deals and subsequently transferred to the prison from his detention centre at the naval headquarters.
Former Sri Lankan army chief and presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka was on Friday convicted and sent to three year imprisonment after the high court found him guilty in the 'white flag' case.
The stage is now set for what is expected to be the most closely contested Presidential polls in Sri Lanka, with the incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa and his main challenger Sarath Fonseka are exuding full confidence of emerging victorious.
With the beleaguered Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam confined to a small area of 4.5 sq kms, Sri Lankan army chief Sarath Fonseka has said the troops are consolidating their positions despite heavy attacks from remnant rebel cadres in the north, where at least 21 guerrillas were killed in intense clashes.
As Sri Lankan troops advance towards the last Tiger bastion of Mullaittivu, Army Chief Sarath Fonseka has said he was not sure whether Velupillai Prabhakaran was on the island nation but felt that it was not possible for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam supremo to find a shelter in India. The Lankan Air Force had destroyed a vessel carrying arms and ammunitions for the LTTE just when it was being offloaded in the rebel coastal area, Fonseka added.
Sri Lankan authorities are questioning 37 persons, including a brigadier, a colonel and some army deserters, detained for their alleged role in a plot to assassinate President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Bruce Fein, a former US deputy assistant attorney general in the Reagan Administration, has filed a 12-count indictment against Sri Lanka's defense secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and the country's army commander Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka, for perpetrating genocide against Tamil civilians with US Attorney General Eric Holder and the Department of Justice.
A leading Washington, DC-based think tank, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, notwithstanding the arrest of retired Sri Lankan Army General Sarath Fonseka who challenged President Mahinda Rajapakse at the recent elections, and the country's poor record on human rights and its treatment of several thousand internally displaced persons, has said that the United States cannot afford to disengage with the island nation.
The keenly-contested presidential polls in Sri Lanka did not 'fully meet' key benchmarks for democratic elections and the arrest of opposition candidate Sarath Fonseka has increased tension in the country, according to a Commonwealth report.
As street violence broke out in Colombo to protest the jailing of defeated presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka, Sri Lanka on Wednesday announced the dates for snap parliamentary polls which will be held on April 8.
The United Nations has sought an explanation from Sri Lanka on the death of three top Tamil Tiger leaders after former Army chief Sarath Fonseka alleged that surrendering Tamil rebels were killed in cold blood.
"Sri Lanka has a sovereign government and all its administrative matters (of the army) are with the President and commander in chief (Mahinda Rajapaksa) and defence secretary," Defence Spokesman and senior cabinet Minister Keheliya Rambukwella told PTI.
Sri Lankan Army General Sarath Fonseka, who presided over the military offensive on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, has been asked by the United States authorities to testify before them against Lankan Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse over allegations of widespread human rights abuse during the war.
Nitin Gokhale, Defence Editor, NDTV, recalls his encounter with then Sri Lankan army chief General Sarath Fonseka soon after the LTTE's defeat last year. A fascinating column on how Velupillai Prabhakaran finally met his nemesis.
Official spokesman Lucien Rajakarunanayake said Rajapakse, who won re-election in presidential elections last month, signed a decree dissolving the national assembly with effect from midnight Tuesday.
Mahinda Rajapaksa's re-election as Sri Lankan president has come as a disappointment for the Tamil diaspora, which is still reeling from Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebels' defeat in the country's civil war last year. The influential community of Tamils living overseas now doesn't know about what role it should play in their homeland, the Christian Science Monitor reports.
Incumbent Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has acquired an initial lead in postal vote counting in the country's sixth presidential election against main challenger and former army chief General (retired) Sarath Fonseka.According to the island-nation's Election Office, over 70 per cent of the 14 million-plus voters exercised their franchise in Tuesday's presidential election, which was held from 7 am to 4 pm.
Sri Lanka's presidential polls on January 26, between incumbent President Mahinda Rajapakse and the combined opposition candidate Sarath Fonseka, may be surprisingly too close to call, even as it has emerged that Rajapakse did the Congress party a favour during the Lok Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu last year by withdrawing the use of heavy weaponry against pro-Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebels in the last days of the war.
A pro-Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam parliamentarian has underlined his party's resolve for an 'autonomous rule' for Tamils in Sri Lanka, claiming that Tamil National Alliance's support for opposition presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka was extended only after getting him to agree to those conditions.
"India would have loved to get more involved in Sri Lanka positively -- helping us to fight terrorism. Now, remember, India suffered a lot in the sense, it lost its leader -- Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by the LTTE. That is something, which India can never forgive nor forget," says Razik Zarook, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse's Counsel.
'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.'
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his former army chief Sarath Fonseka were responsible for alleged war crimes and killing of Tamil civilians during the last phase of the 30-year-old civil war, according to a secret United States cable made public by WikiLeaks.
India had refused to supply offensive weapons to the Sri Lankan military during its critical campaign against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, forcing Colombo to turn to China for purchases. "India had told us they were not in a position to sell or send offensive weapons or even equipment like radars and basic communication equipment to meet our requirements," Lankan army chief Sarath Fonseka has revealed. "So we had no other option," Fonseka said.
Prabhakaran's body was found near Nandikadal lagoon in the No Fire Zone.
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran was on Monday shot dead by Sri Lankan special forces as he tried to stage a dramatic breakout from the army encirclement, a military spokesman said.
Sri Lanka has made it clear that India does not supply arms to the strife-torn island nation, saying that it understood New Delhi "political compulsions" in this regard.
Mahinda Rajapaksa, a populist leader who trounced his former ally-turned-foe Sarath Fonseka in the Sri Lankan presidential elections, is proving to be a man with a Midas touch and has enjoyed good rapport with India in his first four years in office.
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