Fonseka : political act, or hara-kiri

The Fonseka saga: A day before he tendered his resignation, Gen. Sarath Fonseka met the president over lunch after the National Security Council meeting, the first meeting between the two after Fonseka returned from the United States. (There had been an invitation from the president for Fonseka on his arrival, but Fonseka could not make it due to ‘jetlag’ as claimed by his confidantes)

Permission to retire with immediate effect

At the meeting on Wednesday, the president queried Fonseka about his grievances, to which the latter had replied it was too late for these concerns to be remedied. The president was nonplused, but, a Fonseka confidante ruled out rumours that the meeting was tense. In fact, it was cordial, though uneasy, he said.

On Thursday, Gen Fonseka attended the reception of the Burmese military dictator who arrived here on a four day visit. That is probably his last official appointment in his present capacity. Back in his office, he sent his letter of resignation to President’s Secretary Lalith Weeratunga, who confirmed to media that he was in receipt of the letter. On Friday, the government’s Information Department reported quoting Weeratunga, that Gen Fonseka had been “granted permission to retire with immediate effect.” A source close to Fonseka confirmed that the general was informed officially that his resignation was accepted last evening.

The president was earlier on record that he would immediately accept the resignation of his CDS if the latter resigns in order to contest the presidential election.

On record, Fonseka was noncommittal about his political ambitions. He told the press on Thursday that he would decide on his political future once he handed over his uniform. But, in private, those in his inner circle confide that the general would run for the presidency as the common candidate. His candidacy is now a consensus in the newly formed opposition alliance. In fact, the JVP’s support to a common candidate is conditional on Fonseka’s candidature.

The outgoing chief of defence staff, who is set to embark on an ambitious political journey had a taste of the villainy of Sri Lankan politics when he visited the Kelaniya temple on Thursday. After tendering resignation, that was his first political act. In the temple, he was confronted by Mervyn Silva and his henchmen, who jeered at the general and shouted “without the president the war would not have been won”.

So much for a general who was touted as a hero not so long ago by the same circles.
True that not everybody — not confined to the ruling party — is impressed with Fonseka’s forthcoming political entry. Some military officers I spoke to cautioned such a bid would see divided loyalties within the army.

Such concerns have their merit, though that alone could not negate the constitutional right of the out-going chief of defence staff to run for the highest office in the country.
However, the government’s latest measures to tackle Fonseka’s challenge would have their toll.

Govt fights back

Maj Gen Parakrama Pannipittiya who had been suspended by Gen Fonseka over disciplinary charges and was arrested by police for his alleged involvement in treasure hunting-charges which were later dropped — has been reinstated in the regular force in the army on the very day Fonseka tendered his resignation. According to military sources, Maj Gen Pannipitiya would be appointed as the chief of staff of the army.

However, some others are enthusiastic of the general’s political entry. A Facebook campaign site for Fonseka, even before he announces his candidature is fast gaining popularity.

One such fan drew a parallel between Fonseka and Charles de Gaulle, A second world war veteran and the first president of the fifth French republic. De Gaulle when pressed by his advisors to arrest Jean-Paul Sartre, leading protests against de Gaulle’s heavy handedness in governance is reported to have famously said “ Sartre is France, “ turning down the proposal. It is my contention that such a comparison to Sri Lanka where dissenting voices are crushed and labelled as traitors is out of context.

However, paradoxically enough, it is Fonseka who has raised the issue. “The peace dividend the whole country expected at the conclusion of the war has yet to materialize. 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.”

He has gone further to highlight the plight of the IDPs kept under squalid conditions and suggested that they be sent to their relatives until the de-mining activities are completed.
He has earlier said in private that the army under his command brought the people from the warzone of VellamulliVaikkal to safety — with no harm done, he said —- and that neither he, nor the army could be responsible for the conditions under which the IDPs are currently held.

Corruption

Whether such concerns are genuine or mere political gimmick, we leave for readers to decide.

It is, however, interesting that Gen Fonseka, considered to be a hardliner is airing concerns, which have already been raised by the civil rights activists, who have immediately been branded as traitors.

Fonseka highlights “corruption” which has “reached endemic proportions.” Even those who disbelieve Fonseka’s liberal credentials, agree that he is a capable fighter against corruption. He has cleaned up the army during his near four year tenure. In that respect, one could make a parallel between him and another four star general, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, (SBY) who was a few months back elected to his second term as the president of Indonesia. SBY, whose son-in law was arrested by Indonesia’s powerful anti corruption bureau is touted for leading a dispassionate drive against corruption endemic in the world’s largest Muslim nation.

Fonseka’s is a challenge which came upon the ruling establishment and has rattled the Rajapaksa regime. The president’s announcement made on Wednesday to stop forthwith of closing of roads in order to enable VIP movements could not have been a co-incident. The government has also set a deadline, i. e. January to resettle 80 per cent of IDPs and to complete the entire resettlement process by March next year.

In the latest issue of Foreign Affairs magazine, Richard Kone, Professor of History and Adjunct Professor of Peace, War, and Defence at the University of North Carolina argues why Gen Stanly Mc Crystal should not resign even if his Afghan war plan is not accepted by the Obama Administration. (Mc Crystal has demanded 40,000 more troops be sent to Afghanistan)

Kone’s article titled, “Always salute, never resign,” though, by coincident tackles what is becoming an inexorable issue in the military relations with its civilian superiors in the Sri Lankan context. Kone in his thesis argues that an officer who threatens to — or does — resign over a policy decision commits a political act. He or she is publicly disputing the judgment of civilian leaders and violating the principle of civilian control over the military, a basic precept of military professionalism.

But, this is not the consensus on this much disputed issue. The military historian John S D Eisenhower, son of President Dwight Eisenhower in an Op-ed article in the New York Times argued that officers have an obligation to resign if they are unable to carry out the commander in chief’s policies.

Civilian control of the military is a tenet in a military-civilian relationship. Yet on what grounds a senior official could give up command responsibilities, when his principles or judgment are in disagreement with that of the civilian leadership, is wide open to debate.
Gen Sarath Fonseka, chief of defence staff could have weighed his loyalties to the commander in chief and his differences with the Rajapaksa administration at length, before he tendered his resignation on Thursday.

But, how thought-out his decision may be, it is unlikely to be impervious to political manipulation, by both the government and the opposition.

The Burmese parallel

His letter which is now a public secret is a pointer to the simmering differences between President Rajapaksa who is also commander in chief under the Constitution and his senior most serving military officer. Fonseka’s much publicized letter of resignation, reproduced on this page, would likely widen the rift.

It is fair enough to suggest that some of the issues raised in Gen Fonseka’s letter of resignation, such as the president’s refusal to expand a peace time army, with the initial proposal being to expand numbers up to 300,000 has its own political, military and economic rationale. Though military Keynesians, most notably a much arguable thesis by the Belgian Defence Economist, Emile Benoit have argued that military spending has a net positive effect on economic growth-and functions as an economic stimulus — such claims are largely disputed.

What is also disregarded in this line of argument is the extreme effect of militarization such measures could have in society. President Rajapaksa is alleged to have said, as quoted by Fonseka that “ no further recruitment would be necessary” and “a strong public opinion is in the making” stating that “the country is in possession of a too powerful army.” What had not been mentioned, though, is another parallel drawn to stifle the further expansion of the army. The top political leaders shared words of caution in private that Sri Lanka would become a Burma.

Also, a military coup in Honduras, which ousted the pro Chavez leader in Honduras, Manuel Zelaya was given prominence in the state run Daily News. More than Honduras, the Burmese parallel could have struck a chord in this majority Buddhist country. A cabal of military despots who ruled the only other Theravada Buddhist nation since 1962 has ruined which was once Asia’s rice bowl, crushed democratic oppositions and plundered the country’s wealth through a disastrous scheme of Burmese socialism. But, paradoxically enough, the leader of the Burmese Military Junta, Gen Than Shwe arrived in Colombo on a four day visit on the very day Gen Fonseka tendered his resignation.

 

That tells so much about Sri Lanka’s international relations — and its growing alliance with the world wide pariah states. Such concerns, definitely, deserve further discussion.

However, the visit by the Burmese Junta leader, the last remaining military dictatorship in Asia, barring megalomaniac North Korean leader – who reportedly likes East European porn — belies Rajapaksa’s resolve for electoral democracy, let alone liberal democracy. Like it or not, Mahinda Rajapaksa still rides high on a populist wave. In the absence of data, how his popularity is being affected by the Fonseka factor can not be gauged. However, Fonseka’s entry would open a new chapter in Sri Lankan politics – though he is not the first military commander to enter politics, he would be the first one to run for presidency. His entry has altered the framework of what was not so long ago a one horse race for the presidency.

What is however, important for the sake of electoral democracy in this country is that the government give him a fair playing field for his electioneering, which include, but is not limited to addressing his security concerns. That is the least, the Rajapaksa administration could do for its former army chief who won the war for the regime.

.His Excellency the President
Through the Secretary,
Ministry of Defence,
Public Security, Law and Order
Presidential Secretariat
COLOMBO
12 November 2009

Your Excellency

REQUEST TO RETIRE FROM THE REGULAR FORCE OF THE SRI LANKA ARMY

1. I, General G S C Fonseka RWP RSP VSV USP rcds psc presently serving as the Chief of Defence Staff, was enlisted to the Ceylon Army on 05th Feb 1970 and was commissioned on the 01st June 1971. On the 6th Dec 2005 due to the trust and confident placed on me, Your Excellency was kind enough to promote me to the rank of Lieutenant General and appoint me as the Commander of the Sri Lanka Army in an era when the Country was embroiled with the menace of a bloody terrorism and was in a stalemate state after having toiled for a solution politically or otherwise for over 25 years without a success.

2. During my command of 3 years and 7 months, the Sri Lanka Army managed to eradicate the terrorist movement having apprehended an unbelievable stock of arms and munitions and decisively defeating the LTTE and its murderous leadership. which Your Excellency is obviously aware of. I would not be exaggerating to state that I was instrumental in leading the Army to this historic victory, of course with Your Excellency’s political support, which helped to materialize 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 yeomen task was achieved.

3. I do appreciate the fact that the Country and Your Excellency did recognize my services which led to me being promoted to the first ever serving four star general to command the Army, nevertheless the courses of action which initiated subsequently greatly depressed me which I have enumerated in the Annex hereto.

4. Considering the facts mentioned in the Annex and more, which I am privy to withhold, I am compelled to believe that Your Excellency and the Government has lost your trust and faith bestowed upon me for reasons best known to Your Excellency. Hence as the senior most serving military officer in the Country with 40 years of service, such a situation does not warrant a continuation of my duties any longer, thereby I have the honour to request that I be permitted to terminate my services and retire from the Regular Force of the Army with effect from 01st December 2009.

5. Furthermore I have the honour to request that on retirement 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 due to the fact that I am considered as one of the highest priority targets by the LTTE, which they are yet capable of achieving. Also, 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, Admiral WKJ Karannagoda. I presume that such arrangements would be made available to me, considering the threat factor I am facing, which Your Excellency is well aware of.

6. I would also wish to quote an example in the case of the former Indian Chief of Army Staff General A S Vadiya, instrumental in leading the Indian Army in Operation Blue Star against the Sheiks at the Golden Temple, Amristar in 1984, was assassinated whilst on retirement in 1986 purely in revenge of his victories achieved. I do not wish to experience a similar incident as I have already sustained serious injuries after the attempt on my life by a suicide cadre of the LTTE. Thereby, I am compelled to entrust you with my security which is requested for life.

7. Furthermore, I would like to emphasis on a statement made by me during my tenure as the Commander of the Army. In that, I mentioned my dislike to be in command forever and also I would ensure that my successor would not be burden with the task of war fighting, which I abided with. Hence, as I have already overstayed my retirement date by 4 years, I wish to proceed on retirement without further delays.

8. Forwarded for Your Excellency’s kind consideration please.

I have the honour to be
Your Excellency’s
Obedient Servant

G S C FONSEKA RWP RSP VSV USP rcds psc
General
Chief of Defence Staff
CONFIDENTIAL
Annex A
12 November 2009

FACTORS AFFECTING MY RETIREMENT FROM THE REGULAR FORCE OF THE ARMY

1. Various agencies misleading Your Excellency by stating a possible coup immediately after the victory over the LTTE which 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 circle.

2. Appointing an officer pending a disciplinary inquiry who performed duties only as a holding formation commander in the final battle as my successor, disregarding my recommendations to appoint Major General G A Chandrasiri as the Commander of the Army who was the then Chief of Staff and an officer with an exemplary service as the Security Forces Commander in Jaffna for over 3 years. This has already led to a deterioration of the high standards I was capable of introducing to the Army, to my bitter disappointment.

3. Appointing me as the Chief of Defence Staff, though a senior appointment to that of a service commander, with basically no authority, except for mere coordinating responsibilities in a manner which mislead the general public of the country and most members of the Armed Forces. In that the Secretary Defence pushing me to vacate the post of the Commander in just two weeks after the victory and Your Excellency insisting me to hand over duties in less than two months depriving me of my morel obligations in revamping the welfare and providing a sound administration to the men who fought a gallant battle.

4. Further, prior to my appointment I was mislead 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 Secretary Defence indicated that my appointment was purely to coordinate the services and not that of overall command. The letter is attached herewith for Your Excellency’s information. Such actions clearly defines Your Excellency’s and the Governments 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.

5. During a subsequent Service Commanders Meeting, the Secretary Defence was bold enough to state an unethical and uncalled 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.

6. Your Excellency, you too made a statement at the very first security council soon after the 18th of May 09 when the battled was declared over, “that no further recruitment would be necessary” and “a strong public opinion is in the making stating that the Country is in possession of a too powerful army.” It was surprising to hear such a comment from Your Excellency in spite of your repeated praise and boast of the war victory. I personally felt that Your Excellency has commenced mistrusting your own loyal Army which attained the unimaginable victory just a week ago. You again repeated the same statement even after I handed over the command. Over these comments I felt disgusted as we even insulted those who made the supreme sacrifice by such comments.

7. The present Army Commander immediately on assuming duties commenced transferring senior officers who immensely contributed to the war effort during my command tenure including those junior officers working with my wife at the Seva Vanitha Army Branch which was clearly to challenge the loyalty of officers and most discouraging to the officer corps of the Army, with a wrong signal being transmitted on my authority.

8. With a pain of mind it was noted that the same Army which gained victory for the Nation was suspected of staging a coupe 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 organization who was capable of defeating a terrorist group after the Malayan Emergency, 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.

9. During my absences from the Country (23 Oct 2009 to 5 Nov 2009) being on overseas leave, the Army Headquarters was bold enough to change the security personnel deployed at the AHQ Main Entrance and the Ministry of Defence emphasizing the withdrawal of the Sinha Regiment troops who were attached to me, as you are aware is my parent regiment and supplementing them with other regimental personnel. The Sinha Regiment troops were good enough to provide security to the Ministry of Defence for 4 years and it is surprising to note how the combat efficiency of the said troops supposed to have dropped overnight as per Secretary Defence’s opinion. Further the Sinha Regiment troops numbering a mere 4, non combatants, deployed for vehicle checking duties at the AHQ Main Entrance, were replaced by 14 armed Armoured Corps personnel, whilst a further two platoons were brought in to prevent the 4 non combat Sinha Regiment personnel performing duties, creating a mockery to the general public including to some foreign missions. This clearly indicates a questionable loyalty of troops good enough for duties for over four years purely due to the fact that the troops were from my Regiment. This also indirectly reflects mistrust on me or an indication that the persons concern wish to keep a tab on my movements and visitors to my HQ/residence which is a clear display of suspicion created on me.

10. Further on instructions of the Secretary Defence, troops from the Gajaba Regiment was brought in to the MOD complex which indicated a divide loyalty within the Army and reasons to believe that the Army now being politicized. This is being encouraged by the Army Commander too who thinks that the Armoured Corp troops should over power Sinha Regiment troops.

11. Instigating malicious and detrimental news items and rumors by interested parties including several senior government politicians which led to identify me as a traitor in spite of my personal contribution of the government to change the history of our country.

12. During my absence from the Country, an acting CDS or an officer to overlook duties was not appointed which indicates that the much spoken appointment of the CDS is unimportant to the Government and the National Security Council. If the appointment was of significant important as stated by most, it should have been imperative to appoint somebody to oversee the duties and thereby I am convinced that I have being granted with an unimportant appointment in spite of all the work done.

13. It is with sadness that I note that the ordinary Army which I toiled to transform into a highly professional outfit is now loosing its way. Increased desertions, lack of enthusiasm to enlist (A drop in enlistment rate by 50% is recorded), disciplinary problems on advocating divided commands indicates an unprofessional organization in the offing. During the last two months the members deserted are higher than the recruitment.

14.The plight of the IDPs is also a point of great concern to me. Thousands of valiant soldiers sacrificed their valuable lives to liberate these unfortunate civilians from the brutality and tyranny of the LTTE in order that they could live in an environment of freedom and democracy. Yet, today many of them are continuing to live in appalling conditions due to the lack of proper planning on the part of the government and the IDPs who have friends and relatives elsewhere in the country must be given the choice to live with them until proper demining has been done in their areas.

15.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 paving the way for yet another uprising in the future.

16. The peace dividend the whole country expected at the conclusion of the war has yet to materialize. 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.

(Lakbima news)

Sri Lanka Army celebrates 60 years

From Hero to Zero: The Fonseka fallout

Media blackout for the General’s valedictory speech; Govt. warns of politicising Army

The rain clouds over Colombo provided some shade from an otherwise sultry morning last Monday.

Below, at its sports grounds, the Sri Lanka Army, celebrating its 60th anniversary, was adding another chapter to its chequered history. Honoured as the first serving Army officer under the new CDS Act to become the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), was General Sarath Fonseka. Earlier, General Lionel Balagalle served as CDS in addition to being Commander of the Army. However, his appointment was under Emergency Regulations.

Monday’s parade was the grand finale to a string of national events. Only two days earlier (October 10), the new Army Commander, Lt. Gen. Jagath Jayasuriya, had his parade. The defeat of Tiger guerrillas in May this year, added greater significance and made the events a focal point of public attention. This was particularly so after high-pitched advance publicity through the media.

The mood was one of celebration at yesterday’s Army tattoo as the smile these female soldiers sport indicates.

The CDS Act, passed by Parliament in June, made it mandatory for a serving Commander of the armed forces to be appointed. It was for a stipulated term of two years. Additionally, this historic event was one of several the Government had allowed Gen. Fonseka to organise, to mark the 60th anniversary, since he relinquished office as Commander of the Army in July, this year. It seemed a reward for his steering the Army in the military campaign against the guerrillas. Otherwise, it would have been the sole responsibility of the incumbent Commander.

Officers (54) and men (1190), representing all units of the Army, from Artillery to the Rifle Corps, were in their number one (blue) uniforms. They stood there clutching Chinese-built T-56 assault rifles with shining bayonets mounted. The exceptions were the Special Forces and the Commandos, the two elite units, which donned their camouflage uniform. They carried Israeli-made mini Uzi rifles.

Gen. Fonseka mounted the red-carpeted saluting dais on the Army grounds. It was positioned across the wall from the Army Hospital, facing the Galle Face Green and the Indian Ocean. Major General Mahesh Senanayake, the parade commander, was sporting Special Forces regalia on his ceremonial uniform. He marched towards the dais, stood to attention, saluted and shouted aloud ” Thumani Siyalla sampoorna niveradi. Pelapaliya obata barai. Niladari 54,.Sesu nilayan 1190 soodanam Thumani. Pelapaliya idiri kotasa keragena yamata avasara pathami Thumani.” (Meaning- Sir, the parade is complete and ready for inspection. Seek permission to carry on.)

Only moments earlier his parade 2-IC (or second in command), Brigadier Ajith Kariyakarawana, had lined up the troops before the saluting dais. He is Director, Staff Duties at Army Headquarters. Maj. Gen. Senanayake, is now Director Plans at the Office of the Chief of Defence Staff (OCDS).

Maj. Gen. Senanayake shouted hoarsely “Dakunata Balang” (look right). The troops, in clockwork ritual moved their heads to the right leaving inches between their chin and right shoulder as they marched in synchronised military fashion. Gen. Fonseka was at attention saluting the officers and men. The rhythms of late C.T. Fernando’s classic Hela Jatika Abhimaney, played by the Army band, added to the splendour and stirred up emotions. TV cameras rolled. Photographers clicked away as journalists selectively allowed to cover the event made notes. Defence Attaches from Colombo-based diplomatic missions saw more history in the making.

Half an hour later, the colourful parade, a historic national event, to honour the CDS, ended. Gen. Fonseka began his address. His opening remarks, “this might be the last occasion I would address the rank and file of the Sri Lanka Army” immediately caught the attention of most present. It was only last week; the Sunday Times revealed exclusively in these columns, that the Government leaders were well aware that Gen. Fonseka had initiated a dialogue with the Opposition. They listened attentively to what he was going to say. Some even wondered whether he would make a formal announcement that he would quit the Army.

Here is the translated text of his speech: (It is carried in full as it will give the nuances to what the Commander of the Army that led to the defeat of the LTTE is saying now – five months after Victory Day).

“This might be the last occasion I would address the rank and file of the Sri Lanka Army. I thank all those who are present at this parade.

“In 1947 discussions were held between the then rulers and the British on the eve of independence to establish an Army, in keeping with the requirements of the country. On Oct 10, 1949, the Army was eventually set up.

“The Army has progressed since then and there have been 18 Commanders. The Army has served the country in various ways such as controlling riots, preventing illegal immigrants, helping during floods and cyclones, during the tsunami, during strikes, which were aimed at crippling the Government administration.

“Of the Army’s history of 60 years, during the past 30 years the Army has been trying to liberate the people by battling the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) who were a threat to the independence and territorial integrity of the country. The LTTE was so strong that one of the foreign leaders, one of our former Presidents and several other VIPs were killed.

“July 2006 the army had to launch the operation to open the Mavil Aru sluice gate which was closed down by the LTTE violating all human rights of the innocent people there. This brought new light to the people and eventually by May 18, 2009 our forces completely destroyed the LTTE.

“I am humbly proud of the fact that I gave leadership to the Army to destroy the LTTE. Our forces showed the maturity of carrying out the war efficiently as well as keeping to discipline. This was the biggest liberation operation in the world to free hostages.

“It was not just due to luck that the Sri Lanka army wiped out the LTTE, ending a 30-year-old war, surprising the international community. The Army had to make lots of sacrifices and service to achieve this. The structural changes in the Army also helped to achieve this success. The fact that efficient officers were able to command the army helped to achieve this. The dedication of the field commanders and the efficient handling of the troops were one of the main successes in this task. My overall plans and supervision and the dedication of the officers and soldiers were the most significant reason. Their bravery was well displayed.

“Introducing new war tactics and providing the required training was one of my successes. The entire army was able to benefit from this. The Army was able to continue the war without giving a break for the terrorists and this was one of the reasons for the military victory. The fact that a high degree of discipline was maintained, corruption was prevented and the fact that the Army acted in an exemplary manner helped to achieve the success.

“During the past few years the officers worked continuously for the Army’s victory. Even the clerical staff forgot about leaving office at 4.30 in the evening.

“The war is something difficult, but those who were fighting the war willingly tolerated the difficulties as well. Those who were weak criticised the war. During the war, some of the talented officers had to deviate from the traditional systems to get the support of those working under them. The weak persons regretted this, but the talented worked under pressure and performed. I acknowledged the services of the talented by rewarding them and had to tell the weak persons about their weaknesses. The talented should be honoured.

“Those who really fought the war could be proud today and it is no secret as to who were those people.
“I should also thank the services of the Army Seva Vanitha unit that served during my tenure. Without spending time in criticizing the previous office bearers, they carried out their services efficiently.
“I also recall the services of the former Army Commanders and the retired officers and soldiers. We should remember with gratitude the services of those who were killed in action, missing in action and those injured in the war. Even the civil workers in the Army contributed. Their services should be recognized.

“After 60 years the Sri Lanka Army has turned out to be one of the most professional forces in the world, enriched with practical knowledge and experience. That is because the Army was able to keep to the expectations of the people. However, currently there is no war-atmosphere. You should continue to fulfil your tasks, protect the motherland and serve all communities.

“The victory gained by defeating the terrorists could be converted into a real victory if the people are able to carry on with their normal life. You should be dedicated to provide the best service to the re-settlement process in the areas that have been liberated.

“I wish to thank the President for the leadership and Defence Secretary for the necessary support provided to end the war which lasted against the LTTE for the last 30 years. I also thank the war heroes, their families and all people in the country.”

The fact that Gen. Fonseka’s speech came in the backdrop of a dialogue he had initiated with sections of the United National Party (UNP) leadership – and the newly formed Common Alliance, made matters worse. Readers will see the last two paragraphs of the General’s statement. In the penultimate paragraph he echoes the theme-song of the Opposition Alliance – the need to re-settle the IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons) in the Wanni camps. In the final paragraph he makes but a formal muted acknowledgement to President Mahinda Rajapaksa “for the leadership” – that’s all, and then to the Defence Secretary it is an even more muted acknowledgment limited only to the “necessary support provided” to the war.

President Rajapaksa had learnt the fuller details, as we disclosed last week, of such an interaction by his highest-ranking military officer with the Opposition through intermediaries. Most of it was via a UNP parliamentarian, who was once at loggerheads with UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe.

A local journalist, a staunch supporter of the CDS, had linked up Gen. Fonseka with this parliamentarian. He had carried messages between the two. Gen. Fonseka, as Army Commander, once assigned his commandos to protect this journalist and a few other colleagues. This was over claims of a threat from a group backed by a then Service Commander of a different security arm, a claim dismissed by that Service Commander as frivolous and fabricated.

The journalist boasted to close friends that he was playing the role of an important emissary. A businessman, another parliamentarian and a company director were among others who had been facilitating the dialogue at various times. Some lay dignitaries of a prominent temple in the suburbs of the City have been mentioned as having played a part in the developing episode. It is known that President Rajapaksa, Opposition UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and Gen. Fonseka have close links with the Temple.

From the Opposition side, Wickremesinghe has also apprised some leaders of constituent parties of the proposed United National Alliance (UNA), including the leader of the SLFP (Mahajana Wing), Mangala Samaraweera about the developments that have arisen over the Fonseka issue.

The Sunday Times has learnt General Fonseka had expressed displeasure over the way he was being treated since the end of the separatist war. He had pointed out the need for collective action in the national interest against incidence of bribery and corruption. He had also given his views on other issues related to the recently ended military campaign against Tiger guerrillas.

News blackout

On Monday, state-run television and radio networks completely blacked out all reportage relating to that morning’s parade and Gen. Fonseka’s speech. For any independent observer this appeared to be a clear indication that the Government was uneasy with Gen. Fonseka. Here was the Government that was justifiably proud of its Army for defeating the LTTE, and in which victory it was relying heavily to gain political victory, completely boycotting the very Army’s 60th anniversary celebrations. There was no mention in the official websites defence.lk, army.lk or the Media Centre for National Security (MCNS). On Tuesday, there was no reference in the state run print media either. Only a few private media outlets reported his speech, most of them playing down the critical elements in it. The black-out was all but complete, and indeed aimed directly at Gen. Fonseka.

It was on January 2, this year, that the General told the state-run Dinamina (Sinhala morning daily) “The biggest obstacle is the unpatriotic media. I am not blaming all journalists. I know 99 per cent of media and journalists are patriotic and doing their jobs properly. However, unfortunately, we have a smaller number of traitors among the journalists. They are the biggest obstacle. All other obstacles we can surmount.”

He would never have realised that exactly nine months and 20 days later, that one percent of “traitors” were no more his problem, but the “99 percent” of “media and journalists” who are “patriotic” were blacking him out. They were unanimous that Monday’s events and Gen. Fonseka’s speech were not fit for Sri Lankans to know. Not even considering what a soldier with 39 years experience and who gave leadership to the Army during the campaign that militarily defeated the guerrillas had to say. What a strange quirk of fate for a soldier who had the media running behind him just the other day for an interview, even a quote or a sound-bite.

Whatever Gen. Fonseka’s idiosyncrasies have been, and indiscretions are, the 60th anniversary of the Sri Lanka Army was a national event and Gen. Fonseka made the speech in his capacity as the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), the head of the apex body of Sri Lanka’s military establishment. He was given the responsibility officially to organise the 60th anniversary events. It was a parade in his honour as the longest serving officer in the Army. Why then blackout news of this ceremony and the speech he made? Government leaders have remained stoically silent on the matter thus heightening public concerns further. But when the same media, especially the State media aired and printed various speeches by a variety of Government Ministers and deputies give broad asides on military coups in Pakistan, interpreting who patriots really are, and saying that the war was won by King Dutugemenu and not his warrior-soldiers, the cat was out of the bag.

On Friday Military Spokesman, Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara, in a statement posted on the website of the Media Centre for National Security (MCNS), said, “false news was being published using various printed and electronic media” about a “defect” between Gen. Fonseka and the Government. He said such reports “are baseless and not true.” His statement, however, did not refer to last Monday’s parade or why there was a news blackout. And, what on earth prompted this statement, if indeed these reports of a so-called “defect” between Gen. Fonseka and the Government were indeed “baseless and not rue”.

Even Opposition Leader Wickremesinghe, whom Gen. Fonseka has publicly accused of helping the LTTE, raised issue on his behalf. It was on January 1 this year, Gen. Fonseka told state-run ITN all the weapons to strengthen the LTTE came during Wickremesinghe’s Norwegian-brokered ceasefire. On Tuesday, at a Nidahase Vedikawa or Platform for Freedom meeting at the Jayewardene Centre, Colombo, Wickremesinghe said the Government should tell the nation why the state-run media blacked out Gen. Fonseka’s event and his speech. “If he made a wrong speech, it was up to the Government to explain what was wrong,” he said.

Govt. counter-offensive

A move that clearly showed the Government’s displeasure over Gen. Fonseka’s recent behaviour came this week, when their leaders launched verbal counter-offensives in public. The first salvo came on Tuesday from the Government’s newest hatchet man, non-Cabinet rank Media Minister, Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena, at a news conference. He said there was a conspiracy to bring military leaders who had helped defeat terrorism and make them political orphans. He said he would appeal to political parties not to render destitute the men who have won “national respect and love.”

Speaking of conspiracy theories or branding others, as “traitors” has become a popular sport for Government politicians. It would have been better if the Media (non Cabinet) Minister explained why the state media which come under his own purview blacked out a state-sponsored function to celebrate the anniversary of Army, on whose back these politicians are currently riding.

What is also intriguing is why the unsolicited advice was directed at political parties instead of Gen. Fonseka. If indeed Gen. Fonseka was guilty of any breach of discipline or confidence, he should have been called upon to explain.

A more virulent attack however came from a more virulent politician who has widely acquired the reputation as Government’s ‘hit man’ on any issue. Non-Cabinet Labour Minister Mervyn Silva, told a ‘Jana Sevana’ public rally at Aramaya Place, Dematagoda on Tuesday, it was President Rajapaksa and his brother, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa who steered the forces to victory against the LTTE. He was more specific in targeting Gen. Fonseka when he said that armed forces chiefs who are trying to take personal credit for the task, therefore, should not overstep their limits or swell more than their size. Silva declared “Kadulle tharama denagena kadabandimu, Thamangge tharama denagena Kalgewamu” (Pack your Pingo so you can easily jump over the stile. Live according to your limits.)

Minister (Non-Cabinet) Silva said, “For 30 years we had the Army, the ammunition, the Navy, air power, but why couldn’t the commanders fight the war? The leaders of the country did not have the foresight or could not take a strong decision. If only the ten Giants, like Velusumuna and Nandhimitra were there without King Dutugemunu, could the war against Elara have been won? The leadership was given by Dutugemunu. Similarly, it was because of the foresight, patience and bravery of President Rajapaksa the war was won…….”

Then came, the comments by Minister (Cabinet rank) Susil Premajayantha. He told a news conference on Wednesday that people in Sri Lanka were intelligent enough “not to vote for just anybody” at a Presidential election. “Look at Pakistan. The country is in a total mess since military strongman Zia ul Haq took over the rule in a coup from Zulfikar Ali Bhutto years ago. It disrupted civilian life and the economy. The trend of destabilization continues even today,” he said.

His remarks were not the best of news from a Government Minister to a friendly country like Pakistan, a nation that had helped in the military campaign against Tiger guerrillas. The best and most committed supporters of Sri Lanka’s ‘war against terror’ were the military Generals from Gen. Zia ul Haq to Gen. Pervez Musharaff.

Premajayantha also forgot in the process that his President has recently visited Myanmar and had struck a cordial friendship with the military junta in that country under Gen. Than Shwe who rules with an iron fist squashing any democracy and having locked up the Opposition Leader Aung San Suu Kyi. What is sauce for Pakistan is not sauce for Myanmar in the Minister’s history book. But then, he must surely have thought that if Ministers Mahinda Samarasinghe, G.L. Peiris, Milinda Moragoda think themselves as virtual Foreign Ministers of Sri Lanka, why can’t he also dabble in a little bit of foreign affairs himself – to hell with foreign relations with friendly countries.

However, what he was alluding to was the dangers of a military man taking over political leadership of Sri Lanka. One could not have made a more direct reference to widespread speculation over Gen. Fonseka becoming the Opposition’s common candidate at a Presidential election – or instigating a military coup detat’ , something (as we wrote in this column last week) that the highest levels of the Defence Ministry were concerned of in the immediate aftermath of the LTTE’s defeat.

Brig, Nanayakkara was to say on Friday that these statements about a rift between Gen. Fonseka and the Government were in fact, “illegal”. From where he got that interpretation of the law is unclear, but then if it were, legal action should first be taken against Ministers Premajayantha, Silva and Abeywardene for the statements they made this week clearly displaying Government uneasiness with Gen. Fonseka’s conduct.

Three key concerns

There were at least three key elements in Gen. Fonseka’s speech on Monday that was, rightly or wrongly, the cause for concern for the Government. The first was his declaration that “This might be the last occasion I would address the rank and file of the Sri Lanka Army.” It sparked off speculation that as a follow-up to his dialogue with the Opposition, he was now planning to quit the Army, and even Government service. He had already snubbed the President with a refusal to accept the post of Secretary to the Ministry of Sports. However, Gen. Fonseka had a different explanation. He told friends when his current tenure in the Army expires on December 18, this year; he would not seek an extension. On this date, he will be 59 years, and would, therefore, not have occasion to address troops again.

Thus, he would be out of the Army on that date and will not be eligible, according to the CDS law, from holding office. However, others argue that by being appointed to the CDS post for two-year tenure, his term would have been extended automatically. If indeed he plans to quit in December, then Gen. Fonseka’s term is going to be shorter lived than expected. On October 23, he travels to the United States on a trip, which is partly official and the rest holiday. He is a US Green Card holder and has a home in Oklahoma.

A senior Government official has arranged a meeting for him with US Assistant Secretary Robert Blake. This was before the recent controversy broke out. He will be absent for three weeks. That would mean, on return to Sri Lanka, he would be left with only three more weeks to serve as CDS if he does not quit before.

The second element in his speech was the reference to what Gen. Fonseka called “talented officers.” He said, “During the war, some of the talented officers had to deviate from the traditional systems to get the support of those working under them. The weak persons regretted this, but the talented worked under pressure and performed. I acknowledged the services of the talented by rewarding them and had to tell the weak persons about their weaknesses. The talented should be honoured.”

Senior Army officers felt the reference was to officers who, in Gen. Fonseka’s view did not contribute to the war effort. Those affected held different opinions and complained they were overlooked despite their contribution. Many alleged they were purely due to personal reasons. On Victory Day in Colombo on May 28, 2009, Gen. Fonseka gave commendations to five Majors General, four Brigadiers and two Colonels. Then Commander, Security Forces, Wanni and now Army Commander, Lt. Gen. Jagath Jayasuriya was not one of them.

Soon after he assumed office as Commander of the Army, Lt. Gen. Jayasuriya declared, at a meeting of officers that “though I was not rewarded then, I have now been rewarded by the highest in the land by President Mahinda Rajapaksa.” During his parade to mark the Army’s 60th anniversary, on October 10 Lt. Gen. Jayasuriya said, “I am happy that I made a contribution in the final phase of the humanitarian operation, as the Commander Security Forces of Wanni.”

Lt. Gen. Jayasuriya added: “The leadership provided by President Mahinda Rajapaksa as the Commander in chief of the armed forces will go down in the history of the country. I wish to note that his promise given to the public and the dedication, which no other leader had helped to achieve this victory. We salute the Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa who has the experience in the battlefield for the guidance provided. We cannot forget the commands given by him which were implemented through the efficient officers on the field.”

The third and perhaps the most significant element are references Gen. Fonseka made to Defence Secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. He said in the very last paragraph of his speech,”I wish to thank the President for the leadership and Defence Secretary for the necessary support provided to end the war which lasted against the LTTE for the last 30 years. I also thank the war heroes, their families and all people in the country.”

Quite clearly, what he said about Lt. Col. (retd.) Rajapaksa was far from commensurate with what he (the Defence Secretary) had done. Some facts are well known whilst the others are less. In his first year in office, President Rajapaksa, had wanted to replace Gen. Fonseka. It was the Defence Secretary who fought tooth and nail to obtain for him an extension amidst severe pressure not to do so. It was the defence Secretary who was instrumental in putting together a team, with the support of his brother Basil Rajapaksa, that ‘worked on’ India and managed to turn them around. He was the one who was able to have a direct link with the Commander-in-chief and make requests on behalf of the Armed Forces, including the raising of the numbers almost by two-fold, and it was he who stood firm in the face of external pressures holding the President’s not to yield. It would be grossly unfair to say the Defence Secretary just provided “necessary support” to end the war. It is well known he did much more.

The entire wherewithal needed for the war effort- both men and material – was provided by the Defence Secretary. His influence as the President’s brother opened doors for him both in Sri Lanka and abroad. He made several secret missions abroad to ensure that the supply lines for the war effort continued without disruption. Without this, leave alone winning, but fighting a separatist war would not have been possible. He was also instrumental in having the armed forces commanders rewarded for their role in militarily defeating the guerrillas. Gen. Fonseka was given a prime plot of city land worth Rs 90 million. He also received a duty free vehicle said to be worth as much as Rs 40 million.

At various fora where there had been bitter criticism, particularly during closed-door discussions at Temple Trees, the Defence Secretary had defended Gen. Fonseka. Ironic enough, it was he who saw through the rise of Gen. Fonseka’s career has now become his target. Whilst Gen. Fonseka was from the third intake into the Army, Lt. Col. (retd.) Rajapaksa came from the fourth. Though the defence Secretary had to call him Sir then, the roles were reversed when he became Defence Secretary.

Uneasy tensions appear to have developed. On Tuesday, Gen. Fonseka cancelled the weekly meeting he chairs with armed forces commanders and senior intelligence officials. President Rajapaksa cancelled the weekly meeting of the National Security Council that is held on Wednesdays. Defence Secretary Rajapaksa cancelled the weekly meeting, which discusses security-related matters in the Western Province on Thursdays. It is attended by the CDS, armed forces commanders, police chief, senior intelligence officials and is chaired by Lt. Col. (retd.) Rajapaksa.

On Friday, Lt. Col. (retd.) Rajapaksa cautioned that “if we don’t safeguard this (military) victory, we are going to face serious consequences.” The remarks came at a book launch by Minister Champika Ranawaka. The Commanders of the Army, Navy and Air Force were present at the event. However, the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Fonseka was conspicuous by his absence, though his wife was present.
On Wednesday night, President Rajapaksa and Defence Secretary Rajapaksa attended the Army’s 60th anniversary banquet at the Colombo Hilton. However, at a different end, Gen. Fonseka was seated on the same table with the two VIPs and the Commander of the Army, Lt. Gen. Jayasuriya during a five-course dinner. Participants said they did not see him in conversation with the VVIPs.

Before a trip to Singapore last Sunday, Defence Secretary Rajapaksa is learnt to have briefed both the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) and the National Freedom Front (NFF) about developments arising from Gen. Fonseka’s dialogue with the Opposition. Both have vowed support to the UPFA and said Gen. Fonseka would not be able to defeat the ruling party. NFF leader, Wimal Weerawansa, was asked by a journalist “Oyage honda yaaluwa mokkada mey karanna yanney? (What is your good friend trying to do?) “Mage honda yaaluwa? (he queried “My good friend?”), then declared Eya yuddeta vitharai magey yaaluwa wuney (He became my friend only for the war effort).

Lalith Weeratunga, Secretary to the President and Jayantha Wickremaratne, Police Chief, accompanied the Defence Secretary to Singapore. They were taking part in the first ever Interpol and United Nations peacekeeping partnership ministerial meeting. According to Ronald K. Noble, the Secretary General of the Interpol, the organization plans to deliver international police expertise, “more skilled police personnel and frontline access to its global resources in countries suffering or recovering from conflicts, in order to help them achieve and maintain peace and combat transnational crime.” Gamini Senarath, (Additional Secretary) acted both as Secretary to the President and Defence Secretary during their absence.

Gen. Fonseka is being strongly touted as the Opposition United National Alliance (UNA) candidate for the upcoming Presidential election. However, the CDS told his friends including those close to him in the media that he had not been invited by any political party so far to enter politics. He said he was following media reports regarding this matter closely but did not think it necessary to react. Similarly, he said, he had also ignored media reports when he was fighting the war. While one is not certain about the former, it is hard to think that the latter was anything but true. His response had come when asked about his candidature. The constituents of the UNA, besides the main partner UNP, include the SLFP (Mahajana Wing) of Mangala Samaraweera, Sri Lanka Muslim Congress of Rauff Hakeem and Democratic People’s Front (DPF) led by Mano Ganeshan – none of them being great fans of the General. The formal signing of the agreement constituting the UNA will take place next week.

Opposition parties, though not exactly the entire leadership of the UNA, have declared publicly they would welcome Gen. Fonseka to be the common candidate at a Presidential election. The JVP has indicated that such a move would receive its support too. Vijitha Herath who held a news conference at the JVP headquarters in Battaramulla on Thursday was asked whether his party would work with the UNP at a parliamentary election. “No,” he replied but added, “at Presidential polls it would be a different experience.” Mangala Samaraweera told a news conference on Friday, Gen. Fonseka was among those being considered. These comments are what have excited the Government and made it go on the offensive against Gen. Fonseka straightaway.

There is no change yet on Government’s plans to announce a Presidential election soon after the Vote on Account is passed in Parliament in November. Senior Presidential Advisor Basil Rajapaksa is to resign next week as National List MP. He is to be appointed Campaign Manager for President Rajapaksa. This poll remains slotted for January 16 next year.

Election moves

However, the Fonseka episode has jolted the Government. A proposal to hold parliamentary elections and thus deny Gen. Fonseka and the Opposition a political advantage, Opposition parties claim, has not been abandoned altogether. The possibility of holding the two elections one after another is also not being ruled out. Some opposition parliamentarians say preparations for Presidential elections may be a ploy. The Government is somewhat concerned about the Sarath Silva judgment that precluded former President Chandrika Kumaratunga from enjoying an additional year after calling for early elections. President Rajapaksa was the beneficiary of that judgment.

“They may surprise all of us suddenly and say there would be a parliamentary poll,” said a source close to Wickremesinghe. Asked about the dialogue between Gen. Fonseka and Wickremesinghe through intermediaries,

, Kotte Parliamentarian Ravi Karunanayake replied, “I cannot confirm or deny that.”  He added, “All I can tell you is that Mr. Wickremesinghe is free to talk to anyone, more so to a war hero. Sometime ago, the President, who is the Commander-in-Chief, invited him (Wickremesinghe). He obliged by meeting and talking to him.”

At the helm of the Army, Gen. Fonseka led the campaign that caused much damage and militarily defeated the LTTE in May this year. The question now asked is whether he would be at the helm again, with the Opposition, to cause damage and defeat the UPFA Government that saw him reach dizzy heights in the Army. UPFA leaders are confident he will not.

“My life is a mixture of politics and war,” said General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th President of the US once in a letter to his wife. He said, “the latter is bad enough – but I’ve been trained for it! The former is straight and unadulterated venom! But I have to devote lots of my time, and much more of my good disposition, to it.”

Gen. Fonseka will also have to devote lots of his time and more of his disposition to the highly unadulterated venom that is politics in Sri Lanka. That is if he ever decides to enter politics. He will also, no doubt, have many dubious titles to add to his badges of honour and valour on his five-star uniform. UPFA leaders are persuading him both publicly and privately not to make the mistake of venturing into politics and becoming an orphan.

Lasantha case

On Friday, the Magisterial inquiry into the killing of Sunday Leader editor Lasantha Wickrematunge took a new turn. The Magistrate was told that the suspect now in Police custody has made a fresh statement, and fresh inquiries are now afoot.

Meanwhile, while the Opposition waits in earnest hoping that Gen. Fonseka would join them, if not as a common candidate, at least by mounting their platform, the Defence Ministry has a valid argument. They point out that with the expansion of the Armed Forces to fight a deadly enemy, the Forces concentrated on combat success.

That was the imperative need of the hour. As a result, certain elements essential for the Forces – discipline being upper-most fell by the wayside. There is a need to ensure that this element is restored. If Gen. Fonseka wishes to engage in politics, he must leave his uniform and do so. It is dangerous when soldiers begin to dabble in politics while in service.

(Sunday Times)

සරත් ෆොන්සේකාට බය කවුද? – (2009.10.18 ලංකා ඉරිදා සංග්‍රහය විශේෂ හෙළිදරව්ව)

පසුගිය සතියේදී ජෙනරාල් සරත් ෆොන්සේකා හදිසියේ ම ක‍්‍රීඩා අමාත්‍යංශ ලේකම්ධුරයට පත්කරන්නට ආණ්ඩුවේ නායකත්වය විසින් තීරණය කිරීම පසුපස ආන්දෝලනාත්මක තත්වයක් ඇතිවී තිබෙන බව මුලින්ම රටට හෙළි කළේ අප පුවත්පතයි. ජෙනරාල් ෆොන්සේකා එම තනතුර පමණක් නොව, ඉදිරි ප‍්‍රධාන මැතිවරණවලදී සහයෝගය දෙන්නේ නම් ඇමැතිධුරයක් ලබාදෙන බවට ආණ්ඩුවේ බලධාරින් කළ යෝජනාවත් ප‍්‍රතික්ෂේප කළබව අපි හෙළි කළෙමු. එහෙත් ජෙනරාල්වරයා ආණ්ඩුවේ බලවතුන්ගේ වුවමනාවන්ට අනුව කටයුතු කිරීම ප‍්‍රතික්ෂේප කළ පුවත මෙරට ජනතාවගෙන් වසන්කිරීමට අදාළ බලවතුන් විසින් හැකි සෑම උත්සාහයක්ම ගෙන තිබිණි. කෙසේ වෙතත් මෙතෙක් ක‍්‍රියාන්විතයේ ඉදිරියෙන්ම හිඳිමින් කැපවීම් කරමින් ත‍්‍රස්තවාදය පරාජය කිරීමේ ජයග‍්‍රහණය රටේ සැමට උරුම කරදුන් ජෙනරාල් සරත් ෆොන්සේකා ඇතුළු නිලධාරීන් සහ සොල්දාදුවන් පසුපසට තල්ලූකර දමා “දේශපේ‍්‍රමී”පොරවල්වීමට රාජපක්ෂ පාලනය ගන්නා උත්සාහය ඇත්ත ඇති සැටියෙන් පාඨක ජනතාවට හෙළිදරව් කිරීමට අප පැකිළෙන්නේ නැත. මේ එහි පළමු පියවරයි. 2009 මැයි 17වැනි ඉරිදා ක‍්‍රියාන්විත මෙහෙයුම් ප‍්‍රදේශයේ සිටි එක්තරා හමුදා නිලධාරියකුගේ ජංගම දුරකථනයට රටේ ඉහළ බලවතකුගෙන් ඇමතුමක් ලැබිණි. “කොහොමද, වැඩේ ඉවර කළාද?” තත්පර කීපයක නිහඬතාවයක් ඇති විය. එහෙත් දිය යුතු පිළිතුර කල්තියාම දැන සිටි හමුදා නිලධාරියා වචන වියළුණු දෙතොල් දිවගින් තෙමාගෙන වචන ගොනුකරගන්නට සමත් විය. “ඔව් සර්,අපි යුද්දෙ ඉවර කළා” ඒ පිළිතුරත් සමඟම දුරකථනය විසන්ධි විය. නිලධාරියා තවත් යමක් කීමට සූදානම් වුවත් ප‍්‍රමාද වැඩිය. ලැබුණු පිළිතුර තමා අපේක්ෂා කළ දෙයම වූ බැවින් බලවතාට ඉන් එහා යමක් අවශ්‍ය නොවූවා වැනිය. වැරදුණු ඉලක්කය බලයෙන් මත් වූ දේශපාලකයන් නිතරම කල්පනා කරන්නෙ තමන්ගේ ඉලක්ක සපුරා ගැනීම නිසා එම ඉලක්ක සපුරාගැනීමේදී වැය කෙරෙන ධනය හෝ පුද කෙරෙන මිනිස් ශ‍්‍රමය හෝ ජීවිත ඔවුන්ගේ හැඟීම්වලට අයත් නොවේ. එම සිදුවීමෙන් පැය කිහිපයකට පසුව කොළඹ කටුනායක අන්තර්ජාතික ගුවන් තොටුපළෙන් සියරට පැමිණි මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ ජනාධිපතිවරයා බිමට පහත් වී නමස්කාර කළේය. බොහෝ ජනමාධ්‍ය එම සිදුවීම වාර්තා කළේ ආරක්ෂක හමුදා විසින් ත‍්‍රස්තවාදයෙන් මුදාගත් මවුබිමට ජනාධිපතිවරයා නමස්කාර කර සිය ගෞරවය පුද කළ අවස්ථාව ලෙසයි. එසේ වුවත් ජනාධිපතිවරයාට වැරදි තොරතුරු ලබාදී එවැනි ප‍්‍රදර්ශන හැසිරීමකට යොමුකළ නිලධාරීන්ට පසුව හොඳ හැටි සුද්ධ සිංහලයෙන් අසාගන්නට සිදුවිය. මෙම වැරදි අවබෝධය ඇති කිරීම පසුපස කුමන්ත‍්‍රණකාරී ක‍්‍රියාවලියක් තිබිණි. මැයි මාසයේ මුල් සතියේ හිටපු යුද හමුදාපති සරත් ෆොන්සේකා චීනයේ නිල සංචාරයක නිරත වෙමින් සිටියේය. ඔහුගේ සංචාරය මෙරටට ගෙන්වන යුද ආම්පන්න නිෂ්පාදනය කෙරෙන චීන කම්හල් වෙත යාම බොහෝ කලකට පෙර සැලසුම් කෙරුණු එකක් බව ආරක්ෂක වාර්තා හෙළිකර තිබිණි. මෙහිදී සිහිපත් කළ යුතු වැදගත් කරුණක් නම් යුද අවි ගනු දෙනු හේතුවෙන් මෙරට ධනකුවේරයන් බවට පත් වූ පිරිසක් ද සිටින බවයි. තතු මෙසේ හෙයින් යුද අවි ගනුදෙනු පෞද්ගලිකව අධීක්ෂණය කිරීමට හිටපු යුද හමුදාපතිවරයා ගත් තීරණය ඇතැම් බලවතුන්ගේ නොසතුටට හේතු වී තිබිණි. කල්යාමේදී එය වෛරයක් බවට පත් විය. හමුදාපතිවරයා රටෙන් පිටව ගිය පසු මෙහෙයුම් සියතට ගෙන යුද්ධය අවසන් කිරීමේ ගෞරවය හිමිකරගැනීමේ සිහිනයක පසුවූවන් ද මේ අතරවිය. අවසානයේ දේශපාලන-හමුදා නිලධාරි කුමන්ත‍්‍රණයක ප‍්‍රතිඵලයක් ලෙස අවසන් මෙහෙයුම් අවස්ථාවේ ක්ෂණික කඩාවැදීම් කරමින් කොමාන්ඩෝ සහ විශේෂ බළකා සෙබළ ජීවිත අනතුරට ඇද දමන ලදී. මිලිටරි විශේෂඥ මතය අනුව විශේෂයෙන් දුෂ්කර මෙහෙයුම් සඳහා පුහුණුවක් ලද බළකායක සාමාජිකයකු සාමාන්‍ය පුහුණුව යුද සෙබළුන් 20කගේ සංග‍්‍රාමීය හැකියාව දරන බව කියනු ලැබේ. ඉහත අවස්ථාවේ විශේෂ බළකායේ 22ක් මියගොස් තවත් 84 දෙනකු තුවාල ලැබීය. අන්තර්ජාතික යුද අධිකරණයට යාම ගැන ජනතාවට බේගල් ඇද බෑම නවතා, එසේ වටිනා සෙබළ ජීවිත නිකරුණේ බිලිදුන්නේ කවුරුන්ද යන්න පිළිබඳ වහා පරීක්ෂණ කළ යුතුයැයි අපි ආණ්ඩුවට යෝජනා කරමු. කෙසේ වෙතත් එම ව්‍යසනකාරී සිදුවීම් නිසා දේශපාලන න්‍යායපත‍්‍රවලට ආරක්ෂක මෙහෙයුම් පාවාදීම අවසන් විය. ජනාධිපතිවරයාගේ නමස්කාරයෙන් දින තුනකට පසුව ඇත්ත වශයෙන්ම යුද්ධය අවසන් කරන්නට ආරක්ෂක හමුදා සමත් විය. ඉන්පසුව ඇරඹුණේ ආරක්ෂක හමුදා සිය දේශපාලන හස්තයට නතු කර ගැනීමේ යුද්ධයයි. එය “සංග‍්‍රාම උපායයන්”දෙකක් යටතේ ක‍්‍රියාත්මක විය. හමුදාවේ ඉදිරිපෙළ නිලධාරීන් සොල්දාදුවන්ගෙන් වෙන්කර හුදෙකලා කිරීමත් සොල්දාදුවන් සිය නායකත්වයේ රැකවරණයෙන් දුරස්ථ කිරීමත් පළමුවෙනි සංග‍්‍රාමික උපාය විය. දෙවනුව, එම උපායික මෙහෙයුමට ජනමාධ්‍ය තුළින් සාධාරණීකරණය ලබාදීමේ ප‍්‍රචාරක මෙහෙයුමක් දියත් කෙරිණි. ඒ අනුව සිදු වූ දේ කෙටියෙන් සඳහන් කළ හැකිය. යුද හමුදාපතිවරයා ඉදිරි දෙසැම්බරයේ විශ‍්‍රාම යා යුතුව තිබියදීත් එසේම යුද හමුදාවේ 60වන සමරුවේ ක‍්‍රියාකාරකම් ඉටුකිරීම සඳහා හොඳම සුදුසුකම් සපුරා තිබියදීත් ඔහු හුදෙකලා කෙරිණි. ඒකාබද්ධ මාණ්ඩලික ප‍්‍රධානියා වශයෙන් වැඩි බලතල දෙන බවට කෙරුණු ව්‍යාජ ව්‍යවස්ථාමය රංගනයකින් පසු මාස කිහිපයක් ගතවී ඇතත් එවැනි බලයක් ඇත්තටම ලබා දී නැත. අවශ්‍ය වූයේ සොල්දාදුවන් සමග කරට කර හිඳ කටයුතු කරමින් ජනප‍්‍රිය වූ හමුදාපතිවරයා ලෙස තවදුරටත් ඔහු නොසිටිය යුතුය යන තීන්දුව ක‍්‍රියාත්මක කිරීම බව පැහැදිලිය. සංග‍්‍රාම භූමියෙන් ඉවත්කිරීම නාවික හමුදාපතිවරයාට ද අත්වූයේ සිය වෘත්තීයමය අත්දැකීම් හෝ වසර ගණනාවක් සංග‍්‍රාම භූමියේ කළ කටයුතුවලට සපුරා වෙනස් හුදෙකලා අමාත්‍යංශයක අතරමංවීමේ ඉරණමය. එපමණක් නොව එල්ටීටීඊ සංවිධානයට එරෙහි ක‍්‍රියාන්විත මෙහෙයුම්වලදී විශාල කාර්යභාරයක් ඉටු කළ මේජර් ජෙනරාල් ජගත් ඩයස් ජර්මනියේ නියෝජ්‍ය ශ‍්‍රී ලංකා තානාපති ලෙස පත්කර යැවීම සහ යුද හමුදා ක‍්‍රියාන්විත අධ්‍යක්ෂ වශයෙන් මෙහෙයුම් භාරවවැඩ කොටසක් සිදු කළ මේජර් ජෙනරාල් උදය පෙරේරා මැලේසියානු තානාපති වශයෙන් පත්කර යැවීම මීට නිදසුන් වේ. කමල් ගුණරත්න, චාගි ගාල්ලගේ වැනි තවත් සෙන්පතියන් ක‍්‍රියාන්විත ප‍්‍රදේශයෙන් ඉවත් කරවීමට තීරණය කරන ලද්දේ ඔවුන්ගේ කාර්ය අවසන් බවට කිසිදු මිලිටරිමය තීන්දුවක් නොගෙනය. හමුදා බුද්ධි අංශය මෙහෙයුම් සාර්ථක කරගැනීමට අත්‍යවශ්‍ය වූ සේනාංකයක් ලෙස පවත්වාගෙන ගිය අමල් කරුණානායක එරිත‍්‍රියාවේ තානාපති ලෙස පත් කෙරුණේ එරිත‍්‍රියාව එල්ටීටීඊයට සහයෝගය දෙන රාජ්‍යයක් ලෙස නම් කිරීමෙන් ලැබුණු වාසිය නිසාය. එහෙත් මෙරට සංග‍්‍රාම භූමියේ අත්දැකීම් සහිත සේනාංක නායකයන් සංග‍්‍රාම භූමියන් ඉවත් කිරීම මිස වෙනත් අවශ්‍යතාවක් එයින් ඉටු කෙරුණේ නැත. මේ අතර ඉන්දියාවේ බලපෑමට යටත් වූ ආණ්ඩුවේ දේශපාලන වුවමනාවට අනුව පළාත් සභා පූර්ණ බලතල යටතේ ක‍්‍රියාත්මක කිරීම හෝ බලය බෙදීමේ වෙනත් දේශපාලන විසඳුමක් සඳහා බෙදුම්වාදී බලවේග එකඟ කරගෙන නිදහස් කරගත් භූමියේ බලය සඳහා නිතරග ගිවිසුමකට යාමට ආණ්ඩුවට අවශ්‍ය විය. ඒ බව දුටු හමුදා ප‍්‍රධානීහු ආණ්ඩුවේ ද්‍රෝහී අරමුණට තරයේ ම විරුද්ධ වූහ. හිටපු යුද හමුදාපතිවරයාගේ මේ ප‍්‍රකාශය ඊට කදිම නිදසුනකි. “යුද හමුදාවේ දහස් ගණනක් වසර තිහක් තිස්සේ පැවැති සංග‍්‍රාමයේදී මියගියා. ඔබ අතර සිටි එවැනිම පිරිසක් තුවාල ලැබුවා සහ ආබාධිත තත්වයට පත්වුණා. සෙබළුන් ඇස්, අත්, හිස්, මස්, ලේ පරිත්‍යාගකර ලැබූ ජයග‍්‍රහණය විවිධ දේශපාලන කණ්ඩායම්වල වුවමනාව නිසා ගෙන එන දේශපාලන විසඳුම් කියන නාමයෙන් පාවාදීමට ඉඩ නොතැබිය යුතුයි. උතුරේ ජනතාවටත් දකුණේ ජනතාව භුක්ති විඳින අයිතිවාසිකම් ලබාදිය යුතුයි. ඔවුන්ගේ ආර්ථික කටයුතු ඉදිරියට ගෙනයාමට අවස්ථාව ලබා දිය යුතුයි. ඒක වෙනවා නම්, උතුරට වෙනම දේශපාලන විසඳුමක් අවශ්‍ය නෑ. යුද හමුදාපති වශයෙන් මගේ නම් අදහස ඒකයි.” මුලතිව් සිංහ රෙජිමේන්තු මූලස්ථානයේදී, 2009 ජූනි 19 කෙසේ වෙතත් යුද හමුදාපතිධුරයෙන් ඉවත් කර ආරක්ෂක මාණ්ඩලික ප‍්‍රධානි තනතුරට පත් කිරීම ජෙනරාල් සරත් ෆොන්සේකා සසල කළ අවස්ථාවක් වුවත් එහි දේශපාලන අරමුණ වටහාගෙන තනතුරින් ඉවත් වූ බව පසුගියදා ඔහු කළ ප‍්‍රකාශයකින් පැහැදිලි වේ. “හිටපු ආරක්ෂක මාණ්ඩලික ප‍්‍රධානියා සිය ධුරයට සමුදුන් විට එම තනතුර පුරප්පාඩු වුණා. මේ නිසා අතිගරු ජනාධිපතිතුමාට අවශ්‍ය වුණා, ඉදිරි කටයුතු කරගෙන යාම සඳහා සුදුසු හා දක්ෂ නිලධාරීන් පිරිසකට තනතුරු දෙන්න. එය තමයි මෙතැන සිදු වුණේ. මා හැමදාම කී පරිදි මේ සටනේ පෙරමුණු දෙකක් තිබුණා. එක පෙරමුණක් තමයි දේශපාලන පෙරමුණ. අතිගරු ජනාධිපතිතුමා හා ආරක්ෂක ලේකම්තුමා ඉතා දක්ෂ ලෙස සියලූ අභියෝග ජයගනිමින් එම පෙරමුණ ජයගත්තා. ඔවුන් දුන් දේශපාලන නායකත්වය මත අප යුද පෙරමුණ ජයග‍්‍රහණය කළා. එක පැත්තකින් බලන විට අප කළේ ජනාධිපතිතුමාගේ චින්තනයේ තිබූ එක මෙහෙවරක් නිමා කිරීමයි. දැන් ඉතින් ඊළඟ කටයුතු සඳහා එතුමා තනතුරුවලට සුදුසු පිරිසක් පත්කරගෙන තියෙනවා.”(ජූලි 19 ඉරිදා ලක්බිම සමග කළ සංවාදයකින්) ජානක පෙරේරාගේ ඉරණම එසේම දේශපාලනයට පැමිණීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් කලක සිට පවතින විවිධ ප‍්‍රචාරයන් ගැන ලක්බිම මාධ්‍යවේදියා ඇසූ විට හිටපු යුද හමුදාපතිවරයා දුන් පිළිතුරෙන් පැහැදිලිවන්නේ දේශපාලන හෙට්ටුකිරීමකදී වත්මන් දේශපාලන නායකත්වය අනතුරුදායක තත්වයට පත්විය හැකි බව ජෙනරාල්වරයා හොඳින් තේරුම්ගෙන සිටින බවයි. “දේශපාලනය යන වචනය මගේ තුන් හිතකවත් නැහැ. මට දේශපාලනය කරන්න බැහැ. දන්නෙත් නෑ. මම දේශපාලනය කරන්න ගිය දවසට මේ තියෙන දෙයත් නැති වන බව මම දන්නවා. එහෙම වුණොත් මට ජෙනරාල් ලකී අල්ගමට හා ජෙනරාල් ජානක පෙරේරාට අත් වූ ඉරණමම අත්වේවි. මම වෘත්තීය සොල්දාදුවෙක්. මම දන්නේ හමුදාව ගැන විතරයි. අතිගරු ජනාධිපතිතුමාට රජයට අවශ්‍ය වනතුරු මම රට වෙනුවෙන් මගේ දායකත්වය දෙනවා. ඊට පස්සේ නිදහසේ ගෙදර යනවා.” (එම සංවාදය) ජූලි 15 වැනිදින නව ආරක්ෂක මාණ්ඩලික ප‍්‍රධානී ලෙස රාජකාරී භාරගත් හිටපු යුද හමුදාපති ජෙනරාල් සරත් ෆොන්සේකා මුලින් ම ඉටු කළ රාජකාරී අතරින් එකක් වූයේ චීනයෙන් ගෙන්වීමට නියමිතව තිබුණු ඩොලර් කෝටි 20 ක් වටිනා අවි ආයුධ ඇණවුම අවලංගු කිරීමය. දශක තුනක් පුරා දිග් ගැසුණු යුද මෙහෙයුම් අවසන් වෙතැයි අපේක්ෂිත කාලයට පෙරාතුව නිම කිරීමට හැකි වූ බැවින් මෙම අවි ආයුධ තවදුරටත් අවශ්‍ය නොවන බව ආරක්ෂක මාණ්ඩලික ප‍්‍රධානී ජෙනරාල් සරත් ෆොන්සේකා සඳහන් කළේය. ආයුධ ගෙන්වීමට වෙන් කළ මුදල යුද හමුදාවේ සුබ සාධනය සහ සංවර්ධනය වෙනුවෙන් යෙදවීම ඔහුගේ අරමුණ විය. එසේම නව තනතුර ලබාදෙන විට ඔහු වෙත පැවැරුණ වගකීම අනුව කටයුතු කිරීමට ජෙනරාල්වරයා අදහස් කළේය. ත‍්‍රිවිධ හමුදාවේ හා පොලිසියේ බඳවා ගැනීම්, පුහුණුවීම්, සම්බන්ධීකරණ කටයුතු මෙන්ම නිරීක්ෂණ හා ආයුධ සැපයීමේ කටයුතුද නව තනතුර අනුව ඔහු වෙත පැවැරී ඇතැයි ද ආරක්ෂක අමාත්‍යංශයේ අංශයක් ලෙස ඒකාබද්ධ මෙහෙයුම් අධ්‍යක්ෂවරයා කටයුතු කරණු ඇති බවද ආණ්ඩුවේ ප‍්‍රකාශ අනුව කියැවිණි. එහෙත් ඒ අනුව කටයුතු කිරීමේදී ඔහු ඉදිරිපත් කළ බොහෝ යෝජනා ප‍්‍රායෝගික වශයෙන් ක‍්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමට නොහැකි විය. උතුරේ බිම් බෝම්බ ඉවත් කිරීම සඳහා විශාල හමුදා භට පිරිසක් යොදවා අත්පත් කරගත් ප‍්‍රදේශවල රාජකාරී සඳහා භට කණ්ඩායම් ඉතා අධික ලෙස අවශ්‍ය වන බැවින් හමුදාවට බඳවා ගැනීම් තවදුරටත් සිදු කරන්නට ඔහු සැලසුම් සකස් කළේය. එසේම නැගෙනහිර හා දකුණු ප‍්‍රදේශයේ තවදුරටත් විසිරුණු ත‍්‍රස්තවාදී කණ්ඩායම් මැඩලීමේ අරමුණින් ඔහු ආණ්ඩුවට ඉදිරිපත් කළ “ජාතික ආරක්ෂක සැලැස්ම”ප‍්‍රතික්ෂේප කරණ ලදී. යුද තත්වය නිසා හානි පැමිනුණු සන්නද්ධ හමුදාවලට ආධුනිකයන් පුහුණු කොට බඳවා ගනිමින් ශක්තිමත් ආරක්ෂක වැඩපිළිවෙළක් ඇතිකිරීමට ගත් එම උත්සාහය ව්‍යර්ථ කෙරුණේ ආණ්ඩුවට ඉන්දියානු රජයෙන් දොස් කියනු ඇති බව සඳහන් කරමිනි. ඇත්ත වශයෙන්ම තමන් බලරහිත කර ඇති බව මේ සිදුවීම්වලින් ජෙනරාල්වරයා වටහා ගන්නට ඇත. ශ‍්‍රී ලංකාවේ සන්නද්ධ හමුදා ශක්තිමත්ව පැවැතීම ඉන්දියාවට මෙන්ම බලයෙන් මත්ව සිටින දේශපාලකයන්ට ද හිසරදයක්ව ඇති බව පැහැදිලිය. මේ අතර ජෙනරාල් සරත් ෆොන්සේකා දේශපාලනයට එන බවට විවිධ ආරංචි පැවැතියද ජනාධිපතිවරණයකට ඔහු එතැයි යන ආරංචිය නිසා ආණ්ඩුව කලබලයට පත්ව ඇතිබව පළමුවරට හෙළිදරව් කරන ලද්දේ ද පසුගිය මැයි 03වැනිදා පළ වූ අප පුවත්පතිනි. ආරක්ෂක මෙහෙයුම් අවසන්ව නොතිබුණු ඒ කාලය වනවිටත් ඉදිරි වසරේ ජනවාරි මාසයේදී ජනාධිපතිවරණය පැවැත්වීම සඳහා ඇතැමුන් විසින් යෝජනා කර තිබිණි. ලබන වසර මැතිවරණ වසරක් බව ජනාධිපතිවරයා ආණ්ඩු පක්ෂයේ පාර්ලිමේන්තු කණ්ඩායම් රැස්වීමේදී ප‍්‍රකාශ කර තිබිණි. බලය බෙදීමේ සැලසුම ජාතික ප‍්‍රශ්නයට විසඳුමක් ලබා දෙන්නේ ඊළඟ ජනාධිපතිවරණයෙන් ලබන අලූත්  ජනවරමකින් බව ජනාධිපතිවරයා ප‍්‍රකාශ කොට තිබිණි. මේ දේශපාලන විසඳුම පිළිබඳ කාරණය ද ජෙනරාල් සරත් ෆොන්සේකා සමග ආණ්ඩුවේ නායකයන් විරසක කිරීමට හේතු විය. 2006 ජනවාරියේදී එවැනි බලය බෙදීමේ විසඳුමකට ඉන්දියාව සමග රහස් ගිවිසුමකට එළැඹී තිබිණි. මින් පෙර මෙම ලිපියෙන්ම හෙළිදරව් කළ ආකාරයට ජෙනරාල් ෆොන්සේකා, විදේශ බලපෑම්වලට නතුවී බෙදුම්වාදයට කප්පම් දීමට ගත් උත්සාහයන් විවේචනය කර ඇත. 2006 ජූලි 21වැනිදා මාවිල්ආරු සොරොව්ව වසා දමමින් මෙරට ජනතාවට විරුද්ධව එල්ටීටීඊය තැබූ පියවර සන්නද්ධ මෙහෙයුමකින් ආපස්සට හැරවීමෙන් පසු සහ සන්නද්ධ ගැටුම්වලට එල්ටීටීඊ සේනාංක සූදානම් කරමින් තිබියදී ආණ්ඩුව ජිනීවා සාකච්ඡා සඳහා යාම ගැන ඔහු බලවත් විරෝධයක් දක්වා තිබිණි. එහෙත් එම පියවර සඳහා ඉදිරියට ගොස් ආපසු සුපුරුදු පරිදි එල්ටීටීඊයේ මුරණ්ඩු මිලිටරිවාදයෙන් ජනතාව සහ සොල්දාදුවන් ජීවිතයෙන් වන්දි ගෙවන විට ආණ්ඩුවට සිය පිළිවෙත වෙනස්කරගන්නවා හැර අන්මඟක් නොවීය. යුද හමුදාවට 60 වසරක් පිරීම වෙනුවෙන් 2009 ඔක්තෝබර් 12 දින පැවැති උත්සවයේදී ඒකාබද්ධ මාණ්ඩලික ප‍්‍රධානී ජෙනරාල් සරත් ෆොන්සේකා මෙසේ සඳහන් කළේය. “ශ‍්‍රී ලංකා හමුදාව ලෝකවාසීන් පවා මවිතයට පත් කරමින් 30 වසරක යුද්ධය අවසන් කළා. එල්ටීටීඊ ත‍්‍රස්තවාදය අවසන් කළා. ඒක කළේ නිකම්ම නිකන් වාසනාව නිසා කියලා කියන්න බෑ. මෙම ජයග‍්‍රහණ ලබාගන්නට හමුදාව විශාල පරිත්‍යාගයන් කැපකිරීම් කළා.” ඒ සමගම ඔහු කළ තවත් ප‍්‍රකාශයකින් කියැවුණේ මෙය තමන් විසින් සන්නද්ධ හමුදාව ආමන්ත‍්‍රණය කෙරෙන අවසන් අවස්ථාව වියහැකි බවයි. ආරක්ෂක සෙබළුන් සමග අදහස් හුවමාරු කරගැනීමට දේශපාලන නායකත්වය තමන් වෙත ලබා දෙන අවස්ථාව මෙම ප‍්‍රකාශය කිරීමෙන් පවා අහිමි විය හැකි බව ජෙනරාල්වරයා දැන සිටින්නට ඇත. ආරක්ෂක සේවා සාමාජිකයන් ‘රණවිරු’ලේබලය යටතේ දේශපාලනයට ගෙන ඒම පටන් ගත්තේ වත්මන් ආණ්ඩුව විසිනි. එසේම යුද ජයග‍්‍රහණයෙන් පසුව ජෙනරාල් ෆොන්සේකා සම්බන්ධයෙන් අනුගමනය කරන්නේ ඔහු කොන්කරන ප‍්‍රතිපත්තියක් බව පැහැදිලිය. ඔහු ක‍්‍රීඩා අමාත්‍යංශ ලේකම් පදවියට පත් කිරීම තුළින් පෙන්නුම් කෙරෙන්නේ ‘ඒකාබද්ධ මාණ්ඩලික ප‍්‍රධානී’තනතුර අමාත්‍යංශ ලේකම්ධුරයක් වැනි පූර්ණකාලීන සේවයක් ඉල්ලා සිටින තනතුරකටත් වඩා අඩු තනතුරක් බවයි. නොඑසේ නම් එතරම් බලතල ඇතැයි කියූ ඒකාබද්ධ මාණ්ඩලික ප‍්‍රධානී තනතුර දරමින් සිටින අයකුට දිනපතා කාර්යාල කටයුතු සහිත නිලයක් දරන්නට ඇරැයුම් කරන අයගේ මොළය පරික්ෂා කර බැලිය යුතුය. ජෙනරාල්වරයා ක‍්‍රීඩා අමාත්‍යංශ ලේකම්ධුරය එක්වරම ප‍්‍රතික්ෂේප කිරීමෙන් පිළිබිඹු වන්නේ දේශපාලන නායකත්වය හා සන්නද්ධ හමුදා ප‍්‍රධානින් අතර පවතින ගැටුම නොවේද? ඇමැතිවරුන්ගේ ප්‍රකාශ දැන් දැන් ආණ්ඩුවේ විවිධ ඇමැතිවරු කරන ප‍්‍රකාශ අනුව, ජෙනරාල්වරයා සම්බන්ධයෙන් පැතිර යන ආරංචිවලින් ආණ්ඩුව මහත් කලබලයකට පත්ව ඇති බව පැහැදිලි වේ. ත‍්‍රස්තවාදය පරදවා රට මුදාගත් යුද නායකයන් දේශපාලනයට ගෙනැවිත් ඔවුන් දේශපාලන අනාථයන් බවට පත් කිරීමේ කුමන්ත‍්‍රණයක් ගැන ජනමාධ්‍ය ඇමැති ලක්ෂ්මන් යාපා විසින් පසුගිය 13වැනිදා ජනමාධ්‍ය අමාත්‍යංශ ශ‍්‍රවණාගාරයේදී පැවැති විශේෂ ප‍්‍රවෘත්ති සාකච්ඡාවේදී අදහස් දක්වා තිබිණි. “දකුණු පළාත් සභාවට සන්ධානයෙන් ඉදිරිපත් කළ රණවිරුවෝ තිදෙනාම ජය ගත්තා. යුද්ධය දිනා ගැනීමට නායකත්වය දුන් රණවිරුවන් දේශපාලනයට ගෙනත් ඔවුන් දේශපාලන අනාථයන් බවට පත් කිරීමේ කුමන්ත‍්‍රනයක් තියෙනව. මේ රණවිරුවන් යුද නායක තනතුරුවලට ගෙනාවේත් ඔවුන්ට නිසි ගෞරවය ලබාදුන්නෙත් අපේ ආණ්ඩුවේ නායකත්වයයි.” මේ ප‍්‍රකාශය අනුව හමුදා නායකයන් ආණ්ඩුවේ දේශපාලන ව්‍යාපෘතියට එකතුවන්නේ නම් ගැටලූවක් නොවන බව කියැවෙයි. වෙනත් පක්ෂවල අපේක්ෂකයන් වන්නට හමුදා නායකයන්ට අවසර නැත්තේ මේ රටේ ඒකාධිපති පාලනයක් පවතින නිසාදැයි කිසිවකුට ප‍්‍රශ්නයක් ඇති විය හැකිය. ක‍්‍රියාන්විතයේ සිටියදී නම් කිසිවකුට දේශපාලනය කළ නොහැකිය. මිලිටරි බලය දෙපැත්ත කැපෙන ආයුධයක් බව දේශපාලනයේ යෙදෙන නොයෙදෙන කාටත් අමුතුවෙන් ඉගැන්විය යුතු නැත. කෙසේ වෙතත් ජෙනරල් ෆොන්සේකා විසින් ශ‍්‍රී ලංකාවේ සෙසු පළාත් ආවරණය කරමින් ‘ජාතික ආරක්ෂක සැලැස්ම’ඉදිරිපත් කරනවිට දේශපාලන නායකයන් එක වචනයෙන් ඇමැතිවරුන්ගේ ප‍්‍රතිචාර එය බැහැර කරන්නට ඇත්තේ එවැනි තේරුමකින් යැයි සිතිය නොහැකිය. මේ ආණ්ඩුව හමුදා නායකයන්ගේ ක‍්‍රියාන්විත කැපවීම සහ ප‍්‍රතිරූප ඔසවා තබමින් එය නිර්ලජ්ජිත ලෙස සිය දේශපාලන වාසිය සඳහා යොදාගත් පසුබිමක මේ ඇමැති ප‍්‍රකාශවල ඇත්තේ ප‍්‍රජාතන්ත‍්‍රවාදී පැවැත්මකට ආණ්ඩුවට ම ඇති භීතියදැයි සැකයක් මතුවේ. ලක්ෂමන් යාපා ඇමැතිවරයා මෙන්ම මර්වින් සිල්වා,ඩිලාන් පෙරේරා සහ සුසිල් පේ‍්‍රමජයන්ත යන ඇමැතිවරුන් සහභාගි වූ ප‍්‍රවෘත්ති සාච්ඡාවකදී ද කෙස් පැලෙන තර්ක ඇදබාමින් කරන ලද ප‍්‍රකාශ දැන් ජනමාධ්‍ය ඔස්සේ ප‍්‍රචාරය වෙමින් තිබේ. මේ නිසා ආණ්ඩුවේ බලධාරින් කලබලවී ඇති ප‍්‍රමාණය තේරුම්ගත හැකිය. ජනාධිපතිවරයා වෙනුවෙන්  ඕනෑම කුණුගොඩකට හොම්බ දමන වර්ගයේ පිනාචාර්යවරයා කියන ආකාරයට යෝධයන් සෙන්පතියන් කළේ ගැමුණුය. යුද්ධයට නායකත්වය දුන්නේ ගැමුණුය. ඒ නිසා ඔහු කියන්නේ මෙම ජයග‍්‍රහනවල සැබෑ ගෞරවය ගැමුණුට යායුතු බවයි. වහෙන් ඔරෝ නැතිව කෙළින් කතාකරන්නටත් මේ පිනාචාර්යවරුන්ට කොන්ද පණ නැත. (ලංකා ඉරිදා සංග්‍රහය)

“This is my last address to Army” – Gen. Sarath Fonseka

“General Sarath Fonseka Chief of Defense Staff addressing officers and men of the Sri Lanka Army at the 60th Army Anniversary Parade in Colombo said it was the last time he was making an address of that nature. He said he has finished his obligations dedicated to the Army.

Speaking at the ceremony Gen. Fonseka said, This may be the last occasion I make an address of this nature to officers and men of the Sri Lanka Army. Although I am still serving in the Army I have finished my obligations dedicated to the Army as I have reached different heights at this time. After serving for 40 years I have already done my share for the Army and I have done this in a historical manner as I gave the leadership for the Army to win the 30 year long war.

According to political analysts this indicates the dissatisfaction over the way Gen. Fonseka is being treated by the President and the government. The contradiction between President Mahinda Rajapaksha and Gen. Sarath Fonseka had come to the surface at the 60th anniversary celebrations of the Army held at BMICH recently. According to several reports that appeared in the media Gen. Fonseka was not happy regarding how he is being treated by the President and the government. There were rumors that he had been offered the post of Secretary to the Sports Ministry which Gen. Fonseka had rejected. “

Rudra, last LTTE rudder in the US

Vishvanathan Rudrakumar, the newly crowned coordinator of the LTTE’s transnational government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) is the antithesis of Velupillai Prabhakaran, the megalomaniac Tamil Tiger leader, whose cult like persona was synonymous with the separatist Tamil struggle for nearly three years.

Rudrakumar came from an urbane, Vellalar family, a major attribute for success in the conservative caste based Jaffna society. “He would have not have been at ease mingling with “Karaivar” boys’’, quipped a family friend referring to Rudrakumar’s absence in the Tamil militancy of the early eighties, when the fervor of Tamil nationalism ran high.

A twist of destiny in the form of the decimation of the top-rung leadership of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had now forced the US based lawyer into the forefront of the separatist Tamil struggle. Yet, until very recently, till the Tiger chieftain met his maker near the Mullaitivu lagoon and his successor KP ended in Colombo in a high drama of extraordinary rendition, Vishvanathan Rudrakumar was merely a fellow traveler of the Eelam project, faithfully following the orders of Prabhakaran.

But, now, he is the senior most surviving LTTE member at large and is reorganizing the LTTE —— and facing an extradition order of the government of Sri Lanka.

His father, Marc Vishwanathan was a celebrated lawyer in the peninsula. He contested the Municipal Polls from the Tamil United Liberation Front, and was elected the Mayor of Jaffna.

The astute old man disassociated himself from the militancy throughout his career, even though his party TULF itself was instigating the nascent Tamil militancy of the day. His wife was a respected school teacher of the Jaffna Hindu Ladies College, the leading girls’ school in the peninsula. She later became the Vice Principal of the school.
The couple had three children, two sons and a daughter. Rudrakumar was the eldest and the most brilliant. The family later migrated to Australia while Rudrakumar moved to the United States.

Rudrakumar attended Jaffna Central College, one of the oldest educational institutions in the country. Jaffna Central College, a Methodist school known for its liberal values was a melting pot. There were a number of Sinhalese as well as Muslim students. One of them, R.K.Premachandra captained the college cricket team in the annual cricket encounter against St John’s College. Premachandra later joined the police and became a Senior Superintendent.

However things had taken a dramatic turn since the carefree sixties. By the time, Rudrakuamar finished high school in the mid seventies Jaffna was in a status of ferment.
Students were at the forefront of the anti government agitation, which did not confine itself to the peninsula and culminated in the police killing of Peradeniya University Medical student Weerasuriya.

Yet the cultural and intellectual life in the citadel of Tamil culture went on largely unhindered. Rudrakumar was a gifted orator and a debater. Many would visit to see him represent his school in regular debating duals with fellow schools in the peninsula. Those were the final years of Jaffna’s vibrant intellectual life. The nascent militancy was spreading its tentacles and a gun culture would soon replace Jaffna’s intellectual life.
But, Rudrakumar hardly had anything to do with the nascent Tamil militancy.

A childhood family friend quipped, it was because “perhaps, because he had little in common with the movement”- euphemism for the plethora of militant Tamil groups used by the Peninsular Tamils in the late seventies and early eighties.

“Those were the days the caste consciousness was still dominant. Rudrakuamar could have found it hard to mingle with Karaiyar caste boys from Velvetithurai.” “After all, militancy was a challenge to Jaffna’s feudal hierarchy, which destroyed it from within”
“But, I can assure you, he was a jovial fellow,” quipped the former friend who requested to remain unnamed.

Political activism

Rudrakumar dodged militancy and left for Colombo. Following the footsteps of the father, he enrolled at the Colombo Law College and graduated as an Attorney at Law. After the infamous anti Tamil pogrom in 1983, he migrated to the United States. However, political activism of Rudrakumar was unheard of till the mid 90s.

It was at that time when the LTTE tapped a new batch of technocrats from the Diaspora Tamils, which included Joe Maheswaran, the former Sidney correspondent of the Sydney Broadcasting Service, Siva Pasupathy, the former Sri Lankan Attorney General, and Rudrakumar. Both, Maheswaran and Rudrakumar represented the LTTE in the peace talks with the Ranil Wickremesimghe Administration. Rudrakumar was a member of the “expert’s panel,” which formulated the now discarded proposal for an Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA).

“The role of the ‘constitutional experts’ in formulating the ISGA was largely symbolic,” said another source which had access to the LTTE at the time. “ISGA was formulated in Kilinochchi by Prabhakaran himself. Thamilselvam communicated to the Diaspora experts the leader’s wish. What they did was putt Prabhakaran’s dictates in legal jargon.”
Rudrakumar was one of the experts in the panel. The ISGA was a rude surprise to the yielding Wickremesinghe Administration, which soon collapsed at the hand of a constitutional coup by President Kumaratunga.

Since then tables have turned. And Mahinda Rajapaksa, Kumaratunga’s successor decimated the LTTE’s military wing —- and in the final decisive battle, made sure that none of the top-leaders of the LTTE would live to fight another day.

Now, with KP in the custody of the Sri Lankan government, Rudrakumar is destined to lead the LTTE for the next stage of the struggle.

He has been appointed as the Coordinator of the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam.
Rudrakumar last week issued a booklet to brief the Tamil Diaspora of the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE).

The booklet describes TGTE as “a political formation to win the freedom of the Tamil people on the basis of their fundamental political principles of Nationhood, Homeland and Right of self-determination.”

It outlines its structure and the strategy. “The TGTE has not been established yet. For the purpose of establishing the TGTE an Executive Committee is in the process of being formed.”

Also, it adds that “activities in regard to the establishment of Working Groups on a country-wide basis are now in progress. “We are incorporating individuals who are willing to join and work in these Groups. Soon details of the Working Groups of each country will be published. The Advisory Committee previously announced will provide advice to the Executive Committees,” he states in the booklet.

“Steps will be taken to prepare electoral registers with the help of people’s organizations with the assistance of an accredited firm. On the basis of such electoral registers, an independent Election Commission conforming to international standards will hold elections to elect representatives to the TGTE.”

“Those representatives will constitute themselves as a Constituent Assembly and draft the constitution for the TGTE with the help of legal experts and suggestions from people’s organizations.”

Extradition

Rudrakumar reneges on the central pillar of the LTTE ideology, which clings to a territorial base. The TGTE concedes territory and many other attributes which were part and parcel of the LTTE’s de-facto state-”The TGTE will not have a territorial base like traditional governments. Enforcement of sovereignty by enacting laws, defense of territory and taxation like traditional governments is not applicable to the TGTE.”

All the above sound wishful thinking, but the government of Sri Lanka is leaving no stone unturned.

The government has called for his extradition. Rudrakumar’s position as the legal advisor of the LTTE, a militant group designated as a Foreign Terrorist group by the State Department makes him liable to arrest under the US Law. However, the US position has been a one of double stranded —— which distinguishes “good terrorists” – loosely translated as Tamil Tigers, Chechans, Uigurs and Kurds etc., and bad terrorists of Global Salafi Jihad.
Three weeks back, Rudrakumar led a delegation of Diaspora Tamils to meet the US Under-Secretary of State for South Asia, Robert O’ Blake. Sri Lankan government lodged a strong protest regarding the meeting with the group, which it described as a group of LTTE front organisations.

We emailed a set of questions to Mr. Rudrakuamar, relating to TGTE and many other issues which would be in the interest of our readers. We had not received a response by the time this edition went to press.

(Lakbima News)

මරාගෙන මැරෙන කොටි කතුන් 2ක්‌ වවුනියා නිවසකින් අල්ලය

එක්‌ තරුණියක්‌ සයනයිඩ් කා නසී : අනෙක්‌ අය අත්අඩංගුවට

ගාල්ල පොලිසියේ විශේෂ කණ්‌ඩායමක්‌ සහ වවුනියාව පොලිසිය ඒකාබද්ධව ඊයේ (22 වැනිදා) දහවල් අත්අඩංගුවට ගනු ලැබූ එල්. ටී. ටී. ඊ. මරාගෙන මැරෙන තරුණියන් දෙදෙනාගෙන් එක්‌ අයකු සයනයිඩ් කා මියගොස්‌ ඇත.

එල්. ටී. ටී. ඊ. යේ මරාගෙන මැරෙන කාන්තාවන් දෙදෙනකු වවුනියාවේ සිටින බවට ගාල්ල පොලිසියට ලැබුණු තොරතුරක්‌ මත ගාල්ල පොලිසියේ උප පොලිස්‌ පරීක්‍ෂක වෙදගෙදර මහතා ඇතුළු නිලධාරීන් පිරිසක්‌ වවුනියාවට පැමිණ තිබේ. වවුනියාව පොලිසියේ දිසා අපරාධ විමර්ශන ඒකකයේ ස්‌ථානාධිපති නාලක ගුණසේකර මහතා ඇතුළු තවත් කණ්‌ඩායමක්‌ වවුනියාව උක්‌කුලංකුලම ප්‍රදේශයට යන විට මරාගෙන මැරෙන එල්. ටී. ටී. ඊ. තරුණියන් දෙදෙනා නිවසක සැඟවී සිටි බව පොලිසිය කියයි.

ඔවුන් දෙදෙනා අත්අඩංගුවට ගත් අවස්‌ථාවේදීම එක්‌ තරුණියක්‌ සයනයිඩ් කා මියගොස්‌ තිබේ. අනෙක්‌ තරුණියගෙන් කළ ප්‍රශ්න කිරීම්වලදී උක්‌කුලංකුලම පල්ලියක්‌ අසල ප්ලාස්‌ටික්‌ බැරල්වල දමා වළලා තිබූ මරාගෙන මැරෙන ඇඳුම් කට්‌ටල තුනක්‌, සී. 4 වර්ගයේ පුපුරණ ද්‍රව්‍ය කිලෝග්‍රෑම් 6 ක්‌, ඩෙටනේටර් 10 ක්‌ සොයා ගැනීමට පොලිසියට හැකි වී තිබේ.

මෙම එල්. ටී. ටී. ඊ, තරුණියන් දෙදෙනා කාලයක්‌ පුරා වවුනියාවේදී සිදු වූ මරාගෙන මැරෙන ත්‍රස්‌තවාදී ක්‍රියා සැලසුම් කළ බවට පොලිසියට තොරතුරු ලැබී ඇති අතර ඔවුන් දෙදෙනා සැඟව සිටි වවුනියාව උක්‌කුලංකුලම ප්‍රදේශයේ නිවස වවුනියාව හිටපු එල්. ටී. ටී. ඊ. පිස්‌තෝල කල්ලියේ නායක නෙරුප්පු නමැත්තාට අයත් බව ද හෙළිවී තිබේ.

දැනට පොලිස්‌ අත්අඩංගුවේ පසුවන එල්. ටී. ටී. ඊ. සාමාජිකාවගෙන් දිගින් දිගටම ප්‍රශ්න කරගෙන යන අතර මියගිය එල්. ටී. ටී. ඊ, කාන්තාවගේ මළසිරුර වවුනියාව පොලිසිය වෙත බාරදී තිබේ.

වවුනියාව පොලිසිය හා ගාල්ල පොලිසියේ නිලධාරීහු සිද්ධිය පිළිබඳව පරීක්‍ෂණ පවත්වාගෙන යති.

යුද විශ්ලේෂකයින්ගේ ග්‍රන්ථවලට වඩා විශේෂිත වෙනසක්‌ චතුරගේ පොතෙන් මා දකිනවා – ආරක්‌ෂක මාණ්‌ඩලික ප්‍රධානි ජෙනරාල් සරත් ෆොන්සේකා

ආරක්‌ෂක හමුදාව උතුරු – නැගෙනහිර ප්‍රදේශවල සංවර්ධන කටයුතු සඳහා ඉදිරියේදී දායක කර ගැනීමට නියමිත බවත්, යුද කාලසීමාවේ අවතැන්වූ පුද්ගලයන් උතුර – නැගෙනහිර ප්‍රදේශවල ඇති බිම් බෝම්බ ඉවත් කර සහතික කිරීමෙන් පසු නැවත පදිංචි කිරීමේ භාරදූර වගකීම ආරක්‌ෂක අංශ වෙත පැවරී ඇති බවත් ආරක්‌ෂක මාණ්‌ඩලික ප්‍රධානී ජෙනරාල් සරත් ෆොන්සේකා මහතා පැවැසීය.

ඒ මහතා එසේ පැවැසුවේ “දිවයින” පුවත්පතේ ප්‍රවෘත්ති කර්තෘවරයකු මෙන්ම මාධ්‍යවේදියකු ද වන චතුර පමුණුව මහතා “දිවයින ඉරිදා සංග්‍රහයට” ලියූ ලිපි එකතුවකින් සම්පාදනය කරන ලද “මව්බිමට ජය” කෘතිය එළිදැක්‌වීමේ උත්සවයේ ප්‍රධාන ආරාධිත අමුත්තා වශයෙන් සහභාගි වෙමිනි.

මෙම කෘතිය එළිදැක්‌වීමේ උත්සවය කොළඹ ජාතික පුස්‌තකාල හා ප්‍රලේඛන සේවා මණ්‌ඩල ශ්‍රවණාගාරයේදී පැවැත්විණි.

චතුර පමුණුව මහතා “මව්බිමට ජය” කෘතියේ පළමු පිටපත ආරක්‌ෂක මාණ්‌ඩලික ප්‍රධානි ජෙනරාල් සරත් ෆොන්සේකා මහතාට පිළිගැන්වීය.

එහිදී තවදුරටත් කතා කළ ආරක්‌ෂක මාණ්‌ඩලික ප්‍රධානී ජෙනරාල් සරත් ෆොන්සේකා මහතා මෙසේ ද කීය.

“ඇත්තටම අද මං සතුටු වෙනවා චතුර පමුණුවගේ “මව්බිමට ජය” නමැති පොත එළිදක්‌වන අවස්‌ථාවට එන්න ලැබීම ගැන. මට හුඟක්‌ හම්බවෙලා තියෙන්නේ යුද විශ්ලේෂකයන්. ඒ අයගේ ග්‍රන්ථ එළිදැක්‌වූ අවස්‌ථාවලටද මම සහභාගි වෙලා තිබෙනවා. නමුත් ඒ ග්‍රන්ථවලට වඩා විශේෂිත වූ වෙනසක්‌ චතුරගේ පොතෙන් දකිනවා. මේක කාලෝචිත ග්‍රන්ථයක්‌.

යුද්ධය නිමාවෙලා මාස හතරකට ආසන්නයි. ජනාධිපතිතුමාගේත්, ආරක්‌ෂක ලේකම්තුමාගේත් නිවැරදි මගපෙන්වීම, නිවැරදි නායකත්වය තුළින් අවුරුදු තිහක්‌ තිස්‌සේ මේ රට වෙලාගෙන තිබුණු කුරිරු ත්‍රස්‌තවාදය නැත්තටම නැති කරන්න හැකිවුණා. මං යුද හමුදාපති ධුරයේ ඉන්නකොට කිව්වා මේ යුද්ධය තවත් හමුදාපතිවරයකුට පවරන්නේ නෑ කියලා. දැන් ඒ දේ ඉටුකර හමාරයි. ඒ සඳහා මටත් ආරක්‌ෂක අංශවලටත් ධෛර්ය ශක්‌තිය ලැබුණේ ජනාධිපතිතුමාගේත්, ආරක්‌ෂක ලේකම්තුමාගේත් ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨ දේශපාලන නායකත්වය නිසයි. මාවිල්ආරුවෙන් පටන් ගත් යුද මානුෂීය මෙහෙයුම නන්දිකඩාල්හිදී ප්‍රභාකරන් නමැති මිනීමරු ත්‍රස්‌තවාදියා නැති කරන අවස්‌ථාව දක්‌වා ඒ ආශිර්වාදය උපදෙස්‌ ලැබුණා.

මේ සියලු යුද ජයග්‍රහණ සඳහා මාධ්‍ය විශාල දායකත්වයක්‌ ලබා දුන් අතර ඇතැම් මාධ්‍ය යුද ජයග්‍රහණ වළක්‌වන විවිධ ප්‍රචාර ගෙන ගියා.

දැන් කොටි ත්‍රස්‌තවාදීන්ව මුළුමනින්ම විනාශ කරලා ඉවරයි. දැන් හුඟක්‌ දෙනා කල්පනා කරනවා ඇති යුද්ධයෙන් පස්‌සේ ආරක්‌ෂක අංශ මොනවද කරන්නේ කියලා දැනගන්න. දැන් රජයේ එකම බලාපොරොත්තුව මේ රට සංවර්ධනය කරන්න. ඒ සංවර්ධනය කරා යන ගමනේදී ආරක්‌ෂක අංශවලට ද වගකීමක්‌ පැවරී තිබෙනවා. ඒ යුද්ධයෙන් විනාශ වූ උතුරු – නැගෙනහිර ප්‍රදේශ සංවර්ධනය කිරීමේ ක්‍රියාවලියට දායකත්වය සපයන්න. උතුරු – නැගෙනහිර සිටි ජනතාව දැන් බොහෝ පිරිසක්‌ ඉන්නේ අවතැන් කඳවුරුවල. මේ අය නැවත පදිංචි කරවීමට අවශ්‍යයි.

එම ප්‍රදේශවල කොටි ත්‍රස්‌තවාදීන් වළ දැමූ බිම් බෝම්බ ඉවත්කිරීමේ කාර්ය ආරක්‌ෂක අංශ වෙත පැවරී තිබෙනවා. අද විවිධ පිරිස්‌ කිඹුල් කඳුළු හෙළමින් බොරුවට කෑගහනවා. උතුරු නැගෙනහිර ජනතාව ඉක්‌මනින් ඒ ප්‍රදේශවල පදිංචි කරවන්නේ නෑ කියලා. මං ඒ අයට කියන්න කැමතියි ජනතාව නැවත ඒ ප්‍රදේශවල පදිංචි කරවන්න පුළුවන් වෙන්නේ වළ දමා තිබෙන බිම් බෝම්බ ඉවත්කර ආරක්‌ෂක අංශ සහතික කිරීමෙන් පසුව බව. ආරක්‌ෂක පියවරවල්වලට බාධා නොවන අයුරින් තමයි අපි ඒ පුද්ගලයන් නැවත පදිංචි කිරීම් කළයුත්තේ”

පාරිසරික කටයුතු පිළිබඳ අමාත්‍ය පාඨලී චම්පික රණවක මහතා(

“මේ රටේ ජනතාව අද යම්කිසි නිදහසක්‌ භුක්‌ති විඳිනවා නම් ඒ අපේ රටේ වීරෝදාර රණවිරුවන් නිසා. අවුරුදු තිහක්‌ මේ රටම ම්ලේච්ඡ කොටි ත්‍රස්‌තවාදයෙන් වෙලාගෙන තිබුණා. කොහොම හෝ අද ඒ ම්ලේච්ඡයින් සදහටම මේ රටින් පලවා හැර තිබෙනවා. ජනාධිපතිතුමාගේ නිවැරදි දේශපාලන නායකත්වය නිසයි මේ තරම් ඉක්‌මනට යුද්ධය නිමා කිරීමට හැකිවුණේ.“

දිවයින ප්‍රධාන කර්තෘ ගාමිණී සුමනසේකර මහතා – ප්‍රභාකරන්ට මහත්තයා යෑයි නොලියූ පෑන් තිබුණේ “දිවයිනේ” අපටයි.

ත්‍රස්‌තවාදය මුලිනුපුටා දැමීමට නම් වේළුපිල්ලේ ප්‍රභාකරන් මෙන්ම ඔහුගේ ජනඝාතක හමුදාව විනාශ කළ යුතුය යන ආස්‌ථානයෙහි ස්‌ථිරව සිටි ප්‍රමුඛ මාධ්‍ය ආයතනයක්‌ නම් “දිවයින” යි. “දිවයින” හා අයිලන්ඩ් පත්‍රවල කිසිවෙක්‌ ප්‍රභාකරන්ට මහත්තයා හෝ මිස්‌ටර් ප්‍රභාකරන් කීවේ නෑ. එහෙම නොකීවා පමණක්‌ නොව ප්‍රභාකරන් ජනඝාතක, ජනපීඩක ෆැසිස්‌ට්‌වාදී වර්ගවාදී සාහසිකයෙක්‌ බව ලිවීමට තරම් “දිවයිනේ” අපට ශක්‌තියක්‌ තිබුණා.

ප්‍රභාකරන්ගේ නම අසා කකුල් වෙව්ලූ ඇතැම් නිවට නායකයන් හමුදාව දුබල කරද්දී “දිවයින” ඒ හමුදාව සමඟ සිටියා. ඔවුහු අප වෙනුවෙන් දිවි පිදුහ විශේෂාංගය අප පටන් ගත්තා. රට වෙනුවෙන් දිවි දුන් විරු දරුවන් ඇගැයීමට අපි පෙරමුණ ගනිද්දී අපට අවි ජාවාරම්කරුවන් කීවා. ජාතිවාදීන් කීවා, වර්ගවාදීන් කීවා. එහෙම කිය කියා තවලම් ගියා. සුදු නෙළුම් ව්‍යාපාර ගෙනිච්චා. ඒත් ඒ හැම දෙනාම කළේ ප්‍රභාකරන් පිම්බවීම. ඊළමට උදව්දීම බව අපි පැහැදිලිව කීවා. ඇන්ජීඕ කාරයො විතරක්‌ නෙවෙයි මාධ්‍ය මිතුරොත් “දිවයින” ජාතිවාදී හොරණෑවක්‌ බව කීවා.

ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතාගේ සම්ප්‍රාප්තියත් සමඟ “දිවයින” ඉදිරිපත් කළ මතයට පිළිගැනීමක්‌ ලැබුණ . දේශපාලන නායකත්වයේ අලුත් පිබිදීම ප්‍රභාකරන් පමණක්‌ නොව ඔහුගේ දෙස්‌ විදෙස්‌ මිත්‍ර සමාගම් කළඹවන්නක්‌ වුණා. ඒ විජයග්‍රහණය මව්බිමට ලබා දුන්න. අමිල මෙහෙවරක්‌ කළ හමුදා අංශයන්ට නායකත්වය දුන් ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්‍ෂ ආරක්‌ෂක ලේකම්තුමාට වගේම මේ අභීත සෙන්පතියන්ට අපි සදා ණයගැතියි. ජෙනරාල් සරත් ෆොන්සේකා සෙන්පතියන්ට අයෝමය ශක්‌තියත්, බලයක්‌ ලැබුණා. මාවිල්ආරු සිට නන්දිකඩාල් කලපුව දක්‌වා ගිය ඒ ගමන ලෙයින් රුධිරයෙන් ඉතිහාසය ලිවීමේ අධිෂ්ඨාන පාරමිතාවක්‌ වූවා. මේ වීරයන්ට මතු මතුව බිහිවන පරම්පරාවල් ණයයි. ඔවුන් රටට දිනා දුන් දෙවන නිදහස අර්ථවත් කිරීමේ වගකීම අද ජාතියට පැවරී තිබෙනවා.

චතුර පමුණුව වැනි මාධ්‍යවේදීන් සිය තාරුණ්‍යය ප්‍රකම්පිත කළ ත්‍රස්‌තවාදයට එරෙහිව ලීවේ මරණය හිස උඩ තබාගෙනයි. ඔවුන්ට තිබුණේ ජාතික ප්‍රාර්ථනා සුවඳ දෙන ප්‍රාර්ථනා. ඇන්. ජී. ඕ. සල්ලි නැති, පොදු ජනතාවගේ දුක කඳුළ දැනුණු ජාතියේ රිද්මය දැනුණු චතුර වගේ තරුණයන් අද මා සමඟ ඉන්නේ. මට ආඩම්බරයි ඔවුන් ගැන.

වීරෝදාර සෙන්පතිතුමනි, මේ බිමේ ඔබගේ විරුවන්ගේ ලෙය ගලාගියේ කොතරම් දැයි මා දන්නේ නෑ. අපට ජීවිතයක්‌ දීමට ඔබත් ඔබගේ සගයිනුත් කැප වූවා. එහෙම කළ හැක්‌කේ අදීන මනසක්‌ සහිත විශිෂ්ටයන්ටයි. ඔබ මේ ලක්‌ මවගේ ණය ගෙවූ උදාර සෙන්පතියෙක්‌. මේ ග්‍රන්ථය ඔබට පිදෙන්නේ ඒ නිසයි. ඔබ මෙහි විශේෂ අමුත්තා වන්නේ ඒ නිසයි. ඔබ වැනි විරුවන් සමඟ ඔවුන්ගේ සුසුම් සමඟ මේ ශාලාව තුළ රැඳීමත් මට මහත් අභිමානයක්‌.

“දිවයින” ඇරැඹූ ගමනේ එක්‌ ඵලයක්‌ තමා චතුර ලියූ මේ පොත. “දිවයින” ට ඒ ගමන යන්නට දිරි දුන් තවත් රැසක්‌ ඉන්නවා. විශේෂයෙන් උපාලි පුවත්පත් සමාගමේ සභාපතිනිය ලක්‌මණී වෙල්ගම මැතිනිය, අපගේ කළමනාකාර අධ්‍යක්‍ෂ නිමල් වෙල්ගම මහත්මා ඒ වගේම මට පෙර “දිවයින” මෙහෙයවූ ඒ ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ කතුවරුන් සමකාලීන සගයන් ඒ හැම දෙනාම මෙහිදී සිහිපත් කළ යුතුය ි.

මෙම අවස්‌ථාවට මහරගම චන්ද්‍රසේකරාරාමයේ ශාස්‌ත්‍රපති මොලමුරේ නන්දාරාම හිමිපාණන් ඇතුළු මහා සංඝරත්නයද, බස්‌නාහිර පළාත් සභා අමාත්‍ය උදය ගම්මන්පිල, “අයිලන්ඩ්” පුවත්පතේ ප්‍රධාන කර්තෘ ප්‍රභාත් සහබන්දු, සරසවි ප්‍රකාශන අධිපති එච්. ඩී. ප්‍රේමසිරි යන මහත්වරුන්ද, යුද හමුදා නිලධාරීන්ද , මාධ්‍යවේදීන්ද ඇතුළු විශාල පිරිසක්‌ සහභාගි වූහ.

දිගු දුර විහිදුම් බළකාය පාවාදීමේ සිද්ධිය වසර තුනහමාරක්‌ යට ගැහුණේ කෙසේද?

හිටපු සහකාර පොලිස්‌ අධිකාරි කුලසිරි උඩුගම්පොල

දිගුදුර විහිදුම් බළකාය අත්අඩංගුවට ගැනීමේ මෙහෙයුමේදී උඩුගම්පොල නමැත්තා ක්‍රියා කළේ කෙසේද යන්න වැඩිදුරටත් හෙළිවී ඇත. මේ පොලිස්‌ නිලධාරියා බලයෙන් උමතු වී සිටි බව සනාථ වූවේ අතුරුගිරියේ චාරිකාවක යෙදෙන බව එවකට මහනුවර ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ පොලිaස්‌ අධිකාරිවරයාට හා නුගේගොඩ ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ පොලිස්‌ අධිකාරිට නොදැන්වීමයි. මේ හැර මෙකී කණ්‌ඩායම අත්අඩංගුවට ගත් බව මානව හිමිකම් කොමිසමට පවා දැන්වීමට උඩුගම්පොල ක්‍රියා කළේ නැත. දිගුදුර විහිදුම් බළකාය අත්අඩංගුවට ගැනීමේ ෙද්‍රdaහී ක්‍රියාව සිදුවී මේ වන විට වසර 7 1/2 ගත වී ඇත. ජාතික පොලිස්‌ කොමිසම විසින් උඩුගම්පොලට එරෙහි චෝදනා විස්‌සක්‌ අඩංගු චෝදනා පත්‍රයක්‌ යවා ඇති අතර චූදිතද ඊට ප්‍රතිචාර එවා ඇතැයි පොලිස්‌ මූලස්‌ථාන ආරංචි මාර්ග කියා සිටියි. එසේනම් මෙරට ආරක්‍ෂක හමුදා ක්‍ෂේත්‍රය තුළ මහත් ආන්දෝළනයකට ලක්‌වූ මේ සිදුවීම ගැන ජාතික පොලිස්‌ කොමිසම කඩිනමින් ක්‍රියා නොකිරීම මවිතයක්‌ නොවන්නේද.

මිලේනියම් සිටි දුරදිග මෙහෙයුම පාවාදීමේ ලිපිගොනුව අතුරුදන්. සැප්තැම්බර් මස 13 “දිවමිණ.”

මෙරට ඉතිහාසයේ සිදුවූ විශාලතම පාවාදීම අතුරුගිරියේ මිලේනියම් සිටි නිවාස සංකීර්ණයේ ස්‌ථානගතව සිටි දිගුදුර විහිදුම් බළකාය අත්අඩංගුවට ගැනීමයි. 2002 ජනවාරි 2 වැනිදා මහනුවර නිල සුනඛ අංශයේ සහකාර පොලිස්‌ අධිකාරි කුලසිරි උඩුගම්පොල තමන් උසස්‌ නිලධාරීන්ටද නොදන්වා අතුරුගිරියට පැමිණ සිදුකළ මෙම ක්‍රියාදාමය නිසා මෙතෙක්‌ රහසිගතව ක්‍රියාත්මක වූ ලෝන් රේඡ් ගෲප් හෙවත් දිගුදුර විහිදුම් බළකාය මෙහෙයවන්නේ කවුරුන්ද හා ඊට සම්බන්ධ ද්‍රවිඩ චර පුරුෂයන්ගේ රහස්‍යතාව හෙළිවිය.

එහෙත් දැන් සිදුවන්නේ කුමක්‌ද?

පොලිස්‌ මූලස්‌ථානයේ විනය හා කල්ක්‍රියා පිළිබඳ නියෝජ්‍ය පොලිස්‌පතිවරයා ජාතික පොලිස්‌ කොමිසමේ ලේකම්ගේ චෝදනා 20 ක්‌ යටතේ චෝදනා පත්‍ර කෙටුම්පත්කර මූලික විමර්ශන ලිපි ගොනුද සමග 2006 පෙබරවාරි 28 වැනිදා යොමුකරනු ලැබීය. මොහුට චෝදනා පත්‍ර භාරදී ආයතන සංග්‍රහය ප්‍රකාර විනය පරීක්‍ෂණයන් පවත්වන්නැයි නැවතත් නිර්දේශ කර තිබුණි. එසේම මේ වසරේ ජුනි මාසයේදී යළිත් වරක්‌ විනය හා කල්ක්‍රියා නියෝජ්‍ය පොලිස්‌පතිවරයා උඩුගම්පොලට එරෙහිව විනය පරීක්‍ෂණය කොළඹ සහකාර පොලිස්‌ අධිකාරී කාර්යාලයේ පැවැත්වීමට යෝජනා කළේය.

එහෙත් ජාතික පොලිස්‌ කොමිසම ඒ ගැන කඩිනමින් ක්‍රියා කළේද? දැන් පොලිස්‌ කොමිසම අහෝසි වී තිබේ. උඩුගම්පොලට චෝදනා පත්‍රයන් යෑවූ කොමිසම මෙතෙක්‌ කල් එනම් වසර 3 1/2 ක්‌ කුමක්‌ කළේද යන්න බරපතල ප්‍රශ්නයකි.

පොලිස්‌ මූලස්‌ථාන ආරංචි මාර්ග දක්‌වන අන්දමට මේ පාවාදීමට අදාළ කොමිසමේ ඇති ලිපිගොනුව පවා එහි නිලධාරිනියක්‌a විසින් වසා දමා ඇතැයි වාර්තා වේ.

මෙහිදී නැඟෙන ප්‍රශ්නය නම් උඩුගම්පොලට එරෙහිව කපිතාන් නිලාම්ගේ දිගුදුර විහිදුම් බලකාය පැවරු මානව හිමිකම් නඩුවේ තීන්දුව පවා 2004 ජනවාරි 30 වැනිදා ප්‍රකාශයට පත්වීමත් පොලිස්‌ කොමිසම ක්‍රියා නොකිරීමත්ය.

මේ මානව හිමිකම් නඩුව ඉල්ලා අස්‌කරගන්නා ලෙස ඉල්ලමින් එකී දිගුදුර විහිදුම් කණ්‌ඩායමට දැඩි බලපෑම් එල්ල වුවත් ඔව්හු ඊට එකඟ වූයේ නැත. මෙහිදී අධිකරණය තීරණය කළේ සෑම පාර්ශ්වකරුවකුටම රුපියල් 750000 ක්‌ බැගින් ගෙවිය යුතු බවත්ය උඩුගම්පොලද රුපියල් 50000 බැගින් ගෙවිය යුතු යයි අධිකරණය විසින් නියෝග කෙරුණි. දිගුදුර විහිදුම් බලකාය අත්අඩංගුවට ගැනීමත් සමග කොටි විසින් ද්‍රවිඩ බුද්ධි කණ්‌ඩායමක්‌ ඝාතනය කෙරුණි. මේ එම ගඩාපි. 2002 ජනවාරි විද්‍යාදරන් හෙවත් නිකී, 2002 පෙබරවාරි 9 කැලරි හෙවත් ගඩාපි, 2002 ජුලි 22 අරින්ජාන් හෙවත් යමින්ද රාජන්, 2002 දෙසැම්බර් ගනේෂමූර්ති හෙවත් නිලන රාජන්, 2003 ජනවාරි 3 නාසියර් හෙවත් පුලේන්ද්‍රරාජා, 2003 මාර්තු 18 රගුපන් හෙවත් රගු, 2003 අප්‍රේල් 13 රංජන් හෙවත් වර්ධන්, 2003 අප්‍රේල් 26 අශෝන් දේවරාජා, 2003 මැයි 21 මාස්‌ටර් හෙවත් කුමාර් පෙරුමාල්, 2002 අගෝස්‌තු 14 දේවදාස්‌, 2002 දෙසැම්බර් 2 අසිස්‌, 2003 අප්‍රේල් 23 යශෝධරන්, 2003 මැයි 19 සූරියන්, 2003 අගෝස්‌තු 3 රිල්වාන්, 2003 අගෝස්‌තු 8 ශන්මුගරාජා, 2003 සැප්තැම්බර් 14 සබාරත්නම්, 2004 ජනවාරි 31 යෝගරාජා හෙවත් එලොට්‌ මොහාන්.

සහකාර පොලිස්‌ අධිකාරි උඩුගම්පොල විසින් දිගුදුර විහිදුම් කණ්‌ඩායම අත්අඩංගුවට ගැනීමෙන් පමණක්‌ නතර වූයේ නැත. ඔහු එවකට යුද හමුදාපතිවූ ලයනල් බලගල්ලේට හා බුද්ධි ප්‍රධානි කපිල හෙන්දා විතාරනට එරෙහිවද නඩු පවරනු ලැබීය. එකල කොටින්ගේ වෙබ් අඩවියක මෙලෙස සඳහන් විය. “ද්‍රවිඩයන් ඝාතනය කිරීමට යොදවා තිබූ කණ්‌ඩායමක සුලමුල දැන් අනාවරණය වී ඇත. මේ පිළිබඳව පැවැති විශේෂ ජනාධිපති කොමිසමේදී උඩුගම්පලගේ ක්‍රියාදාමය අනාවරණය විය. “තමා” දිගුදුර විහිදුම් බළකාය රැඳී සිටි නිවස වැටලීමට පැමිණියේ අධිකරණ නියෝගයක්‌ මත යයි උඩුගම්පොල පැවසුවත් එම නියෝගය ඔහු කිසි විටෙක පෙන්නුම් කළේ නැත.

දිගුදුර විහිදුම් බළකාය අත්අඩංගුවට ගැනීමේ මෙහෙයුමේදී උඩුගම්පොල නමැත්තා ක්‍රියා කළේ කෙසේද යන්න වැඩිදුරටත් හෙළිවී ඇත. මේ පොලිස්‌ නිලධාරියා බලයෙන් උමතු වී සිටි බව සනාථ වූවේ අතුරුගිරියේ චාරිකාවක යෙදෙන බව එවකට මහනුවර ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ පොලිaස්‌ අධිකාරිවරයාට හා නුගේගොඩ ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ පොලිස්‌ අධිකාරිට නොදැන්වීමයි. මේ හැර මෙකී කණ්‌ඩායම අත්අඩංගුවට ගත් බව මානව හිමිකම් කොමිසමට පවා දැන්වීමට උඩුගම්පොල ක්‍රියා කළේ නැත. දිගුදුර විහිදුම් බළකාය අත්අඩංගුවට ගැනීමේ ෙද්‍රdaහී ක්‍රියාව සිදුවී මේ වන විට වසර 7 1/2 ගත වී ඇත. ජාතික පොලිස්‌ කොමිසම විසින් උඩුගම්පොලට එරෙහි චෝදනා විස්‌සක්‌ අඩංගු චෝදනා පත්‍රයක්‌ යවා ඇති අතර චූදිතද ඊට ප්‍රතිචාර එවා ඇතැයි පොලිස්‌ මූලස්‌ථාන ආරංචි මාර්ග කියා සිටියි. එසේනම් මෙරට ආරක්‍ෂක හමුදා ක්‍ෂේත්‍රය තුළ මහත් ආන්දෝළනයකට ලක්‌වූ මේ සිදුවීම ගැන ජාතික පොලිස්‌ කොමිසම කඩිනමින් ක්‍රියා නොකිරීම මවිතයක්‌ නොවන්නේද.

මෙහිදී අතුරුගිරිය මිලේනියම් සිටි දිගු දුර විහිදුම් බළකාය අත්අඩංගුවට ගැනීමට වගකිවයුතු කුලසිරි උඩුගම්පොල බේරා ගැනීම සඳහා එදා සිටි රජය දැඩි ලෙස උත්සාහ කළේය.

උඩුගම්පොලගේ ඥතියකු රුවන් ජයවර්ධන යන අන්වර්ථ නාමයෙන් දිගුදුර විහිදුම් බලකාය අත්අඩංගුවට ගැනීම සාධාරණීකරණය කිරීමටද උත්සාහ ගත් නමුත් ඒ සියලු උත්සාහයන් අසාර්ථක විය. මෙහිදී නැඟෙන ප්‍රශ්නය නම් රටේ හමුදාපතිත් බුද්ධි අංශ ප්‍රධානියාත් අධිකරණයට ගෙන යමින් අතිශය රහස්‌ගත බළකායක අනන්‍යතාවය හෙළි කිරීමට වගකිවයුතු පොලිස්‌ නිලධාරියකු පිළිබඳව පොලිස්‌ කොමිසම තම කටයුතු ප්‍රමාද කර ඇති බව සක්‌සුදක්‌ සේ පැහැදිලිය. මේ නිසා ස්‌වාධීන යයි හඳුන්වන මෙම පොලිස්‌ කොමිසමකින් ඇති ප්‍රතිඵලය කුමක්‌ද යන්න ජනතාවට ප්‍රශ්නයකි.

මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් පොලිස්‌ කොමිසමේ බලධාරීන් කුමක්‌ පැවසුවත් එය නිදහසට කරුණක්‌ නොවේ. මෙරට නීතිය චෝදනාවන්ට ලක්‌ වූ පොලිස්‌ භටයකුට හා සහකාර පොලිස්‌ අධිකාරිවරයකු යනුවෙන් දෙවිධියකට ක්‍රියාත්මක නොවේ. එසේ නම් දිගුදුර විහිදුම් බළකාය පාවාදීමට මුල් වූ පොලිස්‌ නිලධාරියාට එරෙහිව ක්‍රියාත්මක වීම ප්‍රමාද වූයේ කෙසේද?

මෙය ජනාධිපති සහ ආරක්‍ෂක ලේකම්ගේ දැඩි අවධානයට යොමුවිය යුතු කරුණකි.

How brave 8 man teams helped to overwelme the impregnable Muhamalai LTTE defence Line

(Rivira)