A group of military policemen were rehearsing a top secret drill last Monday with their Provost Marshal, Brigadier Jagath Wijesiri, at their headquarters in Narahenpita.
The questions the men raised and the answers they received showed it was a delicate operation. Various methods of dealing with their quarry played out. That included how to wrest control of him when seated or when he is standing.
It was just past 9 p.m. that night when Brigadier Wijesiri and his men set out. Accompanying him were nearly 200 armed troops from the Operations Command, Colombo led by their commander Major General Sumith Manawaduge. Also on hand were a team of detectives from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). Troops spread out to seal off all roads leading to Rajakeeya Mawatha, the road opposite Royal College.
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| The scene outside Gen. Fonseka’s campaign office at Rajakeeya Mawatha soon after he was forcibly taken away by the Military Police |
Soldiers in full battle dress and green berets took up positions in formation right across Rajakeeya Mawatha on both sides (Munidasa Kumaratunga Mawatha-Sir Ernest de Silva Mawatha- Rajakeeya Mawatha junction and the Havelock Road end) with their guns in readiness across their chests. Three buses were stationed behind them across the road to prevent any 'gate-crashers'. It was ironic that this scene had to blend with some streamers across Rajakeeya Mawatha in Buddhist colours in connection with a pirith ceremony scheduled for the following (Tuesday) night at Royal College to mark the school's 175th anniversary.
The two senior Army officers and the military policemen walked to premises number 1/3, a large two-storied house. That was the headquarters from where retired General Sarath Fonseka ran his campaign for the January 26Presidential Election. President Mahinda Rajapaksa trounced him. However, he continued to use the premises for the April 8 parliamentary elections.
At the entrance, the military policemen and CID detectives met with a group from the Ministerial Security Division (MSD). They were personal security detail of parliamentarians Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) leader Rauff Hakeem and National Democratic Front (NDF) leader Mano Ganeshan. Military police saw two of them trying to ascend the staircase urgently. Evidently they wanted to warn those upstairs about the uninvited visitors. They were stopped. All of them were grouped into a corner area. The military policemen disarmed them. Thus, they ensured there would be no armed threat when they walked upstairs. Then they had switched off the CCTV and taken away the recording equipment.
Gen. (retd.) Fonseka was in his office room in the upper floor. He was at a discussion on the upcoming parliamentary elections with Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) leader, Somawansa Amerasinghe, his party parliamentarian Sunil Hadunnetti, Hakeem and Ganeshan. Though not official then, last week's Sunday Times front-page lead story that the UNP would contest under the elephant symbol (together with willing allies of the United National Front (UNF) had triggered off discussions in Opposition circles. In this backdrop, the five were discussing the scenario that will unfold at the parliamentary elections. Little did Gen. (retd.) Fonseka realise an entirely different scenario was unfolding just outside his office room and would encompass him soon.
Brigadier Wijesiri and the military policemen walked in. He told the three former MPs and Amerasinghe to leave the room. They refused. He read out parts of a Charge Sheet and said Gen. (retd.) Fonseka and his personal secretary, a retired Major S.H.A. (Senaka) Silva, were to be arrested. The four others present were unable to discern what was read out except the reference to the arrest. Entering the office room then was Major General Manawaduge.
When he was Commander of the Army, then Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka had transferred then Colonel Wijesiri, former Provost Marshal, as Commandant of the Transit Camp in Trincomalee. He had appointed Brig. Bimal Dias who has been sent on compulsory retirement as revealed in these columns last week. Then Col. Wijesiri was accused of transporting a cow in an Army vehicle. He petitioned the Supreme Court. He complained that he had been ordered to retire on grounds that he had reached his maximum mandatory period of service in his rank and was refused a promotion. The Court upheld his plea that his promotion, that had been withheld, be restored. He was then promoted to the rank of Brigadier. He told the Supreme Court in his petition that he had a vow to release a cow from slaughter at a temple in Nawagamuwa. This was to pray that he be blessed with a child. It was done and the cow was given to a man in Kurunegala to be cared for. It was taken there in an Army truck.
Major General Manawaduge was Director Plans at Army Headquarters when then Lt. Gen. Fonseka was Commander of the Army. He was later moved to the Wanni as General Officer Commanding (GOC) 57 Division. After differences of opinion over operational matters with the Commander, he was shifted from the 'command' stream to the 'common' stream. In the 'command' stream, officers are tasked to command combat units and other higher formations. Those in the 'common' stream, however, hold positions that are largely administrative. With the retirement of Gen. Fonseka, Maj. Gen. Manawaduge, who was Area Commander, Kandy was placed in charge of Operations Command, Colombo (OCC). Brig. Wijesiri took over as Provost Marshal, the title for the head of the Military Police, just two weeks ago.
The four politicians watched whilst Gen. (retd.) Fonseka argued with the two Army officers. He said he could not be arrested by the Army since he was a civilian. He wanted the Police. Maj. Gen. Manawaduge was to tell him that the Police (meaning the CID detectives) were downstairs. He said, "Sir, I am carrying out orders. Please come." Gen. (retd.) Fonseka was angry and resisted. It sparked off a heated exchange of words, some of them unprintable.
One of the officers had started reading a charge sheet, but according to Hakeem, Maj. Gen. Manawaduge had said "there is no time to be reading things here, get hold of him and carry him". Military policemen were ordered to take Fonseka into custody. "Magey Anghata atha thiyanna epa," (Don't touch me) Gen. (retd.) Fonseka exhorted. Soon, the military policemen held the 59-year-old former Army Commander by his hands and legs and carried him down the stairs and bundled him into a van. Also arrested and handcuffed was his personal secretary Silva.
Silva also had insisted that he was a civilian and couldn't be arrested by the soldiers, to no avail. Mano Ganeshan had been asked by Amarasinghe and Hakeem to lie low. Hakeem had told the men not to touch him. "There will be consequences if you touch me", he had said. In an affidavit produced in the Supreme Court, Hakeem said that the politicians had been locked up in the premises. He said that staff had said they had seen Fonseka being dragged along the ground. The van drove off escorted by Army vehicles. Military police personnel continued in the meanwhile searching every room in the premises.
When that ended, the four politicians found they had been locked up in the premises for some 45 minutes. The gates outside had been locked by those who came. They began using their mobile phones to alert the media. When the media arrived they were to witness a room where clearly there had been a tussle. Few window panes were broken, chairs and tea cups toppled, and a shorteats tray upset. The name-tag of an officer had been ripped off and was on the floor. The room is being kept the same way by Fonseka's aides to show what happened that night. In the meantime, the soldiers stationed there forcibly restrained the media personnel who had come to cover the event and took away the chips from their cameras.
That was how, an Army officer for 40 years, hailed only eight months ago as a war hero and the "best Army Commander in the world" was arrested by a unit that he once commanded. This naturally was the most humiliating moment for retired General Sarath Fonseka. If he had escaped death from the hands of Tiger guerrillas many a time, saving his life miraculously following a suicide bomb attack inside Army Headquarters in April 2006, he could not escape arrest from those who were once his own men. A celebrated patriot yesterday had become a traitor today. It was karmic for the former Army Commander who had publicly branded many others including those in the media as traitors.
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| President Rajapaksa and Oppostion Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe departing after theirbreakfast talk which largely focused on the release of Gen. Fonseka |
Whilst 'Operation Fonseka' was under way at Rajakeeya Mawatha, CID detectives were conducting one on their own. They had launched a search at the rented residence off Queen's Road occupied by Gen. Fonseka and his wife, Anoma. They were on the lookout for a service issue revolver that was in the retired General's possession. Having found it, they began recording a statement from Anoma. It was midnight.
News about the arrest had spread. Sri Lanka Freedom Party (Mahajana Wing) leader Mangala Samaraweera arrived there in the company of Ravi Karunanayake, former UNP Colombo district parliamentarian. An irate Samaraweera, who saw Anoma making a statement to the CID could not control his emotions. "Stop making statements to Idi Amin's hirelings," he shouted. An aide hurriedly walked in and took Samaraweera away.
UNF (and UNP) leader Ranil Wickremesinghe was in India. His deputy, Karu Jayasuriya, telephoned him at Room 802 at Taj Palace Hotel on Sardar Patel Marg in New Delhi's diplomatic enclave and gave him the news. Wickremesinghe said he would cut short his visit and return to Colombo.
By Tuesday morning, whilst awaiting his leader, Jayasuriya had agreed with other constituent partners of the UNF to issue a joint statement. Besides him, it was signed by Somawansa Amerasinghe (JVP), Rauff Hakeem (SLMC), Mano Ganeshan (NDF) and Mangala Samaraweera (SLFP - Mahajana Wing). Here are excerpts from the joint statement they issued:
"….We believe this act is one of vengeance aimed at punishing Gen. Fonseka for daring to contest the presidential election held last month, challenging the incumbent. The arrest follows a fortnight of intense post-poll violence unleashed by government supporters and sweeping moves to purge the government service and the armed forces of would-be opposition supporters. Gen. Fonseka's arrest marks the climax of this unprecedented witch-hunt of the opposition in the election aftermath and we condemn this dictatorial and anti-democratic move in the strongest possible terms.
"The military arrest of Gen. Fonseka who is a retired army official and therefore a civilian is not only unlawful but barbaric and extrajudicial and is a clear sounding of the death knell for democracy in this country. We have good reason to believe that the extrajudicial arrest of Gen. Fonseka may be followed up with assassination while in custody, on a trumped-up charge that he was attempting to escape or attack. Therefore we demand that the government ensures the safety and security of Gen. Sarath Fonseka, the Army Commander who led our troops to victory over the LTTE less than a year ago. How can the government treat a war hero and a Commander they once glorified so vividly? In this despicable manner, today the "world's best Army Commander" in the words of Defence Secretary has been arrested and dragged off by his feet like a common criminal. President Mahinda Rajapaksa campaigned on a platform of gratitude but he has proved today that he himself does not know the meaning of the word…
"We, the joint opposition, call upon the people to rise up against this injustice and let your voices be heard. They may have the might, but we persist in holding the numbers. It is only unity and popular support that can pose any kind of threat to this dictatorial administration. We urge all those who believe in the need to keep democracy alive in Sri Lanka to join us and rally against this ruling junta and do whatever it takes to protect our motherland from destruction. In the past, Sarath Fonseka and his soldiers fought in the blood drenched battlefields of this country to keep us safe. The time has come for us to rise up and return the favour….."
Gen. Fonseka's arrest did leave room for some justifiable criticism. His wife Anoma complained on Tuesday morning that she was neither informed of her husband's arrest nor was she aware of his whereabouts. Hence, she was unable to give him medicine needed daily for the injuries he suffered during the 2006 suicide bomb attack. She appealed to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). That the news of the arrest and the official declaration he is held in an annexe at Navy Headquarters in Fort came during a news conference at the Media Centre for National Security (MCNS) gave it a different flavour. None of the other major arrests or even the death of Tiger guerrilla leader Velupillai Prabhakaran were first announced at a news conference. The official news of Gen. Fonseka's arrest came nearly 18 hours after it was made.
Gen. Fonseka had to remain in the same clothes he wore on Monday till late that Tuesday evening. It was only then that Anoma and her attorney, President's Counsel Wijedasa Rajapaksa, were allowed to visit the retired General. They took a change of clothing and food. He had refused to eat meals provided by Naval authorities until then. The retired General had also sought to see his regular doctor and had angrily rejected a move by a Navy doctor to examine him. Anoma has said she was being allowed two visits of half an hour's duration each day.
As revealed exclusively in last week's front-page report of the Sunday Times, Gen. Fonseka will face charges under a military court if a preliminary inquiry finds there is sufficient evidence against him. The inquiry is proceeding on several counts of conspiracy to overthrow the Government and an alleged attempt to assassinate President Rajapaksa. This follows consultations the investigating arms - the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and the Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) -- held with Attorney General Mohan Peiris. Besides a Military Court, Gen. Fonseka also faces indictment before criminal courts on a number of other alleged offences including murder, abduction, harassment and threatening of media personnel.
Gen. Fonseka has continued to strongly deny he plotted to overthrow the Government or made any attempt to assassinate President Rajapaksa. He has said that his stay at Cinnamon Lakeside on the nights of January 26 and 27 was prompted by security threats. He has claimed that he was to be abducted and assassinated. Hence, he had sought the help of some Opposition leaders to pool their security together with his and remain at the hotel. Some members of the Opposition had also stayed there.
It was only after UNP deputy leader, Karu Jayasuriya telephoned and obtained an assurance from Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa that Gen. Fonseka would not be arrested when he leaves the hotel, that he had shifted to his rented Queen's Road house. On that occasion, Jayasuriya had passed his mobile telephone to his leader, Wickremesinghe to speak to the Defence Secretary. He had also been told there would be no arrest when he leaves the hotel and returns home.
Government's legal advisors say there is provision under the Army Act to try offenders who have ceased to be subject to military law. A main accusation against Gen. Fonseka, firmly denied by him, is that he put together retired officers and soldiers for the alleged overthrow of the Government and to assassinate the President. Another is the allegation of corrupt dealings in respect of supplies to the Army. They cite the following provisions:
Army Act -" 57 (1): Where a person subject to military law commits any offence and thereafter ceases to be a person subject to military law, he may be taken into and kept in military custody and be tried and punished for the offences by a court martial;
"Provided that he shall not be so tried after the lapse of six months from the date of the commission of such offence unless, such offence is the offence of mutiny, desertion, or fraudulent enlistment.
"(2) Where a person subject to military law is sentenced by a court martial to imprisonment or detention for any offences and thereafter ceases to be a person subject to military law, he may, during his imprisonment or detention, be dealt with as if he continued to be a person subject to military law.
"114. Every person subject to military law who takes any reward, fee, or advantage in respect of or in connection with purchase of provisions or merchandise brought into any garrison, station, barracks, or place, in which he has any command or authority, or the purchase of any provisions or stores for the use of the army or any part of the army, shall be guilty of a military offence and shall, on conviction by a court martial, be liable to suffer simple or rigorous imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or any less severe punishment in the scale set out in section 133.
"129 (1) Subject to the provisions of sub section (2) of this section, every person subject to military law who, by any act, conduct, disorder, or neglect, prejudices good order and military discipline, shall be guilty of a military offence and shall, on conviction by a court martial, be liable, if he is an officer, to be cashiered or to suffer any less severe punishment, in the scale set out in section 133, and if he is a soldier, to suffer simple or rigorous imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or any less severe punishment in this scale set out in section 133……"
Legal advisors to Gen. Fonseka contend that the provisions in the Army Act which made him subject to military law six months after his retirement has lapsed. He quit as Commander of the Army on July 16 last year and thus the six-month period ended on January 15, 2010. Thereafter, they argue, he was Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) and the law governing that appointment deemed he does not come under the provisions of the Army Act. It would be the courts that will have to eventually determine the intricate legal issues.
However, other developing issues among the Opposition parties have further complicated the Fonseka affair.
On Thursday, the United National Party's main policymaking body, the Working Committee, unanimously endorsed a decision by its district organisers and office bearers that the party symbol, the Elephant, would be their symbol at the parliamentary elections. This has let the cat among the canaries in the Opposition coalition that supported Gen. Fonseka at the Presidential Election. There is a dilemma for both the JVP as well as Gen. Fonseka. "There is no question of the JVP contesting under the Elephant symbol," its leader, Somawansa Amerasinghe declared yesterday.
In fact, the JVP has now decided not even to contest under the Swan (hansaya) symbol because of their concern that symbol belongs to a party with close links to UNP MP Ravi Karunanayake (see separate news item on page 1 )
The main constituent partner of the UNF, the UNP, has taken up the position that anyone in the coalition is welcome to apply to the Front to contest the parliamentary elections. However, they are insistent that such persons should agree to contest under the Elephant symbol. This requirement has virtually eliminated the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) from the UNF.
Behind-the-scene efforts by JVP leaders to persuade the UNF to continue the arrangement that prevailed during the Presidential Election have failed. This was for all parties to contest under the Swan (Hansaya) symbol and thus avoiding Opposition votes being split. The JVP and some of its backers opined that the coalition should make the Fonseka affair as the main issue during parliamentary elections.
The JVP even sounded a few UNPers, disgruntled with the leadership, to join the alliance. They contend that a part of the UNP vote that went to Gen. Fonseka during the Presidential poll would still go to him and the proposed alliance at the parliamentary elections. The UNP, the Sunday Times learnt, was not in favour of any alliance that will force it to forfeit its Elephant symbol.
They argued that there was a section of UNPers who may have voted for Rajapaksa because they didn't like the link up with the JVP, and that there were many JVPers who also don't like a link up with the UNP and they too may have voted for Rajapaksa. They say that whilst the Fonseka issue could be raised, "socio economic issues" should form the platform for their campaign. Herein lay the difference between the UNP and the JVP. The "socio economic" issues defined by the UNF, which largely represents the policies of the UNP, are diametrically opposed to those of the JVP. Thus, the parting of ways has come for the UNF and the JVP.
The official decision of the UNP Working Committee, however, left room for any last minute adjustments. It said that the decision was for the party to contest under the Elephant symbol. But the working committee left it open to the party leader Wickremesinghe to see if any change to that decision was required.
Wickremesinghe had yet to meet JVP leader Amarasinghe, and UNP leaders felt that the JVP General Secretary Tilvin Silva was the main obstacle to the JVP contesting under the Elephant symbol. They argued if JVP-breakaway frontliner Wimal Weerawansa could contest under the Betel symbol of the ruling United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA), why couldn't the JVP contest under the Elephant symbol. They were also willing to accommodate Fonseka and JVP candidates on their electoral list in what they see as the common alliance.
In this backdrop, the JVP is trying to woo Gen. Fonseka to head a broad alliance of their own and contest under a new symbol. The question is whether the retired General would accept such a move. On the one hand, if he does not, the only choice left for him would be to join the UNF and contest under the Elephant symbol. In such an event, he would have to apply to become a candidate and will not be offered any position in either the UNP or the UNF.
At Thursday's UNP Working Committee meeting, Lal Gamage, said, "we should not let down Gen. Fonseka and should always look after him."
He proposed that the retired General's name be placed on the National List so he could enter Parliament. Party leader Wickremesinghe was quick to explain that he should not make remarks that could cause misunderstanding among the public. "The UNF was fully supportive of Gen. Fonseka," he said.
Gamage's proposal ended where it began. A UNP source told the Sunday Times "any official position for Gen. Fonseka is a matter for the Working Committee to decide." The remarks seemed to suggest clearly that the party is in no mood to offer any position to Gen. Fonseka. Here is a situation where the party that believed in making Fonseka the next President showing some reluctance to give him any position within the party.
That is not surprising. In the run up to the Presidential Election campaign, it is no secret that Fonseka leaned heavily towards the JVP. Senior UNP members complained that their leader Wickremesinghe was treated shabbily sometimes but was gentleman enough to ignore it as petty issues. One instance, they point out, was how Fonseka had first addressed him as "Sir," then "Mr. Wickremesinghe" and later as "Ranil." Another, they say, were occasions when their leader was kept waiting as Fonseka continued meetings with JVP leaders.
These UNPers were also incensed at reactions from the JVP leaders themselves when Wickremesinghe had made public remarks that he would be Prime Minister if Gen. Fonseka won. Yet another complaint, according to UNP sources, were periodic queries either by Gen. Fonseka or his aides from party higher-ups on funds received for the campaign and how they were disbursed. "It made us feel that we had pocketed some," complained one insider.
On the other hand, if Fonseka chooses to have the New Democratic Front (NDF) the party from which he contested the Presidential election form an alliance with the JVP, this new formation will have to contend with two new political enemies - the UPFA and the UNF. So we may see a situation where Fonseka wants to contest under the Swan and the JVP under an entirely new symbol. Sooner than, later, the UNF's support for Fonseka's cause could thus gradually evaporate. The joint Opposition's call to "the people to rise up against this injustice and let your voices be heard" will become hollow though the usually mild mannered Karu Jayasuriya has signed it on behalf of his party.
These developments have also raised another issue - the role of the SLFP (Mahajana Wing) which was averse earlier to contest on the Elephant symbol. However, the Sunday Times learnt its leader, Managala Samaraweera has chosen to stick with the UNF and contest under the Elephant symbol than join the JVP. This means, a key player who was responsible for forging the coalition to support Gen. Fonseka, will not be a voice in the JVP-backed alliance.
Until this week, the UNF has solidly backed Gen. Fonseka and has been in the forefront of the struggle to have him released. UNF leaders Jayasuriya and Samaraweera were among those who travelled to Kandy this week for meetings with the Mahanayakes of the Malwatte and Asgiriya chapters. The Mahanayake of the Malwatte Chapter, Most Venerable Tibbotuwawe Sri Siddharata Sumangala Thera, was to condemn the arrest. He said even if retired General Fonseka had erred, he should have been pardoned.
Their meeting with the Mahanayake of the Asgiriya Chapter, Most Venerable Udugama Sri Buddharakhitta Thera, was delayed into the night since the prelate had travelled to Colombo. During the meeting, Most Ven. Buddharakhitta said that whilst in the City he had heard the news of Fonseka's arrest. He said he telephoned President Rajapaksa to raise the issue. Rajapaksa had told him that he was not aware of the details since he had been in Russia. Moreover, he has said, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, had also been out of Sri Lanka, in Singapore.
He had promised to look into the matter. The Mahanayakes have decided to call a convention of the clergy at Sri Dalada Maligawa over the issue next week in what appears to be a confrontation course with the President.
On Thursday, UNF leader Wickremesinghe telephoned the President's office to seek a meeting with Rajapaksa. He was told that the President was in Tangalla and an appointment would be given the next day, Friday. Wickremesinghe was invited to breakfast at Janadipathi Mandiraya. He turned up at 8.15 a.m. and chose to have only a coffee whilst Rajapaksa had his breakfast. There, he raised the issue over Gen. (retd.) Fonseka. The President had explained that investigations against the retired General were still at a preliminary stage. He has to prove his innocence to be released.
Wickremesinghe asked permission to visit Gen. (retd.) Fonseka only to be told that the matter was in the hands of Army Commander Jagath Jayasuriya, and that the request should be made to him.
Wickremesinghe then told the President that his visit was in connection with the welfare of Fonseka and that he had made the request to him (the President) and it was up to the President to allow him to visit Fonseka. "I have asked you", Wickremesinghe said indicating that he was not going to make a request to the Army Commander after he had made the request to the Commander-in-Chief.
Thereafter, during the 45-minute meeting, the two leaders discussed political matters including the upcoming parliamentary elections.
Wickremesinghe also kept a close tab on Friday's Supreme Court proceedings where Anoma Fonseka had filed a petition. The SC allowed leave to proceed and the case is to be heard on February 23.
After the nominations end on February 26 for the parliamentary elections, another polls campaign will get under way. Unlike in the Presidential poll where there was a two-way encounter, this time it would, as it presently stands, be three. That is the UPFA, the UNF and the proposed new JVP-backed alliance. The political battles would no doubt have their fallout.
Even before nominations, it appears that the first casualty is the novice in politics, retired Gen. Fonseka. The war hero, who refers to himself as the 'People's President' has to now battle charges bordering on treason and at the same time determine his future in the new field he has ventured into, politics.
Like for him, most Sri Lankans have found the truth in the famous cliché that 'Politics makes strange bedfellows'. There are no permanent enemies nor permanent friends. There are only very fast changing political interests and opportunities that slip away if they are not grabbed soon. |
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