Dr.P.A.Samaraweera, Australia

It had been reported that Gen. Sarath Fonseka, Chief Defence of Staff, had tendered his resignation today, 12 November.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ General Fonseka is a great Sinhala patriot, a disciplined army officer, a great military leader who gave leadership to the army, a man of honour and loved by all Sri Lankans for crushing the terrorists which nobody else dared to. He made the arduous journey to Nandi Kadal where none ever dreamt of going to. He engineered the defeat of the terrorists who ran a de facto regime for 25 years in the North and East.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ In this connection, it has to be noted that it was due to the steel determination and courage of the President that the battle reached a climax and saw an end to the 30 year war, despite tremendous pressure brought by the Western powers, the US, UK, France and Canada. So the main credit goes to the President for the unwavering stand taken by him.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ If the President had given way to the west in the form of a truce, peace talks, and so on with the LTTE, then there is nothing that the General could have done except relent as experienced in the past. The main issue here is that the President did not give any leverage to the International Community. If the President had decided otherwise, the General would not have over ridden the President’s decision and carried on the war. Therefore, the General’s role was secondary in this context.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ At present what has shocked the nation is the General’s resignation, obviously as the current rumour is to run for President. It appears that he had been trapped in the conspiracy hatched by reactionaries and the west for a change of government.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The conspirators who incited him to resign, had in the past slandered him saying that he is even not fit to be the commander of the Salvation army, he does not know the difference between Kilinochchiya and Medawachchiya, any fool can go to war, Thoppigala is only a jungle patch and so on. The plot by the reactionaries, the west, various organisations and so on thickened after his return from the US. Surprisingly, despite advise by Monks, various professionals, political fronts, institutions etc., that politics is a ‘dirty game’ the General aligned with the bankrupt politicians who sling mud at him because of his greed to run for President.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Anyone has a democratic right to run for President. But some queries raised by bystanders are:

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ a) How can a ‘Green Card permanent residency holder’ from the US and aspiring to be a US citizen be a dedicated President to Sri Lanka. Isn’t it divided loyalties?

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ b) As the west is anxious to bring down the government, will Sri Lanka have a pro-western puppet government? And will the General be another Don Juan Dharmapala abdicating to the west?

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ c) How much money from the LTTE coffers had gone into the UNP and the lame-duck political parties to sponsor Gen. Fonseka as as a common Presidential Candidate?

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ d) Isn’t it obvious that the bankrupt politicians are using him to get back on the saddle?