On What Basis Does Maj Gen.
Janaka Perera Call For Government Honesty For Him To Return To The Forces?
©The Seeing Eye Of
Sunil Perera For LankaWeb
Sept.16th 2008
Seems a bit lopsided when the UNP says it is prepared to support efforts
to eliminate terrorism if war is not made a political tool and once
again they have used Maj Gen.Janaka Perera as the pawn for the contentious
statement. When the opposition leader of the North Central Province
retired Maj. Gen. Janaka Perera implies Governmental dishonesty over
the terrorist issue he is making a mockery of the Rajapaksha Administration
perhaps in his bitterness which seems to have lasted over the raw deal
he received at the hands of Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunge and her
uncle Anuruddha Ratwatte who colluded to deny his proper status as the
Commander of the Armed Forces during their tenure! He would be better
off taking his fight to those who gave him the brush off( mainly over
his pro UNP leanings it is thought) and consequently denied his promotion
to the highest level.
After his stint in the diplomatic corps in Australia and Indonesia he
returned to Sri Lanka where it was thought by some political and miitary
analysts that he might be re-instated to campaign against the Tamil
Tigers who feared him to the death and shuddered at the very mention
of his name but this was not to be. Lieut Gen. Sarath Fonseka in this
respect appears to have managed very well by himself without a Perera
prop!!
After a period of dormancy since his return Maj Gen. Perera emerged
to make contradictory statements publicly about tolerating the Tamil
Tigers and propounded his own wacky theories about a nihilist approach
towards resolving the terrorist issue it was thought and he seems to
have distanced himself further from the Rajapaksha Administration for
a plethora of reasons rooted basically to the fact that he the President
once belonged to the PA now transformed into the UPFA.
Hence the disgruntled negativisms and finger pointing about Governmental
honesty when he should be questioning Ranil Wickremasinghe on the very
issue why RW made a bold attempt to barter with the LTTE towards his
own agenda for power where honesty and integrity flew out the back door
during the tenure of the UNP which superficially engaged in a war against
the LTTE but left enough room for various doubts about 'under the table
collussions' with the LTTE where even former president Premadasa is
not above suspicion!!
While he was speaking to the media in Kandy, where he called on chief
prelate of Malwatte Chapter, Most Ven. Tibbatuwawe Sri Siddhartha Sumangala
Thera recently, the soldier-turned-politician said he was prepared to
return to the warfront if the government waged the war with honest intent
so what exactly was he really implying ?
Even hypothetically it leads many discerning to wonder with nagging
thoughts about the wherefores and whys which led the Kumaratunga Administration
to cast a long shadow over him.It portrays him as someone who, by openly
criticising an incumbent Administration easily justifies the doubts
the administration during his commission with the Army had towards denying
his promotions.
Moral of story~ it seems foolhardy to fingerpoint at an Administrations
such as the present one which has done a darned good job of containing
the terrorists in the inception and are now on the verge of elimnating
them and the real honesty lies with those who almost betrayed the nation
into the hands of the enemy. Sound familiar?
It seems a fair premise to suggest that indeed the doubts the PA administration
had about Maj. Gen. Perera seems justifiable in the face of his pro
UNP leanings which was no secret where entrusting the overall Military
Power he was denied could easily have resulted in a Coup d'Etat in favour
of the UNP and the mumbo jumbo he now utters about Governmental honesty
somewhat of a transparent revelation about his mindset which seems quite
inconsistent towards the need of the nation to be permanently rid of
the enemy.
In this respect it could be a fatal error if any reins of military
power were to be entrusted to such an individual who not only seems
duplicitous about his true intent and direction but could also pose
a threat to national security, hypothetically speaking of course!
It seems a bit late in the day to hold with any real credibility, statements
by Maj. Gen. Perera where he says "I will truly side with the government
if it wages this war for the unity of the country and to eliminate terrorism.
I am the only military commander who had been saying all along that
the LTTE can be defeated.( Not really true as he seems to have overlooked
the vision of both Mahinda Rajapaksha as well as Lieut Gen. Sarath Fonseka
who firmly believed in Sri lanka's capacity to run the LTTE to ground)
I will never change that stance" good on him but the burning
thought which crosses any discerning mind is, what in heaven's name
is he implying about "truly siding with the Government" almost
as though he was suggesting that he was not on the Government side(
an inadvertent truism perhaps!) at the time he was in the SL Army!!
bitternesses and frusrations notwithstanding a blatant Faux Pas!.
While speaking further, the Army General turned unsuccesful politician
has said that he was not a coward, and had served in every northeastern
war theatre during UNP as well as PA regimes, adding that he would continue
to fight on behalf of the country but before he can expect his idealogies
to be accepted toward re- establishing patriotic credibilities he has
much proving to do as his bifurcated manouvering especially relative
to the Ranil Wickremasinghe bandwagon has not held him in good stead
and merely identifies himself as a Wickremasinghe sycophant who jumped
to his commands which seems sad given his brilliant past and how much
the Nation could have benefited from his military expertise had he maintained
a non aligned direction unequivocally.
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