Dr.P.A.Samaraweera, Australia

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Gen.Fonseka’s (Rtd) statement levelling charges against the Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse had led to his condemnation from various quarters.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ It had sparked the UN thereby asking Colombo to explain the circumstances of the death of 3 LTTE cadres, who in the eyes of the Sri Lankan government are terrorists. But to the west they are ‘good terrorists’ due to LTTE funding.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The west is envying Sri Lankan victory as they are still battling with the anti-west terrorists such as Al-Qaeda, Hamas etc. A couple of weeks ago the US President announced his decision to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan. So Gen. Fonseka, a Green Card holder, thought that he could get political mileage and also get into the good books of the west by referrring to war crimes and pointing the finger at the government. This accusation boomeranged and now he is in hot waters. This had obviously damaged his popularity which he commanded six months ago.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ While Gen. Fonseka is barking the wrong tree, the Navy is still battling to acquire LTTE assets and bringing good news to the people and the government of Sri Lanka. On the 21st the Navy had seized the LTTE’s biggest cargo ship, “MV Princess Christine” which was to be used as a getaway vessel for Prabhakaran and other LTTE leaders during the final stages of the war. The seizure of this ship had been considered a significant achievement by the government.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ According to Selvarasa Pathmanathan who is now in custody the LTTE has still other assets for eg. at least 5 more ships, about 600 unidentified bank accounts and so on.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Gen. Fonseka’s statement had dented army votes. The seizure of the ship means that the Navy has a feather in their cap. Because of Gen. Fonseka’s unwarranted statement votes for him from the forces had eroded.