Dilrook Kannangara

The book by Gotabaya has too many contradictions. I will explain one major contradiction which should not have been there given the military service of him. No army commander in the world, certainly not in Sri Lanka, can act on own instructions. Instructions must come from the president who is the commander in chief of security forces as per the Constitution. Or the defence minister must instruct him. In 2022 the president was the defence minister too. No instructions came from him to the army commander. The army commander, therefore, did the right thing and followed orders (which was no orders).

In his book, Gotabaya alleges that there was no need to give specific orders for the Army Commander to act. It is an ignorant and malicious statement. What if Sarath Fonseka acted without President Mahinda’s instructions?

He also alleges the Defence Secretary didn’t act either. The defence secretary is not part of the chain of command and he cannot give any instructions. The defence secretary only manages administrative functions of the defence ministry. Oddly enough in September 2019 when asked about possible war crimes, Gotabaya said (in English) that he was only the ministry secretary and the war was fought by service commanders. Why this contradiction now? When Gotabaya was defence secretary he could make decisions because the president (commander in chief and defence minister) was his family and always endorsed his decisions with his presidential powers.

However, this points to a dangerous possibility. Why didn’t Gotabaya (as president, as defence minister and as commander in chief) give instructions to the army commander, navy commander, air force commander or the police chief to act?

That was due to his planned comfortable retirement back in USA where he will not have to face war crimes and human rights abuse legal battles. To avoid those, Gotabaya refrained from giving orders.

However, he expected the army commander and other senior military leaders to instruct themselves. It is illegal as per Sri Lankan law and the International Humanitarian Law (war crimes law). If all went well, Gotabaya would have survived as president but the army commander will be grilled for war crimes. If things went bad, Gotabaya would put the blame on the army commander (which he did in his book) and allowed him to suffer punishment for acting without orders.

It must be noted that the then army commander was and still is sanctioned against travel to USA but Gotabaya and Basil are not. Gotabaya and Basil can travel to USA anytime they please. In 2022 Gotabaya and Basil visited Gotabaya’s grandchild in USA whereas the then army commander could not attend a family event.

The decorated war-winning General is well versed in Sri Lankan law, international humanitarian law (war crimes law) and international human rights law. In fact, from 2010 to 2014 he served as Sri Lanka’s ambassador to the UN in New York, USA defending Sri Lanka at the apex UN body at the most crucial times following war victory. He knows what is right and wrong by the law. He was felicitated by Russia too in 2022, an invitation that bypassed the president, the prime minister and the foreign minister! It speaks volumes about the respect he commands. It is a shame that the former president tried to use him as a cat’s paw for ultra vires (therefore illegal) acts.

Professionals wrote to both the army commander and Gotabaya in April 2022 cautioning both against the possibility of the army commander acting without instructions resulting in the commission of a war crime/excess.

Sadly, this was not the first time they attempted this shameless act of using a cat’s paw. In May 2009 the same was expected of Sirisena who was appointed as acting defence minister before Mahinda, Gotabaya and Fonseka left the country hurriedly. A temporary ceasefire was in force. Fortunately, Sirisena sought legal advice and he was told that though he had the powers of the defence minister delegated to him, he lacked legal immunity which is only enjoyed by the president. Therefore, he must not restart war after the planned lapse of the ceasefire and instead wait for the president, the defence secretary and the army commander to return. Despite significant pressure to finish off” the war by another well-known ruling family member who is a US citizen, Sriisena stood his ground and refused to instruct the military for the last 2 days’ of war. He left it for the president, the defence secretary and the army commander and without any guilt even hugged the president on the tarmac. Clever! Most war crimes and grave human rights abuses were alleged over the last two days of war by the West. Had Sirisena acted as told, he would have been turned into a scapegoat, put all blame on him and even grilled him for war crimes and acting above his powers while Rajapaksas would have evaded responsibility and even won sympathy from the losers of the war. A leader stands by his people; a leader never deserts his people. And a leader never uses others as a cat’s paws to get things done for him as the leader sets an example by doing it himself. Sadly, Sri Lanka only had a ghost defence minister, a ghost president and a ghost commander in chief in July 2022. That was a very rare and unfortunate combination. People sensed it and struck at the perfect time. People elected him and people expelled him. His voters turned away and let it happen as they too had enough.