Rajapaksas trusted Emil Kanthan over the Army

by Ranil Wijayapala

For the first time, Sri Lanka commemorated May 19 as Remembrance Day, in memory of those whose lives were lost in a protracted war that lasted nearly three decades. The main commemoration ceremony, attended by President Maithripala Sirisena, was held in Matara.

Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka

Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka was the Commander of the Sri Lanka Army during the war and says, he is ready to face any tribunal and to explain what exactly took place at that time.

The Tamils in the North and East should mark the event as people being rescued from the clutches of the LTTE, Fonseka said. While reiterating the right of the people to remember the dead, he said any attempt to commemorate the LTTE, which is a terrorist organization is against the law of the country.

He also said that as the Army Commander who commanded the troops to fight against the LTTE, he is ready to face any tribunal on any day, at any time.

Commenting on the infamous ‘white flag’ case, the former Army Commander, said if the public were raising questions about the incident, the Government can conduct an inquiry and answer the people.

Referring to abductions and killings that have taken place in the South, during the war, he said former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa were answerable and just as much as they revel in the war victory, they are responsible for what happened during that time.

Excerpts of the interview:

Q: Sri Lanka celebrated the sixth anniversary of the victory against the LTTE this month. The Government has changed the annual celebrations from a Victory Day to Ranaviru Commemorative Celebrations. As a key actor in the war against the LTTE and its victory, do you agree with the manner in which the Government is commemorating the anniversary?

A: It is just that the title of the commemoration has been changed. If we commemorate war heroes, we are really commemorating the sacrifices they made and what they have done for the country.

Then we are not only commemorating the victory, we are commemorating everything that happened during the war ; the loss, the defeats, the war heroes who sacrificed their lives to preserve the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country. When we commemorate war heroes, their victory is invariably celebrated.

Q: The Northern Provincial Council also organized a Remembrance Day at Nanthikadal lagoon in remembrance of the people killed during the war while another Tamil organization attempted to mark the event as Tamil Genocide week. How do you view this?

A: The Tamils in the North and East must commemorate the day with the understanding that the military rescued 200,000 Tamil civilians from terrorist clutches. We rescued 115,000 civilians on April 19, 2009, another 85,000 on May 17, 2009 and yet another 12,000 terrorists as well.

They must commemorate the rescue operation. There was no genocide of Tamils. Some Tamil opportunist politicians mislead the Tamils. If they are doing that, then it is wrong. They are trying to create dissent and cause mistrust between the communities once again. They are doing something harmful to a future reconciliation process.

A terrorist is a terrorist under any circumstances. Those Tamil youths who joined the LTTE and were killed, were fighting against the Sri Lanka Army and the law of the land. That’s why they are called terrorists.

There is no question about it, because the LTTE was trying to divide the country and have to be considered terrorists. This cannot be argued.

People’s right

Q: What about the people’s right to remember the dead?

A: In the case of family members, they have the right to remember their loved ones, if they are dead. Family members of a person sentenced to death have the right to remember him. But if any organization attempts to celebrate the LTTE, which is a banned terrorist organization, that is a violation of the law.

Q: The military had its own strategy to defeat LTTE terrorism. It has been alleged that a large number of civilian deaths occurred during the final phase of the war and then, there are war crime charges. Do you think the military could have avoided such a situation when conducting military operations and minimized casualties?

A: When we were planning military operations, we took all possible precautions to avoid harming civilians and destruction to civilian property. When there is heavy fighting, a certain amount of damage will take place to public and privately-owned properties. On the other hand, due to our effort to save the civilians, we controlled our firing and we did not use heavy weapons in the last stages of the war.That is why we had lots of unnecessary casualties on our side.

In 2008, I lost 2000 soldiers. In 2009, for five and half months, we had to sacrifice a similar number of soldiers. That is because we did not use our fire power. There was nothing else we could do.

In the rest of the world, when military operations are conducted, sometimes they kill large numbers of civilians. We didn’t do it like that. That is why we had to sacrifice the lives of large number of soldiers for rescue operations. Every rescue operations were costly to us. Every-time we rescued civilians, we suffered many casualties.

Q: But, the UN and international agencies claim that 40,000 civilians died during that last phase of the battle? Is this correct?

A: If they say that, they can dig that whole area and do any scientific investigation and find out whether there are remains of 40,000 civilians.

If 40,000 civilians died, as claimed, they should be either buried or cremated. If they were buried, the skeletal remains should be somewhere. If they were cremated, still they can scientifically find out whether the ashes of 40,000 people were found in that area.

This claim is exaggerated and without any proof. These allegations are being made with malice and hatred, trying to undermine the Security Forces.

Q: If the civilian deaths are exaggerated, shouldn’t there be a mechanism to estimate the correct figure and to place it also before the international community as a matter of clarification?

A: It is very easy. You can go through the records and find out how many people were living at that time and how many were missing after the war. It is up to the Government to do so and estimate the dead and the missing.

Instead of putting up cutouts, monuments and having their names engraved all over, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Defence Secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa should have done that.

I have recommended that it should be handled in a professional manner. I wanted to have facts and figures clarified before leaving the Army. They could have even got Tamil politicians involved in that. Even the Northern Province Chief Minister, C. Vigneswaran himself can get involved in that and do a 100% survey.

White flags

Q: Your various comments with regard to the perishing of people carrying white flags during the final days of the battle were used by the previous regime to put you in jail. But that incident is still a mystery and remains unexplained. To put things in perspective, can you explain what happened the early hours of May 18, 2009?

A: If people raise questions, I think the Government can carry out an investigation and answer the people. If there are doubts, those concerned parties should ask for an inquiry.

Earlier, two journalists said that there is some talk on these lines. I said the same thing to a Sunday Leader journalist. Today, I have no authority and I am unable to carry out any investigation.

Q: The UNHRC deferred its report on alleged crime charges, giving the present government to conduct its own investigations. Do you think that such a process is now on and are you in anyway involved in such a process?

A: I am not involved in anything with the Government. Although we brought this Government into power, I am not part of the Government.

We discuss some issues on a friendly note because we worked together ahead of the presidential election.

The Government is open about everything. They will have a local mechanism. Other foreign countries which were recommending investigations at the UN have also agreed to support a local mechanism to be set up.

Q: Being the Commander of the Sri Lanka Army at that time, you will have to answer if there are war crimes charges against the military. In such an event, how will you respond?

A: I am ready to face any inquiry, any time. I take the responsibility for Army operations at the time. If there have been persons who disregarded our orders and committed an offence, then they will have to answer. If there are allegations are supported by credible evidence, they will have to answer. I am ready to take responsibility for the Army operations.

Q: With the commencement of the investigations over the VIP killings, abductions and killing of Tamil youths in Colombo, evidence are surfacing that some military personnel were directly involved in these abductions and killings. Were you aware of such happenings?

A: There is no evidence that the military was involved in any of those incidents. When we say military, there is no evidence to that the Army was involved in such incidents other than the former President, Defence Secretary and Mervyn Silva attempting to say that I was involved in Lasantha Wickremathunga’s killing. Some Navy personnel were arrested and the Navy Commander who was there at that time is answerable.

He must answer if anybody in the Navy was doing anything like that. I don’t know whether it happened or not.

But I knew that there was a gang operating in Colombo that is not because I have evidence, but my conclusion as a former Army Commander who was present at that time and based on the way things were happening.

Definitely, there was a gang operating with the blessings and patronage of the Government. Obviously the President and Gotabhaya Rajapaksa were aware of this, otherwise they could have given orders for the Police to take action.

I think the Police was not allowed to take action. The Inspector General of Police at that time knew what was going on. That is why he left the country even without taking his own security, post election.

Definitely the former President and Defence Secretary knew what happened and they are answerable. They have to take responsibility for everything that happened in the country. Not only the credit for a war victory.

Q: As mentioned by you, your name was linked to Lasantha Wickrematunga’s murder. Aren’t you keen to see an end to this investigation and find who is responsible?

A: I have been proposing that investigations should be carried out. Then our names will also be cleared.

Even now I will be happy, if the Government conducts investigations. Members of Lasantha’s family are responsible for covering up. They have benefitted from the former regime.

Q: If not for your involvement in politics, you would have had your own plans for the military, in the post war phase. If you continued, what would have been the next steps?

A: I told them the Army needed a rest after heavy and prolonged military operations.

The soldiers were living in the jungles with no drinking water and with no facilities. There was battle fatigue. For Two years and nine months they were fighting nonstop.

First of all, I wanted to increase the strength gradually, so that I could give a deserving break to the troops and take then in batches, off the field. This meant, we had to train more as replacement.

They didn’t do that. If they had increased the strength, then we could have done that.

I also had plans for resettlement of civilians in one and a half years and to complete de-mining, in two years. Then, I recommended reconstruction to be completed in two years. They didn’t do anything. Even today, some people live under canvass roofing sheets and inside tents. People have no drinking water in some areas. They can’t go back to their villages.

Appreciation

Q: The Army earned the appreciation of the international community for their role in relief operations carried out in Nepal, post quake. How do you see their ability to carry out disaster relief operations??

A: It was a good thing to do. It is a part of an Army’s job. When it comes to disaster relief operations, we have to forget everything and give priority to that.

They should help the people in disasters in Sri Lanka and in the neighbouring countries. During the Tsunami period, military personnel came from other countries and helped us. They brought their aircraft, vessels and man power. It is something we should do.

The credit has to go to the President and Prime Minister for coordinating this. The Army team and the doctors have done a good job and we are proud of them.

Q: Were you aware of any agreement between the then Government and the LTTE in the final hours of the battle with regard to the surrender of LTTE leaders to the Security Forces?

A: They didn’t tell me anything like that. Whatever was discussed between Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and former President Mahinda Rajapaksa was never told to me.

That is why on January 31, 2009 and February 1, he called for a ceasefire. I disagreed and protested. But he ignored me even though I was the Army Commander. The Army had to carry out his orders. The Army never wanted a ceasefire.

We said ‘no’ to a number of proposed ceasefires and wanted to continue the fighting. Because of the ceasefire, declared by the former President, in January 2009, the LTTE attacked us on the night of January 31, 2009 and it went on for almost 10 days.

We suffered heavily, losing 500 soldiers and ended up withdrawing by five kilometres. If we retreated by another three kilometers, we would have lost everything that we had gained during two and a half years. Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa did not have confidence in us!

When he became the President in 2005 he concurred with Prabhakaran that there will be no war, as mentioned in his ‘Mahinda Chinthanaya’.

He (Rajapaksa) said he will personally meet Prabhakaran and discuss and settle the matter peacefully. That is why the former regime donated Rs.500 million to Prabhakaran to buy boats for the Sea Tigers.

These people gave Rs.500 million to stop the Tamil people from voting because they did not have confidence in us, the Army.

But he had confidence in people like Emil Kanthan. He thought people of the likes of Emil Kanthan would do the job for him and not Sarath Fonseka.