Traitors and opportunists
People have betrayed countries
and nations from time immemorial. Over the years many opportunists had
turned traitors, caring two hoots for their motherland.
Sri Lanka is no exception. From ancient times there were such
characters who had betrayed their country for petty gains. Even during
the British rule, from 1815 to 1948, there had been several instances
where the country had been betrayed to gain positions, power and wealth
from the British rulers.
Whatever time or period, these traitors had acted in this manner due
to their lust for power or personal benefits. The latest in that list is
Sarath Fonseka.
During his last visit to the United States, he agreed to give
evidence before US Homeland security officials against Sri Lanka on
fabricated charges of war crimes, so that he could convert his Green
Card to American citizenship. As a Government official in military
service at the time, the Sri Lankan Government secured his immediate
return without such questioning before the US authorities.
Having retired from service and securing the Presidential Election
candidacy from the virtually unknown New Democratic Front (NDF), Fonseka
was involved in one of the greatest betrayals by making a controversial
statement to the Sunday Leader. He became the greatest betrayer of all
time when he openly said it was Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa who
ordered the then Brigade Commander of the 58 Division, Brigadier (now
Major General) Shavendra Silva to shoot the LTTE leaders who attempted
to surrender waving white flags.
This not only put the lives of Major General Silva and soldiers of
the 58 Division at risk, but also influenced the US and UN to level
charges against Sri Lanka on alleged war crimes.
Fonseka is playing part two of his Greatest Betrayal by teaming up
with opportunistic Opposition parties and extremist elements to cause
dissension in the country, having won the support of the UNP and
bankrupt Opposition politicians such as Mangala Samaraweera, Rauf Hakeem
and Mano Ganeshan, who made numerous attempts to stop the humanitarian
operations of the Security Forces.
Fonseka has now embraced the pro-LTTE Tamil National Alliance (TNA).
It is needless to dwell on the type of politics that the TNA indulges
in. It is a public secret that the TNA had been a Tiger proxy and
attempted to give the last drop of oxygen to the tottering LTTE
leadership. Along with the UNP, the TNA leaders went on many world
jaunts to woo Western support and pressurise the Government to halt the
battle against LTTE terror.
And now, a shameless Fonseka has joined hands with Sampanthan and his
Tiger-proxy TNA to woo voters in the North and the East. The TNA will
not support Fonseka for nothing. The TNA, in return, has put forward
many conditions, which are extremely detrimental to Sri Lanka's
sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Before lending support to Fonseka, the TNA leadership put the same
conditions to UPFA candidate, President Mahinda Rajapaksa. But the
President was not willing to compromise the country's sovereignty and
the hard-earned victories of Sri Lanka's valiant Security Forces for the
sake of retaining power. In other words, the President flatly rejected
the TNA's proposal to exchange TNA votes with the larger interests of
the country and that of our Security Forces.
In contrast, Fonseka's sole aim is to become President at any cost.
Ideologically, he is not the same person who commanded the Army. The
'new Fonseka' is a man after power and is willing to sacrifice anything
and everything to achieve that goal.
Hence, there was no difficulty for Fonseka to agree to whatever
conditions put forward by the TNA, even before the Tiger proxies had
made the proposals. Unlike President Rajapaksa, Fonseka did not
understand the gravity of the TNA conditions. Even if Fonseka had
realised the repercussions of the TNA proposals, he was not in the least
bothered as his aim is to become the President by hook or by crook.
If President Rajapaksa was willing to undermine the magnificent
victories of the Security Forces, he too could have secured the TNA's
support for perhaps half the number of those conditions. But the
President will never resort to such pacts even in his wildest dreams.
It would be interesting to ascertain the details of the TNA
conditions which Fonseka has wholeheartedly agreed to. According to TNA
Parliamentarian K. Thurairetnasingam, Fonseka has agreed to comply with
all TNA conditions and has even signed an agreement on these issues. The
TNA MP has said that they will never deviate from their policy of
"establishing an autonomous regime for the Tamil-speaking people".
It is no secret that the TNA-LTTE diaspora-Sarath Fonseka collusion
has many facets which are extremely harmful to Sri Lanka's sovereignty
and national security. Through the clandestine agreement with the TNA,
Fonseka will not only undermine the historic military victory achieved
by the heroic Security Forces, but would also nullify the supreme
sacrifices made by around 26,000 troops and another 30,000 disabled
soldiers. Evidently, through the first condition, Fonseka and the UNP
have virtually agreed to release all hardcore terrorist leaders. Fonseka,
the NDF Presidential candidate, has also given his consent to reduce
Army intelligence and relocate Army camps which are at strategic places
in the North and the East. He has also agreed to do away with the High
Security Zones in Jaffna, reduce the military strength in the peninsula
and resettle Tamil civilians in proximity to those camps, as "ordered"
by the TNA.
To cap it all, Fonseka has also given a guarantee to merge the
Northern and Eastern Provinces. It would be interesting to note what the
JVP, a partner of the Fonseka alliance with the UNP, TNA, SLMC and LTTE
diaspora has got to say on this crucial issue as it was the JVP which
secured a court ruling to de-merge the two provinces. The masses are too
intelligent to be swayed and are closely monitoring the latest
developments. |