Army Chief booms out
By Our Political Editor

Army Chief Sarath Fonseka relaunching the Army’s official website

In the run-up to some of Sri Lanka's most infamous military operations, all under then President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, it was her uncle Anuruddha Ratwatte, a volunteer Lieutenant Colonel of yore who was rocketed into a four star General overnight and set the stage.

The highly controversial "soldier" had his pluses and minuses. At the helm of "Operations Riviresa," he saw the recapture of the Jaffna peninsula. Later, he was at the forefront to avert a fall of the peninsula to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). One could argue that the ongoing peace process would have no meaning if the peninsula had remained in the hands of the LTTE throughout.

The minuses came when he gave leadership to various phases of "Operation Victory Assured" to re-capture the A-9 highway between Vavuniya and Elephant Pass. It turned out to be the biggest military disaster with colossal human and material losses.

In the run -up to these events, it was Ratwatte who set the stage with many a pronouncement. Some of them, like for example the pledge to defeat the LTTE before the end of a Sinhala new year, became a hollow claim. Yet, the pledges made at several military camps and portrayed through state television and media in the years past have not altogether disappeared from the public mind. But, despite being dubbed a General, Ratwatte was yet a politician. Giving greater credence to his pronouncements then was his title - Deputy Minister of Defence.

Just two weeks ago, one of Sri Lanka's battle hardened top soldiers was making pledges reminiscent of the Ratwatte era. Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka, Commander of the Army, arrived by an Air Force helicopter at the Security Forces Headquarters in Vavuniya. He told officers and other ranks during an address, "people thought like in the past one and half or two years we will put the white flag and shape up matters." So the one and half or two years were the period under former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga. Even if he did not say so, by citing the period he reflected what he thought was the people's perception - the military would remain docile.

Added Lt. Gen. Fonseka, "But we bravely faced the situation and retaliated on those who attacked us. Thereafter we took a proactive role by looking for those who attacked us and retaliated in places like Jaffna and Batticaloa, protected our bases while gaining the appreciation of the public."

Lt. Gen. Fonseka believes "that is the reason why the LTTE returned to peace talks in such a short period." Lt. Gen. Fonseka referred to the period of the ceasefire. He said "our soldiers could not do their duties due to intimidation, threats, bomb attacks and burning of bunkers by the LTTE. This situation aggravated. Thereafter they attacked with claymores and created a war situation. They thought that we will tolerate them when they said that civilians were attacking us. The number of incidents increased…."

From Vavuniya, Lt. Gen. Fonseka helicoptered to Weli Oya. There he told officers and men, "our main policy is that the country's problems should be solved peacefully. That is why the Government has agreed for peace talks. The difference is that the government is going for talks with 'peace and respect.' Then he declared "the government and ourselves are going for peace with dignity. We are not going for talks because we are scared of the LTTE or had any sympathy towards them."

Even if he did not mention the previous United National Front Government, Lt. Gen. Fonseka made it known that "those days people spoke about peace as they were scared to face the LTTE. Not that they had trust in the LTTE or had any sympathy towards them. If they could have, they would have eliminated the LTTE, but because they were scared of them they spoke about peace…"

He added: "the talks are being approached in a manner that the dignity of the people in the south, people in the north and specially those in the army is protected. Therefore, nobody should have any doubt that we would face any problems because we go for peace talks or that the LTTE will achieve its objectives because of peace talks."

And on Wednesday, at the launch of an Army website, Lt. Gen. Fonseka admitted that the armed forces and the LTTE were both rearming and preparing for war amidst a new round of talks. He also declared that the Ceasefire Agreement had many loopholes.

The remarks by the head of the Army that had fought a near two decades of war with the LTTE, just ahead of next month's peace talks, assume great significance. Even if political leaders of the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) have repeatedly laid emphasis on peace talks, and a political settlement, Lt. Gen. Fonseka has spoken out about ground realities. He has blamed those who brought about the current situation through a ceasefire that had many loopholes. He has also sent a strong message ahead of the next round of talks that the LTTE will not be able to achieve its objectives even if the talks fail. Even if it is embarrassing for President Mahinda Rajapaksa's Government, this is the first time a serving senior officer has come out so openly.

The coming Aluth Avurudu notwithstanding, the outcome of next month's talks between the Government and the LTTE in Geneva will no doubt be a harbinger of things to come. This is even if the Government is at present preoccupied with next week's local polls.

Upon his return from a visit to Norway, UNP and Opposition leader, Ranil Wickremesinghe has plunged into the polls campaign. On his birthday, last Friday, he was touring Avissawella and Homagama. At present, the UNP's experiment with two leaders, or a Yugoslav-style 'collective leadership' is, like all collective leadership experiments, not working. Nobody is there to take the rap for the Colombo Municipal list fiasco that was eventually shot down by the Court of Appeal on Friday.

Mr. Wickremesinghe himself has adopted a kind of hands-off approach to the local government elections, having handed over the campaign rein to deputy leader Karu Jayasuriya. Mr. Jayasuriya himself has not projected himself as a real party leader, and Mr. Wickremesinghe is still doing the rounds campaigning for his party. The party's National Organiser, S.B. Dissanayake, whom many UNPers expected would throw his full weight behind the polls campaign has instead gone off to Australia. He seems to have followed in the foot-steps, or flight-path of his one-time mentor, former President Chandrika Kumaratunga who flew, no doubt in a different direction though, to the UK abandoning the party she formally heads at the forthcoming elections.

The UNP's chances remain high only because of the fact that the pro-Government vote is going to get split between the PA and the JVP. Recently, UNP's Galle MP Hemakumara Nanayakkara told Mr. Wickremesinghe that in the south the JVP would still find it difficult though in other areas it was poised to make gain.

Meanwhile, UNP General Secretary N.V.K.K. Weragoda sought a meeting yesterday with President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Though specific reasons for the meeting had been given, he had expressed the wish that the meeting should take place before the local polls on March 3. The request comes against the backdrop of Mr. Wickremesinghe's visit to India early next month. These developments have given rise to speculation in Colombo's diplomatic community of moves to form a national government - an issue which is being hotly denied by President Rajapaksa's aides. They say the story is being floated around to prevent UNPers from crossing over to the Government.

As revealed earlier, reports that the JVP was making headway prompted President Rajapaksa to step up the Sri Lanka Freedom Party campaign. Whilst this was going on, parliamentarian Dulles Allahapperuma, who is engaged in the campaign efforts, is continuing to receive phone calls from prominent UNPers who want to cross over. An interesting aspect of these requests is the claim by most of them for either Cabinet or Deputy Minister portfolios.

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