{"id":42467,"date":"2012-05-23T07:40:43","date_gmt":"2012-05-23T07:40:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=42467"},"modified":"2012-05-29T19:14:14","modified_gmt":"2012-05-29T19:14:14","slug":"letting-the-general-out-of-the-bottle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/letting-the-general-out-of-the-bottle\/","title":{"rendered":"Letting The General Out Of The Bottle"},"content":{"rendered":"

By The Economist \u00a0–<\/strong><\/p>\n

SARATH FONSEKA, Sri Lanka\u2019s former army chief, emerged through the brown gates of the Welikada prison on May 21st, blowing kisses to his ecstatic supporters and declaring a vow to fight unto death for democracy.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The bright-green balloons his supporters had brought earlier that morning were already flat after hours in the sun. Their flower garlands were wilting in the heat. But as Mr Fonseka strode out of jail, their cries were jubilant:\u00a0\u201cLong live democracy!\u00a0Long live our future president!\u201d<\/p>\n

Given the circumstances of his release, however, the presidency is not something Mr Fonseka can aspire to in the near future. He was freed after nearly two years in jail on a pardon granted by the current president, Mahinda Rajapaksa. But there was a catch. Rather than grant his political arch-rival a full discharge for his crimes, Mr Rajapaksa only shortened one of his jail terms. Thus the ailing, 61-year-old Mr Fonseka, now an ex-con, enjoys neither the right to vote nor to contest at an election\u2014not for a while, anyway. According to the law anyone who serves more than six months in prison must forfeit his civic rights for seven years.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0his first interview since leaving prison<\/a>, Mr Fonseka told\u00a0The Hindu<\/em>\u00a0newspaper of India that all parties must form a strong, common opposition against the government. People will decide who should lead it, he said. Tiran Alles, a parliamentarian from Mr Fonseka\u2019s Democratic National Alliance who negotiated the terms of his release, said they will campaign anew for the restoration of their leader\u2019s rights.<\/p>\n

A full pardon had been anticipated by Mr Fonseka\u2019s family, but the lesser deal comes as no surprise to most others. Relations between Messrs Fonseka and Rajapaksa crumbled after the defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in 2009. Mr Fonseka was an ambitious general who had survived a Tamil Tiger suicide bombing to lead his troops to victory. He soon began to feel sidelined by his former commander-in-chief.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Photo AFP<\/p><\/div>\n

Mr Rajapaksa, for his part, had come to think that the outspoken commander was getting rather too big for his army boots.\u00a0And then\u00a0Mr Fonseka had the audacity\u00a0to challenge him at the 2010 presidential election\u00a0(the first after the military victory)\u00a0under an alliance led by the main opposition group, the United National Party.<\/p>\n

Despite his war-winning credentials, the decorated General Fonseka\u00a0lost to the incumbent by 1.9m votes<\/a>.\u00a0Even so\u00a0Mr Rajapaksa saw red. In February, barely two weeks after the election, more than 100 soldiers acting on his orders surrounded his office in Colombo and\u00a0took Mr Fonseka away<\/a>\u2014kicking and screaming, as it were.<\/p>\n

Standing before a court-martial, the legality of which he challenged unsuccessfully, Mr Fonseka was cashiered for engaging in politics while in uniform. He was separately sentenced to 30 months rigorous imprisonment over irregularities in military procurements. This second conviction saw him lose the parliamentary seat he had won at a general election in April 2010 (having contested it from his detention).<\/p>\n

In November 2011, Mr Fonseka received an additional three-year term for giving\u00a0a newspaper interview<\/a>\u00a0that implicated the president\u2019s brother, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, by then the defence secretary, in an allegation of war crimes. In his own defence, Mr Fonseka claimed he was misquoted. Then another court impounded his passport before releasing him on bail\u2014in connection with yet more charges, this time for harbouring army deserters. While Mr Fonseka received a full pardon for the first of these cases, he could still be imprisoned on the second.<\/p>\n

Mr Fonseka maintains he has been made the victim of a vendetta. His name was pointedly omitted from official commemorations of the war. Though he was Sri Lanka\u2019s only four-star general\u2014an honour bestowed on him by President Rajapaksa\u2014he has subsequently been \u201cdisappeared\u201d from official photographs.<\/p>\n

Human-rights campaigners and some foreign governments, including America\u2019s, take the view that Mr Fonseka\u2019s incarceration was politically motivated. At least one of President Rajapaksa\u2019s own ministers has hinted that Mr Fonseka \u201cshould just have retired gracefully,\u201d because in that case \u201cnone of this would have happened\u201d.<\/p>\n

Instead, even after his conditional release, the outspoken general\u2014who routinely used court dates and photo-ops at hospitals to issue caustic remarks about the government\u2014shows no sign of backing down. Asked why he thought the president had pardoned him from his sentence, he mused that it might have buckled beneath public pressure.<\/p>\n

A senior government minister, who requested anonymity, said the president\u2019s reasons were more devious. Mr Fonseka, in this minister\u2019s analysis, was more of a threat to the government \u201cinside [jail] than out\u201d. He was politically immature and will \u201csoon shoot himself in the foot, as he has done in the past.\u201d He will split the opposition too, his adversary predicts gleefully.<\/p>\n

It seems like a risky tactical play, if that\u2019s what it is. The government\u2019s popularity has waned in recent months, particularly over the spiralling\u00a0cost of living<\/a>. And Mr Fonseka can still draw a spontaneous crowd more effectively than any other opposition leader.<\/p>\n

A woman who waited in the sweltering heat outside the prison for hours to catch a glimpse of Mr Fonseka said she didn\u2019t come there come there \u201cfor 100 rupees and a pack of rice\u201d\u2014the bribe politicians typically offer to boost attendance at their rallies. She came because she felt a war hero had been done wrong.<\/p>\n

She did vote for President Rajapaksa, she says, \u201cbut that was some time ago\u201d.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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