{"id":62041,"date":"2012-11-26T09:29:10","date_gmt":"2012-11-26T09:29:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=62041"},"modified":"2012-11-30T00:20:21","modified_gmt":"2012-11-30T00:20:21","slug":"president-used-tirans-negotiations-to-his-advantage-im-still-a-prisoner-in-welikada-fonseka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/president-used-tirans-negotiations-to-his-advantage-im-still-a-prisoner-in-welikada-fonseka\/","title":{"rendered":"President Used Tiran’s Negotiations To His Advantage, I’m Still A Prisoner In Welikada – Fonseka"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Colombo Telegraph<\/a><\/span> –<\/strong><\/p>\n

Former Army Chief and Common candidate at the 2010 Presidential election, Sarath Fonseka hit out at the negotiators of his release today, saying that he was yet to see a single document pertaining to his release, six months after he was freed from Welikada Prison.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Fonseka<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI still don\u2019t know the details of my release. All I was told was to bring my bag of belongings and come outside. They didn\u2019t tell me anything else. I think that in some ways I am still a prisoner in Welikada. The only difference is that I am outside those walls. Other than that I have not seen a single letter. In fact, when I was leaving Welikada Prison, I didn\u2019t even sign a book saying I was leaving to go home,\u201d the former General<\/a><\/span> told the Sinhalese \u00a0Lankadeepa<\/a><\/em><\/span> in an interview yesterday.<\/p>\n

He told the newspaper that he had instructed DNA MP Tiran Alles<\/a><\/span> to negotiate on the basis of four key points pertaining to his release – that he would be given full security afforded to him before his incarceration, that his civic rights would be restored, that everything he lost as a result of his incarceration would be reinstated and that he would be allowed to carry out his political activities without hindrance.<\/p>\n

Striking out at the negotiator of his release who recently quit the General\u2019s political movement, Fonseka said – \u201cperhaps Tiran Alles \u00a0negotiated the best he could. But all I am saying is that I didn\u2019t get the result I expected from these negotiations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alles and DNA MP Arjuna Ranatunga<\/a><\/span> recently quit the former General\u2019s political movement, an unregistered political party called the Democratic Party. However, both Alles and Ranatunga remain members of the Democratic National Alliance, the opposition coalition forged under Fonseka\u2019s leadership that includes the JVP and won seven seats in the 2010 parliamentary election. Alles is a National List MP of the alliance, appointed by Fonseka.<\/p>\n

Referring to Alles and Ranatunga\u2019s role in his release, Fonseka charged that Ranatunga had played no part in the negotiations for his release. He also said that while none of his conditions had been met, the President had made political mileage with his release. \u201cThe President used it to his advantage. He made it an opportunity to release me because at the time there was massive international pressure calling for my release. The Maha Sanga, the religious leaders in this country they were all calling for my release. The pressure from all these sections on the Government was intense. That is why they released me. So one person alone cannot claim the glory for that,\u201d the former Army Chief said.<\/p>\n

Fonseka added that neither Ranatunga nor Alles have a mandate from the people and only achieved their positions because of their proximity to him. \u201cThese are people who got a vote or two and then aspired to high ranking positions by being in my shadow. They became somebodies because they were close to me. People like that ultimately leave. There is nothing I can do about it. I didn\u2019t go to them to become a somebody. The people of this country know that,\u201d he told Lankadeepa.<\/p>\n

Referring to Alles\u2019 claim that he had forgotten to be grateful Fonseka said: \u201cI didn\u2019t go to jail for stealing or breaking into houses. I went to jail for carrying out a political campaign for my country and my people. I was imprisoned on false charges. Before that I fought to rid this country of terrorism. So even though I went to jail, the people of this country continued to be grateful. They grieved for me. They spoke for me. They cried for me. They held bodhi poojas for me. When I came out, none of them expected anything from me in return – and yet none of them say I am not grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alles negotiated for months to get Fonseka out of prison but no details of the release were ever made public. The former Army Commander was released from Welikada on May 21, 2012. \u00a0Tiran Alles who has been a DNA MP representing Fonseka\u2019s party for more than two years, was finally goaded into speaking after Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe<\/a><\/span> took jibes at him during a parliamentary session<\/span> <\/a>recently. Reading a prepared speech, in his response, Alles charged that Wickremesinghe was not doing his job as leader of the opposition even though he was maintained at tax-payers expense. Wickremesinghe shot back in his reply that he was an elected member of parliament and had been for decades and added that he was even elected to the position of UNP Leader, unlike the national list DNA MP. The UNP Leader said that MPs were maintained by the people and could not get away with not speaking on the peoples\u2019 behalf in the legislature.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":690,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2187,1,2375],"tags":[6712,6713,3409,3408,6714],"class_list":["post-62041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-most-popular","category-news","category-stories","tag-fonseka-on-tiran-alles","tag-sarath-fonseka-on-arjuna-ranatunga","tag-sarath-fonseka-on-mahinada-and-gota","tag-sarath-fonseka-on-rajapaksas","tag-sarath-fonseka-ranil"],"yoast_head":"\nPresident Used Tiran's Negotiations To His Advantage, I'm Still A Prisoner In Welikada - Fonseka - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/president-used-tirans-negotiations-to-his-advantage-im-still-a-prisoner-in-welikada-fonseka\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"President Used Tiran's Negotiations To His Advantage, I'm Still A Prisoner In Welikada - Fonseka - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/president-used-tirans-negotiations-to-his-advantage-im-still-a-prisoner-in-welikada-fonseka\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-11-26T09:29:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-11-30T00:20:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/sarath-fonseka-colombo-telgraph5.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"487\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"366\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/president-used-tirans-negotiations-to-his-advantage-im-still-a-prisoner-in-welikada-fonseka\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/president-used-tirans-negotiations-to-his-advantage-im-still-a-prisoner-in-welikada-fonseka\/\",\"name\":\"President Used Tiran's Negotiations To His Advantage, I'm Still A Prisoner In Welikada - Fonseka - Colombo Telegraph\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/president-used-tirans-negotiations-to-his-advantage-im-still-a-prisoner-in-welikada-fonseka\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/president-used-tirans-negotiations-to-his-advantage-im-still-a-prisoner-in-welikada-fonseka\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/sarath-fonseka-colombo-telgraph5.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-11-26T09:29:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-11-30T00:20:21+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/president-used-tirans-negotiations-to-his-advantage-im-still-a-prisoner-in-welikada-fonseka\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/president-used-tirans-negotiations-to-his-advantage-im-still-a-prisoner-in-welikada-fonseka\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/president-used-tirans-negotiations-to-his-advantage-im-still-a-prisoner-in-welikada-fonseka\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/sarath-fonseka-colombo-telgraph5.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/sarath-fonseka-colombo-telgraph5.jpg\",\"width\":\"487\",\"height\":\"366\",\"caption\":\"Fonseka\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/president-used-tirans-negotiations-to-his-advantage-im-still-a-prisoner-in-welikada-fonseka\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"President Used Tiran’s Negotiations To His Advantage, I’m Still A Prisoner In Welikada – Fonseka\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\",\"name\":\"Colombo Telegraph\",\"description\":\"In journalism truth is a process\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\",\"name\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"President Used Tiran's Negotiations To His Advantage, I'm Still A Prisoner In Welikada - Fonseka - Colombo Telegraph","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/president-used-tirans-negotiations-to-his-advantage-im-still-a-prisoner-in-welikada-fonseka\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"President Used Tiran's Negotiations To His Advantage, I'm Still A Prisoner In Welikada - Fonseka - Colombo Telegraph","og_description":"[…]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/president-used-tirans-negotiations-to-his-advantage-im-still-a-prisoner-in-welikada-fonseka\/","og_site_name":"Colombo Telegraph","article_published_time":"2012-11-26T09:29:10+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-11-30T00:20:21+00:00","og_image":[{"width":487,"height":366,"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/sarath-fonseka-colombo-telgraph5.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/president-used-tirans-negotiations-to-his-advantage-im-still-a-prisoner-in-welikada-fonseka\/","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/president-used-tirans-negotiations-to-his-advantage-im-still-a-prisoner-in-welikada-fonseka\/","name":"President Used Tiran's Negotiations To His Advantage, I'm Still A Prisoner In Welikada - Fonseka - Colombo Telegraph","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/president-used-tirans-negotiations-to-his-advantage-im-still-a-prisoner-in-welikada-fonseka\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/president-used-tirans-negotiations-to-his-advantage-im-still-a-prisoner-in-welikada-fonseka\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/sarath-fonseka-colombo-telgraph5.jpg","datePublished":"2012-11-26T09:29:10+00:00","dateModified":"2012-11-30T00:20:21+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/president-used-tirans-negotiations-to-his-advantage-im-still-a-prisoner-in-welikada-fonseka\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/president-used-tirans-negotiations-to-his-advantage-im-still-a-prisoner-in-welikada-fonseka\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/president-used-tirans-negotiations-to-his-advantage-im-still-a-prisoner-in-welikada-fonseka\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/sarath-fonseka-colombo-telgraph5.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/sarath-fonseka-colombo-telgraph5.jpg","width":"487","height":"366","caption":"Fonseka"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/president-used-tirans-negotiations-to-his-advantage-im-still-a-prisoner-in-welikada-fonseka\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"President Used Tiran’s Negotiations To His Advantage, I’m Still A Prisoner In Welikada – Fonseka"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/","name":"Colombo Telegraph","description":"In journalism truth is a process","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3","name":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH"},"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/sarath-fonseka-colombo-telgraph5.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62041"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62041\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62397,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62041\/revisions\/62397"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}