Row over Sirisena’s role in the war victory
He is known for goose-stepping into many a controversy, saying the right thing in the wrong place or the wrong thing in the right place.
The man who led troops to the military defeat of Tiger guerrillas, now Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka, has no qualms about the lethal verbal volleys he fires. He is as adept as his troops who triggered small arms and heavy weapons to trounce a deadly enemy in a bloody three-decadelong separatist war. This time, however, it was over an issue that is very close to his heart – how the war ended.
Still his Commander-in-Chief (as a Field Marshal, he serves until death) President, Maithripala Sirisena made a hitherto unknown revelation during a speech to Sri Lankans in New York. “I am the person who is most aware of what happened. The former President (Mahinda Rajapaksa), former Defence Secretary (Gotabaya Rajapaksa) and the former Army Commander (then Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka) were not in Sri Lanka.
“Most people forget this fact. People don’t know why they were not in the country but I know,” he told a group of businessmen, professionals and students. He then declared, “The government had reports that there would be an attack on Colombo by groups of (guerrillas) who may storm in from Chennai (capital of the southern Tamil Nadu State in India). That is why all had left the country. That is the real story.” That is not all. Sirisena added, “I was not in Colombo but stayed in different parts of the country. That is because they (the guerrillas) would otherwise know where we were staying. This is my experience of the war….”
A detailed fact check revealed that only former President Rajapaksa and the then Army Commander Lt Gen Sarath Fonseka were out of Sri Lanka. Rajapaksa left Colombo on May 14, 2009 with his then Premier Ratnasiri Wickremanayake. They attended the G 11 summit and the World Economic Forum in the Jordanian capital of Amman and returned to Colombo on May 17, 2009. Other compulsions that necessitated their departure cannot be reported for reasons of national security though they do not relate to any specific personal threats to them. During Rajapaksa’s four days of absence, the then Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena, was named the acting Defence Minister. This is in view of his seniority in the party and he was also General Secretary of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP).
Thus Sirisena’s acting role was not two weeks as claimed by him but four days. The then Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka left Colombo for Beijing on May 16. He was back in Colombo on May 19, 2009 when Rajapaksa announced in Parliament that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had been defeated and the areas it dominated had been liberated. Colonel (Ret) Gotabaya Rajapaksa never left Sri Lanka.
Fonseka in his remarks likened Sirisena to corporals and sergeants. Reacting to Sirisena’s remarks, he told reporters that the end of the war was not a thing that came about “during the last two or three weeks.” That period, he said, “was left to the corporals and sergeants. Therefore, people who think like corporals and sergeants may think that it is during the last two weeks they could perform.” He also asserted that “We did not have an Army which goes into hiding. Even Former President Rajapaksa and Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa did not hide in fear.”
Fonseka added: “…..If he continues to poke his finger into others’ business it will end up being like when the monkey got its tail caught in a wedge. Therefore, in whatever the people who are working in an acting capacity, was it enough time to understand which took place during two years and nine months? Can an acting person change plans of the war? Can you win a war by doing odd things? He should understand that if he at least has a brain. He says that the south Indians will bomb us. I don’t know who gave him that dead rope. He said that he was hiding. That maybe correct. We did not have an Army which went into hiding; we did not have such commanders”.
Uttering those words, coupled together with a few other outbursts in the past, may see the exit of Fonseka from the Cabinet. Sirisena, who promoted him from the rank of a General to Field Marshal, for supporting him at the presidential election in January 2015, wants to remove him from the portfolio. He is now Minister for Regional Development.
Whilst the Constitution stipulates that the President shall, from time to time, “in consultation with the Prime Minister, where he considers such consultation to be necessary, “determine the number of ministers and appoint MPs to be in charge of ministries,” it is silent regarding removal of ministers and only says that “the President may, at any time, change the assignment of subjects of the Cabinet of Ministers…” Sirisena is now seeking legal opinion and studying different options. In all of this, he is spoiling for fight with the UNP.
Another remark by Fonseka that has annoyed the President is public insults he (Fonseka) hurled at the sitting Army Commander, Lt Gen. Mahesh Sananayake. The Army chief has told the President that he had not been able to service some requests made by Fonseka for promotions and transfers within the Army. Those who sought promotions had disciplinary inquiries where misconduct has been proved. Those who were seeking transfers were not entitled to the positions they sought. This had offended Fonseka, the Field Marshal he is. The remarks led to condemnation by senior officers in the military. On an earlier occasion, Fonseka berated Sirisena for not appointing him the Minister of Law and Order. This forced Sirisena not to swear him in until he explained himself, a matter which Fonseka did. Yet, in media reports on the issue, Fonseka claimed he had not apologised to the President.
President Sirisena’s remarks in New York go much deeper than others who have been making factually erroneous statements about winning the war. Here are some of the main reasons;
(1) During former President Rajapaksa’s absence from Sri Lanka for four days, no meetings of the National Security Council (NSC) were held. That was the forum every President used to be hands-on with regard to the conduct of the separatist war or on other matters of national security.
(2) It was Gotabaya Rajapaksa as Defence Secretary who chaired conferences of the armed forces commanders, chief of police and heads of different intelligence agencies. This is where he issued directives, whenever necessary and kept track of the war until its conclusion.
(3) President Sirisena’s remarks did ruffle some feathers in New Delhi’s South Block where the Indian External Affairs Ministry is located. There were murmurs that the suggestion of Tiger guerrillas operating from Indian soil (“Chennai jungles”) to carry out attacks in Colombo or elsewhere seemed to suggest that it was with the acquiescence of the Indian Government. This is particularly so since activities in Tamil Nadu came under close watch of Indian security agencies during the final stages of the separatist war.
A diplomat said on the telephone “we knew the remarks were factually inaccurate and therefore we need not worry too much.” Moreover, the Sri Lankan Navy had placed a naval cordon supplemented on the opposite side by Indian Coast Guard. An Indian frigate was also known to be off the waters of Trincomalee. This was why top rung LTTE leaders including Velupillai Prabhakaran could not escape through any sea route and were forced to meet with their deaths.
Both India and the United States extended valuable assistance to the security forces to militarily defeat the guerrillas. It is the satellite imagery provided by India that helped Air Force to carry out air attacks on LTTE ammunition dumps and other installations. The US provided intelligence on the floating armoury off the waters of Indonesia while the Sri Lanka Navy was credited with destroying it.
(4) President Sirisena’s remarks come in the backdrop of a meeting of retired armed forces commanders he summoned last month. The purpose was to seek their help to write the “real” history behind the final stages of the war. Would this have included Sirisena’s claims that he fought the war when all other political leaders in power and the army commander fled the country? One need hardly say that task would be re-writing history and does not reflect well on the troops who have made tremendous sacrifices.
The President also told his last meeting with heads of media institutions that retired military officers were writing books promoting themselves and giving their own versions. The fact that such officers could be taken to task by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) was lost on him. Not surprisingly when top MoD bureaucrats are clueless on such issues. Those that were covered by the Official Secrets Act require prior MoD clearance, a standard practice worldwide.
Of course, Sirisena is not the only President to claim that he directed the final stages of the war. In an interview with Sirasa television in February 2013, onetime President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga declared; “Who achieved war victory in Jaffna? Was it Mahinda Rajapaksa? No, it was in my government’s period the war victory was achieved. When we came to power, about 80% of the five northern districts were under the LTTE….. We pushed them to areas like Mullaitivu, Kilinochchi, Puthukudiyiruppu and cornered them. …….”
Even these remarks contained factual inaccuracies. Troops suffered some of the worst setbacks during her tenure. There were also widespread allegations of corruption after she permitted “crisis purchases” – euphemism for leaving aside tender procedures. That created a new generation of millionaires in and outside uniform.
The claims are better explained by the remarks of the charismatic American President the late John F. Kennedy. He said victory has many fathers but defeat is an orphan. In the US, in April 1961, 1,400 Cubans who fled after Fidel Castro took over made an abortive attempt to oust him. They took part in an invasion which floundered. Within 24 hours, they had to surrender.
There was victory when Sri Lankan troops militarily defeated the LTTE. Yet, it is ‘news’ that Sirisena, like the target board, has drawn attention to himself over the alleged human rights violations and war crimes, a charge in an American-backed resolution before the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, The then Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera, an ardent believer of the “John Kerry Doctrine” extended support by co-sponsoring it. Kerry was then then US Secretary of State. What a paradox!! No one still knows whether the co-sponsorship was approved by the Cabinet, the President or the Prime Minister or the minister was acting on his own. He could not be contacted for a response.