The decks have been cleared for the release from jail of Sri Lanka’s former army chief, Lt Gen Sarath Fonseka. US pressure on the Sri Lankan government to release Fonseka, whom it describes as a political prisoner, appears to have forced President Mahinda Rajapaksa to free him. Once on the same side in their war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Rajapaksa and Fonseka had a bitter falling out weeks after the military defeat of the LTTE. Fonseka, who led the military campaign against the LTTE claimed credit for the government’s victory, which Rajapaksa supporters believed would not have been possible without the President’s leadership. Relations worsened when the President stripped Fonseka of his powers by ostensibly ‘rewarding’ him through a ‘promotion’ to the largely ceremonial post of chief of defence staff. Fonseka hit back by challenging Rajapaksa in the presidential elections. Within weeks of Rajapaksa’s landslide victory in that election, the government ordered Fonseka’s arrest. A military court found him guilty of engaging in politics while on active service, corruption, etc. Fonseka has been serving his jail sentence since then.
The former army chief’s record was far from clean. Yet it is hard to dispel the feeling that his arrest and jail sentence were politically motivated and aimed at eliminating the only potent challenge that existed to the Rajapaksa family’s grip over power in Sri Lanka. His jailing must be seen in the context of the larger atmosphere of intolerance that exists in the island today. All signs of dissent have been crushed and anyone who dares to take on the Rajapaksa brothers can be expected to be silenced or sidelined.
Hitherto, Rajapaksa refused to heed calls for freeing Fonseka. The change of heart now has to do with the growing international isolation of Sri Lanka following the passage of the United Nations Human Rights Council resolution, which has put Sri Lanka under pressure to bring to justice those responsible for the terrible killings during the final stages of the war, implement recommendations made by the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission and so on. Fonseka’s release seems aimed at mollifying an angry international community and pre-empting more UN resolutions. However, releasing Fonseka while welcome, is not enough. It is a cosmetic gesture.
The government needs to follow up by implementing the LLRC’s recommendations and freeing the country’s shackled democratic institutions. It needs to break the silence on the fate of hundreds of Sri Lankans - Tamil and Sinhala - who have disappeared since the end of the war.