Fonseka under house arrest- Death Threat on Somawansa : Is Gotabayaya Repression machine back at work?

EXCLUSIVE TO SRI LANKA GUARDIAN

"The Election Commissioner, while announcing the election result made a scathing speech stating that he had been put under such duress and threat to an extent that he could not bear anymore. He stated that the Commission is no longer capable of even protecting a ballot box."
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By Our Special Correspondent from Colombo

(January 28, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Retired General Sarath Fonseka is been kept under a house arrest while a plot to arrest him is been hatched by the ministry of defense. Director of media center for National Security (MCNS)Laksman Hulugalle told reporters that there were ample evidence of a plot of General Fonseka to assonated president Rajapakse and his family. This is clearly with the view to create a story to justify the arrest. Immediately after the 1982 election, the then President J. R Jayawardene made similar false accusation Mr. Vijaya Kumaranethunge (former president Mrs. Chandrika Kumarathunge’s husband) who was one of the strongest sopportes of the opposition candidate for presidency and kept him in detention in the pretext of similar false allegations, which is popularly known as ‘Naxalite’ plots. Observers clearly see the accusations made now are a pretext to arrest the main opposition candidate, Fonseka.

General Fonseka himself has repeatedly informed the media during the last two days that there is a plot to arrest and assassinate him. He has also written to the Election Commissioner through a letter that there is a threat to his life and requested the Commissioner to intervene through the office of the Inspector General of Police to guarantee safety to his life.

General Fonseka has rejected the election result and has stated that the announced results are fake and that in fact he has won the people’s mandate. The government would naturally want the rival to be silenced and also to disrupt the possibility of election petitions being filed to annul the election.

Several of Fonseka’s body guards were yesterday arrested when they left the hotel where Fonseka was staying during the past three days since he feared for his life. They were asked to knell down on the roads and handcuffed. The observers state that it is quite possible for the defense ministry to torture these detainees and to get false confessions stating that they were involved in a plot with Fonseka. A similar type of false statements was collected during the Naxalite plot of 1982.

Mean while the leader of the JVP has informed the media that he has been threatened by the Secretary of Defense, stating that he will be also assassinated. He had been asked to stop political activities and threats have been issued about the burning of his press. In January last year, the country’s leading journalist, Mr. Lasantha Wikremethunga was assassinated in broad daylight. He had predicted his death and stated that the President and the government will be held responsible for his death, in a letter published posthumously. The rivelry between the Secretary of Defense, Mr. Gotabhaya Rajapaksah and Lasantha Wikremathunga is well known.

The Election Commissioner, while announcing the election result made a scathing speech stating that he had been put under such duress and threat to an extent that he could not bear anymore. He stated that the Commission is no longer capable of even protecting a ballot box. He wanted to relinquish his duties within the coming few days and not have to do anything anymore with the Commission. The speech is seen as a clear indication of the frustration of the Commissioner who has been prevented from exercising his duties a free and a fair election.

The government moves to arrest Fonseka and to unleash repression is seen also as an attempt to go for a referendum instead of an election for the parliament as was done in 1982.

All indications are of a serious escalation of violence in the country. Given the past experiences during the recent decade, election related repression in Sri Lanka has been accompanied with causing of large-scale disappearances and extrajudicial killings.
Political observers and human rights organisations expressing fears of a period of repression unleashed by the Ministry of Defense, which has become a terrifying organization in Sri Lanka with capacities to cause large-scale arrest and detentions under the prevention of terrorism law. Human rights organizations also states that the failure of the international community and the India in particular to act effectively to prevent violence and human rights abuses in Sri Lanka has provided the opportunity for the government to continue its policies of terror and repression.