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Sri Lanka alerted India on coup fear
Colombo, Nov. 13 (PTI):General Sarath Fonseka has claimed that President Mahinda Rajapaksa sidelined him and asked India to put its troops on alert because of fears that the army would stage a coup.
In his resignation letter, which was accepted by the government today, Fonseka said the Lankan government had asked India on October 15 to put its troops on alert for deployment on the island in the event of a coup.
“This action did tarnish the image and reputation gained by the Sri Lankan army as a competent and professional organisation which was capable of defeating a terrorist group,” the former chief of defence staff said in the letter. Fonseka, widely credited with the army’s dominant role in winning a 25-year war with the Tamil Tiger rebels, stepped down yesterday after weeks of rumours that he and Rajapaksa had fallen out.
The main Opposition United National Party and the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna have united in fanning rampant speculation they will back Fonseka as a common candidate and antidote to Rajapaksa’s post-war popularity. Fonseka yesterday said he would decide whether to run for President after he gave up the uniform.
In the letter, titled “Factors affecting my retirement from the regular force of the army”, Fonseka said he was promoted to the new post with no authority because of misleading reports of a coup in Sri Lanka.
“Various agencies misled Your Excellency (Rajapaksa) by stating that a coup was possible immediately after the victory over the LTTE which obviously led to a change of command in spite of my request to be in command until the army celebrated its 60th anniversary.
“This fear psychosis of a coup is well known among the defence circle,” Fonseka said in the letter to Rajapaksa.
The general said: “It was painful that the same army which gained victory for the nation was suspected of staging a coup and thereby alerting the government of India once again on the 15th of October 2009, unnecessarily placing the Indian troops on high alert.”
Fonseka said: “This suspicion would have flowed due to the loyalty of the army towards me, as its past commander who led them to the historic victory,”.
Fonseka questioned the appointment of his successor, asking how an officer having a disciplinary inquiry pending against him could be promoted as the chief of army staff. He accused Rajapaksa of “disregarding” his recommendation of elevating Major General G.A. Chandrasiri, who had an exemplary war record, as the commander of the army instead of the present incumbent.
Fonseka also accused the President’s brother, defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, of misleading him on the authority vested in the chief of the defence staff. “I was made to understand that the appointment carried more command responsibilities and authority than earlier, but, subsequent to my appointment, a letter by the strategic affairs adviser to the secretary defence indicated that my appointment was purely to coordinate the services,” he said.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1091114/jsp/frontpage/story_11739871.jsp
