Fonseka has brought disrepute to country

Hiran H. Senewiratne

Sarath Fonseka's recent statement to a Sunday newspaper has brought the country into disrepute, with the international community calling for a probe into the matter, Disaster Management and Human Rights Minister, Mahinda Samarasinghe said.

He said he will have to go before the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva in March 2010 to explain and answer these allegations.

The UN's Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Phillip Alston, is expected to submit a report to the Council pertaining to Sri Lanka. Minister Samarasinghe said Fonseka's comment will reflect adversely on the country by casting aspersions on the conduct of the Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, alleging that he had ordered 58 Division to shoot and kill senior LTTE members and their families who came to surrender bearing white flags.

This also raises a major issue in relation to the conduct of Present Army Commander Jagath Jayasooriya who was then the SF Commander - Vanni, he said.

The Minister said Fonseka is making these statements as the former Army Commander and Chief of Defence Staff and not merely as a politician. His statement at his old school Dharmasoka Vidyalaya, Ambalangoda justified the killing of several LTTE cadres who were killed around the time of the final battle.

His subsequent statement to the Sunday newspaper contradicted his earlier sentiments, he added. Sri Lanka is not State Party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), and that institution cannot prosecute members of the Army under any circumstances. However, Sri Lanka being a member state of the UN, the UN Security Council could pass a resolution asking the ICC in The Hague to initiate an investigation into any matter that is tantamount to war crimes, Minister Samarasinghe said.

"But Sri Lanka has not been subjected to any such allegations and we have successfully shown the world that our Defence Forces respected international humanitarian law and there is no proof that our Forces have perpetrated any crimes during the humanitarian operations carried out when eliminating terrorism from the country's soil," Minister Samarasinghe said.

"On the contrary, we have shown to the world that several allegations were invented or fabricated by parties that have allegiance to the LTTE."

Samarasinghe said Fonseka's statement creates concern and uncertainty in the country at a juncture when the President is engaged in a process of getting all communities together and marching forward to develop the country.