One law for all

Fonseka court martialled and punished 5,000 soldiers:

Nadira GUNATILLEKE

The country does not have three separate laws for ordinary soldiers, the head of the Army and for politicians. The country has one law for all. During the time of the former Army Chief, he severely punished and sent home over 5,000 brave soldiers who risked their lives to save the country, SLFP General Secretary and Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena said.

Addressing a special SLFP press briefing at the Mahaweli Centre, yesterday Minister Sirisena said that the UNP and the JVP did not speak on behalf of those 5,000 members of the Army at that time and are now trying to gain political advantage using the judgment given to the former Army Chief.

They are only interested in the politician and not interested in ordinary soldiers. According to Petroleum Industries Minister Susil Premajayantha, the Opposition Leader is now trying to wash the sins he committed during the humanitarian operation by talking about Sarath Fonseka. The country and the people are now focused on development. The Opposition is trying to drag the attention of the people towards something else.

If the Opposition sincerely wants to help Sarath Fonseka they can follow the relevant procedure and request a pardon from the President. An appeal can only be made to a Court. But without doing so they hold press conferences.

According to Youth Affairs Minister Dullas Alahapperuma, the Armed Forces adhere to the highest discipline and insulting the Army means degrading the entire Armed Force. Now the wife of the former Army Chief says officials are puppets wearing uniforms.

The same thing may came to the minds of the wives of high Army officials who were punished by court martial during the past.

During the time of the former Army Chief 156 high officials of the Army and 5,088 members of other ranks were sent home. Sri Lanka’s Armed Forces personnel were disciplined by being punished for offences in the past. It was the same members appointed by the former Army Chief who gave the judgment of the court martial.

According to the Army Act, the President as the Commander of the Armed Forces appointed members to the court martial. In world history there are several instances where heroes became traitors. The best example comes from France (Martial Petain).

According to Public Administration and Home Affairs Deputy Minister Dilan Perera, if the judgment given to the former Army Chief was political revenge, that would have been the case when the civic rights of former Prime Minister late Sirimavo Bandaranaike were abolished by bringing in new laws. The former Army Chief was punished for his offences under the existing law. This is not the first time he was punished. He was punished on an early occasion before becoming the Army Chief.

The UNP wanted to create problems in connection with the judiciary from the beginning. It was revealed when a high profile figure in the judiciary entered politics recently. The same conspiracy is still going on.