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A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
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Saturday, January 21, 2012
Fonseka Is Between Scylla And Charybdis
Saturday, January 21, 2012 - Equivocation on criminality in the name of peace has made peace ever more remote
By Uvindu Kurukulasuriya
Sarath Fonseka, Namal Perera after being attacked AND Tamil civilians killed during the war Picture courtesy: www.asiantribune.
Any which way one looks at a Fonseka pardon, he is between the devil and the deep blue sea. Speculation is rife whether the former army commander Sarath Fonseka will be given a presidential pardon before the March 2012 United Nations Human Rights Council sessions. Even if he is pardoned, it looks like he will be faced with a war crimes trial abroad. Fonseka is a Legal Permanent Resident in the United States and has family and property in Oklahoma.
A leaked US Embassy cable, dated 15 January 2010, updated the Secretary of State on war crimes accountability, following the end of the country’s long and bloody conflict. Ambassador Butenis noted there had been some limited progress in investigating potential war crimes, but added: “There are no examples we know of a regime undertaking wholesale investigations of its own troops or senior officials for war crimes while that regime or government remained in power. In Sri Lanka this is further complicated by the fact that responsibility for many of the alleged crimes rests with the country’s senior civilian and military leadership, including President Rajapaksa and his brothers and opposition candidate General Fonseka”.
A leaked US Embassy cable, dated 15 January 2010, updated the Secretary of State on war crimes accountability, following the end of the country’s long and bloody conflict. Ambassador Butenis noted there had been some limited progress in investigating potential war crimes, but added: “There are no examples we know of a regime undertaking wholesale investigations of its own troops or senior officials for war crimes while that regime or government remained in power. In Sri Lanka this is further complicated by the fact that responsibility for many of the alleged crimes rests with the country’s senior civilian and military leadership, including President Rajapaksa and his brothers and opposition candidate General Fonseka”.
