Analysing the Fonseka agenda


Qadijah Irshad (Spotlight) / 30 May 2012
In an interview with Khaleej Times at his temporary residence outside Colombo, Fonseka, who led his troops to victory during the last phase of the three decade internal war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE) speaks of his success as a commander, the turbulent years following the end of the war, his political views and his uncertain future.

Prison seems to have matured Fonseka who agrees that the two-and-half years in a 12 by 12 foot cell had been ‘a point of transition’. A previously vociferous candidate who repeatedly hurt the minority Tamil and Muslim sentiments during a bitter presidential race against President Mahinda Rajapaksa in 2010, Fonseka at 62 chooses his words with more care now. To fight corruption, he says, would be the reason he would re-enter politics. He revealed that LTTE Chief V. Prabhakaran’s son was never found after the war, accuses the government of corruption, challenges the United Nations for war crimes allegations, shares his thoughts on Prabhakaran’s war and offers his plans for reconciliation and demilitarisation.

Q: How has the prison term changed you?

A: Prison has been a good transition from military to politics. If it had gone straight from the military seat to the president’s seat things could have been different. I would have only seen and known the people around me in the political campaign without getting a look at the grass root level — the needs and requirements of the people and the real psychology of the politicians of the country — now I know better. Full Story>>>