Will they unilaterally hang my father even if the courts say "No"?
by Apsara Fonseka
Yesterday, July 15 my father was supposed to be at Parliament at 9.30am for a Health Ministry advisory Committee meeting.
Despite a clear order by the courts that this Colombo District MP should be allowed without any hindrance to attend Parliamentary meetings, committee meetings, group meetings and other discussions relating to Parliamentary matters - the Military Commander didn't allow him to leave the navy head quarters where he is detained.
This is a direct and contemptuous violation of the court order by the Army Commander.
It is also the second violation of this kind.
My father is under civil law and the military is not allowed to dictate such terms as these to him. They provide him security but his daily routine and his constitutional rights are all under civil regulations and civil legislature.
This just goes to show that now the military, and those commanding the military deem themselves to be higher than the Sri Lankan legal system.
Are we now at a stage where, we are reverting to being subjects, serfs and slaves? Perhaps we should not even call our nation a Democratic Socialist Republic, but simply a Kingdom. For, we have no rights or freedoms anymore.
Will they now unilaterally "hang' my father, as threatened by the Defense Secretary, even though the courts say no?
If this is happening to an elected Member of Parliament - what rights will the general people of Sri Lanka have? What rights for the minorities?
On one hand they pile case upon case on my father. On the other, they stand in blatant violation of all court orders and even go further to harass and intimidate the legislature.
What happens when a trained military equipped with weapons, thinks it does not need to follow the laws of the land?
My father believes in accountability and the fairness of the legal system (when it is free from coercion might I add) - this is why he says time and time again that he will prove his innocence in any court of law. That he can stand up to any allegation. That he will face any accuser.
The military is not anyone's personal attendant - and the legal system is not simply a polite request.
The sooner we Sri Lankans understand this the sooner we can stop this horrible tide from drowning us all
10 Comments
Dear Apsara,
I am really sorry for your situation but your farther was a army commander and he was friend with devil and played hard core against Tamils I know that was his duty and when he knew the devil is acting up he should resign or retired his post but he didn't do it because it seems he was in the part of the devil play now come back and bite him what he did
The devil is taking entire family for a revenge " it is a Tamil proverb "if you put a garment on a thorn fence you have take it out little by little" if you rush it it will get destroyed
Take the time and find the proper Chanel to get him off the HOOK
Your father is the one along with his former friends who brought this jungle law to Sri Lanka!!!! Now it has come back to haunt him!!! I am sure other former and present "rulers" will one day face the music. Your father lit the fire under him by being instrumental in nurturing a monstrous, blood thirsty Government!!
You all were happy and walking in the clouds without any conscience or pity or empathy when thousands thousands of innocent lives were wantonly destroyed, maimed for life, millions worth of their property and livelihood went up in smoke. You did not think of registering your protest or talking to your father, but was enjoying the ill gotten money got from illegal arms deals!!! Literally killing was the business which brought you all the luxuries you are enjoying now!!!Everything has a price in this world. May be your family is paying the price for the sins your father committed!!!
Dear Aspara,
Your efforts are admirable.
You are bound to do better with your understanding of issues if you read the article written by Gordon Weiss published in transcurrents.com, two articles above yours.
You are bound to do even more better with your understanding of issues if you grab a copy of Gordon Weiss's book on the last stages of the war and the plight of SL's Tamil population.
Best of luck.
"My father believes in accountability.." Many will disagree with you - and some of them within the army itself when he was head. As to your conclusion "my father believes in the fairness of the legal system" let's wait and see. We hope you will not have to say the opposite at some future date.
The Tamil people come from an ancient race and tradition. They believe in fate (karma) and they have suffered before. Many of those held for months no different to animals under barbed-wire fencing were silently remembering the wisdom of their religion, race and the mysterious way in which fate moves."Accountabilty"excluded them. They too had
abject "faith in the legal system" but the system cared little for them. This is not to suggest even the remotest thoughts of retribution. This is historical repetition what they have seen before - again and again - in their old history. An ancient people with a long cultural tradition cannot be broken and sent to extinction by the mere force of superior arms and a numerically strong armed forces factor.
ISS
SF is being denied his basic human rights.
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Pages/whatarehumanrights.aspx
People keep thinking that Human Rights are something abstract and unimportant and that those who talk about them as being unimportant busybodies.
When they awake, to what it really means, it is often too late.
Your father was responsible for 40,000 innocent Tamils death!!! This includes, children, babies, unborn babies, pregnant mothers, grandfathers, grandmothers!!! How many did he maim for life? How many did he make paupers and homeless? What is the environmental damage he caused which would cause irreparable damage to generations to come?
It is time for him to pay the price!!! His partners in crime, now turned foes will have to wait their turn!!!!
Of course he made enough money to last for generations to come!!! Which would make you also a partner to the genocide!!!
I will not shed my tear for SF. after all hes only want's talk about accountability when it comes his 'own case' against Rajapaksa's.
But under his command 1000's of civilians have been killed and disappeared. who will speak for them ? where is the justice for them ?
Its not just SF who is being held in prison, unfairly , there are more then 15,000 young tamil people in prisons just with out any convictions or trials.
At least SF is getting a trial and attention by media. But these ordinary people, do not have none of that.
They have mothers and wifes as well.
Your father was an ungrateful man. If he wasn't appointed commander of the army by President Rajapakse just thirteen days before his retirement, he would have been another obscure Major General sweating somewhere in Oklahoma.
Leave that aside as his personal vendetta against Rajapakses, we cannot forgive him for implicating our war heroes like Shawendra Silva. I do not know about him being hanged, he would certainly be in jail for a long time to come.
Even if he is hanged, none would shed a tear for him for he is no more a hero but a plain traitor.
In time, all criminals get their due. Fonseka now, Rajapakse later.
If Sri Lanka was a kingdom (like what existed prior to March 1815), SF would have been hanged by now for treason.
If Apsara is so concerned about the law of the land, she would have persuaded Danuna to surrender to courts.
This is all double talk