Gota! Please do not betray Sri Lanka!!

"Let me conclude by humbly appealing to you to give up politics at this difficult juncture. With the state patronage, I am sure you can find a sanctuary somewhere in Sri Lanka to keep away from the international community."
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Dear Gotabaya

(June 12, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) I always admired you as a man of extra-ordinary abilities. With the delegated powers from your brother, the President Mahinda Rajapakse, you did an exceptional job to finish off the LTTE’s military might. Your partnership with your one time schoolmate General Sarath Fonseka gave us the much wanted victory for us to sleep peacefully without the worry of being bombed by the LTTE suicide bombers.I will always be thankful for your contribution to finish off the LTTE.

Unfortunately, the victory over the LTTE appears to have made you lose your cool for the past twelve months. It has reached an alarming level when you appeared in the BBC interview recently to make some unacceptable and angry comments. I can understand your circumstances. The post defeat of the LTTE is not an easy one for you. On the one hand your one time buddy Gen Fonseka has become thorn in your flesh for you. On the other you are facing the wrath of the international community on war crimes allegations.

As a sincere admirer of you, I appeal to you to maintain some cool in the future. Unfortunately, your recent comments about Gen Fonseka during the BBC interview are beyond comprehension. When I was watching the interview, I thought you will suffer a heart attack due to hypertension as your anger and physical reaction to the very serious questions gave this feeling.

Unfortunately, my admiration for you is progressively fading. Look at your former colleague Gen Sarath Fonseka. Despite being held in captivity and put through a painful process of abuse, he has not lost his cool. Anything he says is considered to be acceptable to the free world.

Many of my colleagues whom oppose you vehemently argue that you are the cause of unwanted human rights violations in Sri Lanka. Some of my Tamil friends argue with authority that you were directly responsible over the killing of the surrendering LTTE men and women on the final stage of the war. One person who had close links to the international contacts on the last leg of the war said you advised Dr Palitha Kohana to tell the surrendering LTTE men to go with the white flags towards the military and surrender. Knowing very well that LTTE leaders are going to surrender, he says you had ordered the military in the frontline to the kill of these surrendees. When outright victory was in your hands, why did you go to the extent of eliminating the white flag carrying LTTE’rs without taking them into captivity? If you had captured Pirabakaran, Nadesan, Pulithevan, Pottu and scores of others without massacring them, you would be in the driving seat without experiencing the hypertensions today.

Many people say that you were behind the killing of the Sunday Leader editor Lasantha Wickramatunga. They tell me that you are preventing proper inquiry to be undertaken on the killing by exerting pressure on the police and the judiciary. Remember, Lasantha too was a good friend of my and I have strong attachments to him even when he is no more.

It looks like international pressure is going to mount on Sri Lanka and war crimes charges being brought against the perpetrators. I am worried about you. I am so worried that one day you will be nicked by the international community and brought before the war crimes court.

By your conduct, you have created an impossible situation for you. Even your Green Card status in the USA has to be thrown into the dustbin as you may become vulnerable to an international warrant to appear before court in The Hague.

Frequently, you are making unnecessary allegations against the LTTE over the failures of post war Sri Lanka. Having defeated the LTTE why do you have to still worry about the LTTE. You have over 2500,000 soldiers and the navy and army to violently suppress any threats in the future. When you are in such a commanding position after the defeat of the LTTE, why do you have to whip the dead LTTE anymore?

I am saddened it is not the leftover of the LTTE that is earning bad name for Sri Lanka internationally. These leftovers are sitting and laughing and drumbeating t that they can rest for sometime when you and the government publicity seekers are doing the unpaid freelance service for them to expose issues they much need. Look at the scale of the damage done with your BBC interview. This is the much wanted effortless propaganda that you have dished out in a golden platter to those yearning for. Your interview, at a stoke has done greater damage to Sri Lanka than what LTTE men are doing at present.

Let me conclude by humbly appealing to you to give up politics at this difficult juncture. With the state patronage, I am sure you can find a sanctuary somewhere in Sri Lanka to keep away from the international community. If Pirabakaran could have survived in Vanni after the Jayasikuru operation in 1992 for nearly 20 years, I am sure you are in a better position to live somewhere with the backing of the state intelligence service.

My honest regards and best wishes.

Yours sincerely
Citizen Silva