by a special correspondent
(September 03, Los Angeles, Sri Lanka Guardian) Apsara Fonseka,. the eldest daughter of the former commander of the victorious Sri Lanka army, General Sarath Fonseka, was in Los Angeles rallying the commander’s supporters to a movement to get him free from government detention.The former General (retired) was jailed after he provoked the government by contesting the President of Sri Lanka unsuccessfully at the last elections, the protesters charged.
Apsara Fonseka, a post graduate student in a US university called the act of the Sri Lanka government, the jailing of the opposition candidate, that happened for the first time since the parliamentary democracy was introduced in the country, a dangerous precedent to launch a dynastic dictatorship in the island nation and she charged independent judiciary has been aborted to take the drastic step. She said her father’s detention is an ominous part in the government’s grand plan to silence the opposition, intimidate journalists and violate human rights.
She was leading a group of political supporters among the expatriate Sri Lankans in a “pooja” to deities to invoke their blessings to pressure the Sri Lankan government and also took part in cracking coconuts to pray for punishment for the wrongdoers at the Malibu Hindu Temple , close to Los Angeles.
Speaking at the coconut cracking ceremony, Saman Boralage a supporter of the Southern California movement to press Sri Lanka to free Fonseka said the former General Fonseka , who has been stripped of all his titles and medals by President Rajapaksa “over political vendetta” is the true hero of Sri Lanka in modern times who lead the armed forces of Sri Lanka to victory after a 30 year war with the Tamil Tigers. After retirement he joined the opposition political forces that lead to this rage of a political vendetta by those who wants to establish a ruling dynasty, Boralage said . It has become government policy to attempt to quell all political forces who seem to be an obstruction at the gate of this dictatorship, he added.
The following is an interview this correspondent held with Apsara Fonseka after the political agitation:
Question: Why are you making poojas to the deities?
Answer: We are convinced that there is a superior spiritual power that would give better judgements than we against evil doers. That makes us get involved in these religious activities.
Q: Were you encouraged by the events at the temple?
A: Though similar events had been done before this is the first time I get involved in such agitation. I am very much encouraged that we are not alone in this battle. Lot of sympathizers for this pro-democracy movement came to support my father and pray that he be released from the unjustifiable political jail he is languishing in at present.
Q: Why should the world be worried about General Fonseka’s detention by the government?
A: We wouldn’t be worried if not for the fact that the system of justice is not interfered with in Sri Lanka and the parliamentary democracy is not itself being threatened. There should be fairness in politics. My father is being held by an anti-democratic government as he dared to contest the President in an election.
Q: How do you think democracy is threatened in Sri Lanka?
A: Everybody with good conscious could see that democracy in Sri Lanka is threatened and the country is moving towards a dictatorship. The whole world is alarmed.
Q: Do you also see this as a method to silence the opposition in the parliament?
A: Yes. For the government they may be thinking this as a method to silence at least part of the opposition since my father is a leader of a significant opposition political party called the Democratic National Alliance. But all such attempts to crush democracy all over the world have failed and the people’s power has prevailed.
Q: Is the international community realizing that the imprisonment of your father is a great injustice?
A: Highly positioned people in the international arena who are called Elders group have been alarmed by the acts of the Sri Lanka government। “The Elders are independent group of eminent global leaders brought together by Nelson Mandela , who offer their collective influence of experience to support peace building and address major causes of human suffering and promote the shared interest of humanity.” They said , “The prosecution , intimidation, assassination and disappearance of government critics, political opponents, journalists and human rights defendants” concern them. A member of the group Bishop Esmond Tutu said, “The ongoing persecution and disappearances of human rights activists , journalists and government opponents is truly terrifying.” Despite intimidation by Sri Lankan embassy in Washington DC and the Los Angeles Consul General’s office against expatriates that they would be dealt with when they visit Sri Lanka Sri Lankan expatriates increasingly flock to our events and openly declare that the gravest injustice has been done to my father. The two main Buddhist sects in Sri Lanka have told the President that they did not approve of the injustice. Even a Hindu priest at today’s pooja to invoke the blessings of the deities told me that soon truth will prevail and the unfairness will be compelled to be removed.
Q. Do you think the human rights of your father has been violated by the Sri Lankan government?
A. As a non convicted person he has a right to decide on his own doctor .He has been denied of this by the government. He has even been denied to be x-rayed to locate the moving shrapnel in his body which he received during three near fatal attacks by the Tamil Tigers. He has been denied to go out and have fresh air and sunlight. The Sri Lankan courts ordered him to have a treadmill for exercise of his lungs and the government has even denied that. As a parliamentarian the Speaker has allowed him to come and attend parliamentary committee meetings. The government has even denied this.
Q. When such injustice happen don’t people in Sri Lanka protest?
A. Yes they do. When a great mass of people demonstrated in the Southern capital of Galle in Sri Lanka against the injustice two parliamentarians were assaulted by the police. When they visited the police station to complain to higher officials they were locked up. The unarmed parliamentarians were accused of beating up the armed police! But when a government minister demonstrated against the United Nations office in Colombo to protest against UN’s interest in human rights and obstructing the daily activities of the mission police were instructed to support it. . When the police came to maintain law and order the Defense Secretry personally ordered them out. When a thug called Mervyn Silva was removed from the cabinet due to public uproar the government also allowed his supporters to demonstrate. There is anarchy. No law and order in the country. Double standards prevail everywhere.
Q.Do you have a message for the people in Sri Lanka?
A. I want to thank all people who stand up to these abominable wrongs and put an effort in trying to make a change. (EOM)
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