Steven Sakur, the "Hard Talk" guy at BBC, is insisting that retd. General Sarath Fonseka, in a clandestine telephone interview with Sakur, had said he would be prepared to testify before any independent investigation of alleged abuses during the war in Sri lanka. This claim could well be true given the recent happenings centered aound the retired General.
Parallel to this incident, several other parties have raised their concerns about Sri lanka. Navanethem Pillay, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, recently stated that she wanted an international investigation panel to examine the happenings during the last week of the Wanni mission. Within days of this statement, the Special Rapporteur of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, Philip Alston, in his annual report to the UN council, pointed out that an independent international investigation should be carried out in Sri Lanka. The Human Rights Watch also had some similar comments about the situation as well.
But all these protests and accusations about war crimes in Sri Lanka faced a major setback when the Israeli forces attacked a few humanitarian aid ships bound for Gaza. But as usual, and as expected, that inhumane attack was dissolved without much fuss.
The retd. General Fonseka again came into the limelight when BBC, on June 6th, released a statement made by him alleging that there are eye-witnesses against the Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse, who has supposedly ordered his subordinates to kill the surrendered LTTE leaders. This eye-witness was said to be a Sri Lankan journalist who is now hiding overseas. The Defence Secretary in response to this claim has said that the retired General is altering the truth and that he has become a traitor to his mother land.
Actually who is this so called eye-witness? He's non other than the infamous Bomberdier, who was the right arm of the retired General during the latter stages of the war. Loads of his misbehaviours and frauds are starting to come up now with the retired general no longer in power; it is said that the Army personnel in higher ranks weren't able to do anything about this mediaman during the war period because of his close connections with the retired General.
How can this guy be an eye-witness? Did the Defence Secretary issued the orders to kill while Bomberdier was in the vicinity? That is very unlikely to happen. In fact, nothing short of this kind of a hollow behaviour can be expected of a man who tried to safeguard the Millenium City incident in 2002. The problem is how and why did the retired General put faith in this kind of a person?
According to the defence reporter in Sunday Divaina newspaper, Bomberdier is currently operating in the European region, and has drawn hands with the LTTE supportive media group. This group is mainly said to be operating in France, Germany and Switzerland.
Considering the situation in Sri lanka, the TNA leader R.Sambandan has requested the President to allow foreign NGOs to resume their operations in North. The president has duly turned down the request, stating that the Tamils should believe in the government. But according to the British newspaper The Guardian, Tamils have other ideas. "You will see within the next two or three years, these same Tamil people will begin a new armed struggle. A new war led by a new leadership", Sambandan has voiced the Tamils.
A so called major revealation By the Tamils Against Genocide (TAG) recently sent heat waves throughout the world; claiming that they have obtained a 100 page sworn affidavit from a senior commander of SL Army which contains proof about war crimes. This senior commander's services were terminated a long time ago based on his involvement in political activities, and is said to be living abroad. It is pretty much clear that this affidavit is full of bogus claims, but it goes onto show the extent to which a man can betray his country.
Sri Lankan government is facing tough times currently, and the future is not that bright either. The fluency and the transparency in handling these situations may decide the country's fate.
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