If the rising waves of social and political unrest are any measure of the gathering turmoil in Sri Lanka, it is unlikely that the island nation will regain its serendipity soon, and the snap parliamentary poll scheduled for April 8 may only make matters worse by exposing the deep fissures of frustration as it expands.
And for this rather disturbing state of affairs, the Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse may soon realise that he has no one else to blame but himself. Having won a protracted but major war against the formidable Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) last year, he has now unnecessarily got embroiled in a petty political battle with his former comrade in arms against the dreaded LTTE rebels.
The pettiness of it all is all the more obvious considering that Rajapakse despite defeating Sarath Fonseka, his former army chief and common opposition candidate in the January 26 presidential polls, has now chosen to detain the retired four-star general. The country’s Defence Ministry has said Fonseka will face a court-martial on “unspecified” charges of conspiring against the government. Why the charges remain “unspecified” is not clear, unless the intention is merely to implicate and discredit the former general and the many supporters in his ranks.
Incidentally, Defence Minister Gotabhaya Rajapakse, the president’s younger brother, has alleged that Fonseka had clearly been plotting a military coup. If so, it is a serious accusation that will have to be answered seriously—for it involves somebody who not so long ago was being hailed as a national hero for his role in finally crushing the LTTE.
Not surprisingly, the opposition has stepped up its campaign for Fonseka’s immediate release and there have already been violent clashes in the capital Colombo and in other parts of Sri Lanka between Fonseka loyalists and ruling party activists.
The president, who clearly does not view the situation as being in any sense politically precarious, is confident and counting on silencing his critics by once again routing the opposition forces in the forthcoming parliamentary elections. In the presidential polls he had secured a solid 58 per cent of the votes cast. But even a second successive victory against his rivals may now not be enough to protect him in power against a battalion of critics.
After all, when it comes to the more crucial task of rebuilding a nation so ravaged by civil strife and chaos and bloodshed for more than a quarter of a century, Mahinda Rajapakse will have to marshal all his resources and secure the support of all segments of a deeply fragmented society.
Also at stake is the revival of Sri Lanka’s $40 billion economy, beginning to recover its vibrancy on the strength of “post-war optimism” sweeping across the island.
The political popularity the president enjoys at present may prove to be quite fragile, if his political credibility ruptures any further in the Fonseka Affair. And this may happen all too easily even before the parliamentary polls since the country’s Supreme Court has already agreed to hear an appeal filed by Fonseka’s wife claiming that the ex-general’s detention is “illegal” and a gross violation of his fundamental rights.
The court is scheduled to reconvene for a further hearing of her petition on February 23. But the very fact that the Supreme Court has decided to take up Anoma Fonseka’s petition against the government’s decision is widely being projected as a “major victory” by the president’s detractors.
That is not all: The opposition is only too keen to strongly press on with its nationwide street protests, the legal challenge to Fonseka’s arrest and detention in military custody may gather more momentum as local and regional human rights groups join the fray and the international community which has already criticised the president’s decision as anti-democratic, may begin to mount more pressure to ensure its reversal.
The United States, European Union and the United Nations and several others have expressed concern and the expected international aid, so vital for the planned reconstruction and rebuilding of the war-torn nation may be jeopardised, bringing more misery to a people who have already suffered too much for too long.
As tensions begin to heighten, the island’s influential Buddhist clergy has also announced that it is concerned, “as serious doubts have been raised about democracy and good governance,” and that a meeting of all leading monks will be held later this week to decide on a course of action, “because we cannot afford to be silent.”
Once religion as well gets mixed up with politics, its consequences can be as unpredictable as volatile.
Mahinda Rajapakse has already proved to many of his compatriots that he is a consummate politician. What he now needs to prove is that he can also be a statesman. And for that, he will have to rise above the politics of pettiness he is pursuing. If not, he must remember that vendetta invariably leads to violence — of which Sri Lanka has already had more than enough!
- By Anand Sagar
Anand Sagar is Khaleej Times’ Foreign Editor, Professor Emeritus of the Indian Institute of Journalism & New Media, Bangalore, and Former Visiting Fellow, University of Oxford. He can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Courtesy: Khaleej Times
