COLOMBO - Sri Lanka’s government sidelined top general Sarath Fonseka because of fears he would launch a coup, he wrote in a bitter resignation letter ahead of an expected election showdown with the president.
The letter, seen by AFP Friday, also criticizes President Mahinda Rajapakse’s government for a host of alleged failings, including its inability to “win the peace” after the end of a 37-year separatist war in May.
It gives a rare insight into events following the conflict and shows the total breakdown in trust between Fonseka and his civilian bosses.
Considered a war hero at home for his role in the army’s victory, Fonseka said that the government had asked India on Oct. 15 to prepare its troops to be deployed in the event of a military coup in Sri Lanka.
“This action did tarnish the image and reputation gained by the Sri Lanka army as a competent and professional organization, which was capable of defeating a terrorist group,” he said in his letter, written in English.
Fonseka handed in his resignation Thursday as chief of defense staff and is now widely tipped to challenge Rajapakse in polls set for April 2010 at the latest.
Sri Lanka’s army, led by Fonseka, wiped out the LTTE rebel group in May, ending the decades-long conflict but prompting allegations of gross human rights violations.
He had asked to step down from Dec. 1 but this was rejected by the president who has ordered him to leave immediately, the president’s spokesman said Friday.
The 58-year-old, from the majority Sinhalese ethnic group and known as a nationalist, criticized Rajapakse for failing to make peace with the Tamil minority on whose behalf the LTTE rebels launched their separatist fight.
Sri Lanka has no history of a military coup except an abortive attempt in 1962. - AFP