The heading isn’t too dramatic now, is it?
Does it remind you of the opening credits of a movie starring our people’s hero Ranjan Ramanayake?
I hope not….no disrespect to RR. Your political views + your role as a saviour for thousands of locals desperately seeking help in the Middle East region has inspired me immensely.
Getting back on topic, the public was made aware last week that former General Sarath Fonseka, who was stripped down from his title and imprisoned in 2010, was to be released soon. President MR himself stated so to The Hindu at a small function which was held on the launch of the book Gota’s War.. (huh?)
Later on Anoma Fonseka was quoted saying that MR had assured her that her husband would be released within days. A statement released to the press by a presidential spokesman stated that MR had obtained approval from the Cabinet Ministers to release the General. (Since when did a President need approval to grant a presidential pardon, you may think..beats me as well..)
Many of you who have subscribed for mobile news alerts, would have received a story line on how MR stated that, it wasn’t the pressure from the US which led him to think about releasing the General, last week. (Well, nobody asked you Mr. President) The US had for long called SF a political prisoner and lately pressed the issues of human rights on the government which also led the European Union to ban duty-free export privileges on a number of products.
However amidst all the drama, today on the 22nd of May 2012, I personally witnessed SF being taken out of Nawaloka Hospitals to the Welikada Prison where he was released after the High Court granted him conditional bail for the case of harbouring Army deserters during the past presidential election. I’m quite unsure as to what the deal was with the White Flag case but I could only assume that the chargers were dropped on it due to the Presidential Pardon.
As always the ever so faithful were blocking the gates to Nawaloka Hospitals as they witnessed and cheered their leader being escorted out of the premises…
Now back to reality…
One question that I’ve been asking myself over and over is whether SF could return back to politics. As far as I know he hasn’t been stripped off his Civil Rights and that serves for the best. But the fact remains that he was sentenced for 02 years in jail and that he has been prisoned for more than 06 months which would disqualify him from running for any position as a candidate for 07 years from the time of release.
More about the possibility of SF running for a Presidential election would be revealed very soon. However only a President could grant that right as well, ruling out the facts which would disqualify him from doing so.
MR’s sudden move to release General Fonseka would certainly ease the minds of the Westerners on how they look at the Human Rights aspect of Sri Lanka. But would it fool the general public into forgetting more serious issues like Energy Saving problems, Inflation and freedom rights to a mind set where people would only focus on an election?
Up to you….









