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| Squabbling in Victory |
| Saturday November 14, 2009 |
| How the coockie crumbles! In less than six months after the Sri Lankan forces militarily decimated the LTTE, the architects of that famous victory have fallen apart. Gen. Sarath Fonseka, who as the army chief plotted and executed a winning military strategy in the 33-month long Eelam War IV, has resigned as Chief Of Defence Staff, a position he was elevated to in less than a fortnight after the war ended on May 18. A charismatic and bold military strategist, Fonseka is a bitter man today. Indeed his popularity with the troops as well as with ordinary Sri Lankans, who rightly regard him as an authentic war hero, has, it seems, rattled the Rajpaksa brothers. As Gen. Fonseka now reveals in his long letter to President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the soldier in him felt let down by insinuations that the Sri Lankan Army may, at Gen. Fonseka's instigation, stage a miliatry coup. The President and his brother, Gotabaya, who too was largely responsible in fashioning the famous military victory, have proved to be insecure about Gen. Fonseka's rising stock. So in the intervening six months since the war ended, the brothers have done everything possible to undermine and undo Fonseka's legacy within the Army. Appointing Gen. Jagath Jayasurya, who had ery little role to play in the war as Fonseka's successor, was one such decision. Other formation commanders who had excelled themselves in the battle, and were perceived to be close to Fonseka were also sidelined unceremoniously. Of course it did not help that Fonseka is himself ery outspoken and too blunt for his own good. I remember how Defence Secretary Gotabaya had declined to give me. permission to interiew Fonseka in the middle of the war, fearing he would make some uncalled for statement! Now there is a possibility that Fonseka may become the Opposition's presidential candidate to take on Mahinda Rajapaksa. In their hour of victory the men responsible for LTTE's defeat are fighting for spoils of war! Vellupillai Prabhakaran must be laughing in his grave!! |
A student of conflicts, insurgencies and wars, Nitin Gokhale has spent 26 years reporting on military and militants from various hostile fields like India's north-east, Kashmir valley, the Kargil war, China and Sri Lanka, among others. He's currently NDTV's Defence and Strategic Affairs Editor.
