SARATH FONSEKA
Former Sri Lankan Army chief, Sarath Fonseka will be court-martialled for military crimes during his time as army chief. He was arrested on 8th February, 2010 by Military Police for revealing military secrets and also plotting the assassination of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Fonseka played an important role in the government’s military offensive against Tamil Tiger rebels and ended the 26 year Sri Lankan Civil War in 2009 and he was the main competitor to Rajapaksa in the country’s sixth presidential election in which Rajapaksa defeated him by 1.8 million votes.
BIOGRAPHY
Sri Lanka’s most successful army commander, Sarath Fonseka was born on 18th December, 1950 in Ambalangoda, Southern Province, Srilanka as the son of Peter and Piyawathie Fonseka. He gained his education from ‘Dharmasoka College’, Ambalangoda and ‘Ananda College’, Colombo. Fonseka joined the Sri Lanka Army in 1970 and he rose into the rank of Chief of Staff of the Sri Lankan army within a short time. He appointed as the commander of the army in 2005 and he played an important role in the capture of the Elephant Pass and Mankulam. In 2009, the Sri Lankan military completely defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam organization. As a commander of army, he was a key figure in the defeat of LTTE after 26 years of civil war. After that, he considered as a national hero by the majority of Sri Lankans and he was raised to a four star rank in the Sri Lanka Army. He is the first officer to hold that four star rank. He also survived an assassination attempt when an LTTE suicide bomber attacked his motorcade in April 2006. After the defeat of the Tamil Tigers, Fonseka was appointed as the Chief of Defence Staff by President Mahinda Rajapaksa. He resigned this post on 16th November, 2009 due to the desire of enter politics. On 29th November, 2009, Fonseka formally announced his candidature in the ‘2010 Sri Lankan Presidential Election’ and he became the main competitor to President Rajapaksa. In the election. he was defeated by Rajapaksa by 1.8 million votes, but he refused to accept the election results published by the Election Commissioner. He was arrested on 8th February, 2010 by Military Police for revealing military secrets and also plotting the assassination of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. He is married to Anoma Indumathi Munasinghe and they have two children Aparna and Apsara.
AWARDS
Sarath Fonseka had gained many awards in his army career. He gained gallantry medals including ‘Rana Wickrama Padakkama’ (RWP), ‘Rana Sura Padakkama’ (RSP),service medals; ‘Vishista Seva Vibhushanaya’ (VSV), ‘Uttama Seva Padakkama’ (USP) and other notable medal campaign medals; ‘Riviresa Campaign Services Medal’, ‘Purna Bhumi Padakkama’, ‘North and East Operations Medal’, ‘Desha Putra Sammanaya’ etc.
