"Even if General Sarath Fonseka had made mistakes we owe to him as a nation so that he could live in dignity and that he could live with his basic rights," said Rosy Senanayake, UNP member of Parliament joining in an exclusive interview with Boston Lanka News.
Ms. Senanayake is in Los Angeles to participate in a series of demonstrations organized by the Sri Lankan expatriate community in California to demand the release of Former army commander General Sarath Fonseka.
In responding to a questions posed by Boston Lanka News about the way the Sri Lankan government is treating a war hero, Ms. Senanayake said, "I do not think the people in Sri Lanka do accept the fact that General Sarath Fonseka is kept as a prisoner and in the way he was treated and the vast majority of people do believe that this is politically motivated and for that reason alone that he is being basically harassed."
According to Ms. Senanayake the President Rajapaksa and the Sri Lankan government knows that it was General Fonseka who led the troops to defeat the most ruthless terrorist group in the world and as the man who contribute immensely to win the war General Sarath Fonseka deserves to have his dignity and his freedom.
When asked by Boston Lanka News about the recent comment by the Justice Minister Athauda Seneviratne in the parliament that Gen. Sarath Fonseka should not be pardoned as he was serving a prison sentence on being convicted of fraud, Ms. Senanayake responded "its all in President's hands". As Ms. Senanayake pointed out the president as the head of the state has all the power to pardon any prisoner and in fact he did pardon thousands of prisoners recently. "As a nation, as a people we are immensely grateful to General Fonseka who led the troops to win the war and we owe it to him to allow him to be free and for him to live in dignity" said Ms. Senanayake.
Responding to a question about the role the Sri Lankan Diaspora could play, Ms. Senanayake said, "I would like to see the Sri Lankan Diaspora could come together to see exactly how the government is running the state of affairs and running the country and the Diaspora should put in pressure on the government to make sure that there is good governance and not a dictatorship." Ms. Senanayake also emphasized her desire to see the Diaspora playing a more active role in putting pressure to the government to bring a genuine political solution that is acceptable to all the people in the nation.
The entire interview with Ms. Rosy Senanayake, Member of Parliament will be carried in the next Boston Lanka News edition.
I totally agree with Mrs. Senanayake though I did not support General SF during the presidential election. It'll be too late when people of Sri Lanka understand that they lost their freedom.
ReplyDelete- Darshana (Amherst, MA)