Curiouser and curiouser!

Former Army Commander Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka is in the news again. He has launched a propaganda offensive to vilify the Rajapaksa family as a bunch of traitors who cut secret deals with the LTTE even at the height of the Vanni war.

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He has claimed that during the final phase of the war, the then President Mahinda Rajapaksa declared a ceasefire in a bid to allow Prabhakaran and other LTTE seniors to escape; the army went ahead and eliminated the LTTE leadership, bringing the war to a successful conclusion. The Rajapaksas have refused to respond to Fonseka’s allegations; their spokesman, former MP Sanjeewa Edirimanna, has said they do not take Fonseka’s utterances seriously.

Fonseka’s aforesaid claim has given rise to some questions. Is he of the view that there was no proper political leadership for the war against the LTTE, and the Rajapaksa government only struck deals with Prabhakaran? Did the army defy government orders during the final phase of the Vanni war to eliminate the LTTE leadership? If it is true that the Rajapaksas sought to spare Prabhakaran and other LTTE leaders, how come they have incurred the wrath of the pro-LTTE groups and the western governments sympathetic to the influential LTTE fronts?