{"id":45860,"date":"2016-03-25T23:34:49","date_gmt":"2016-03-26T03:34:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=45860"},"modified":"2016-03-25T23:35:48","modified_gmt":"2016-03-26T03:35:48","slug":"could-sarath-fonseka-have-won-the-war-alone-as-he-boasts-without-mahinda-and-gotabhaya-rajapaksa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=45860","title":{"rendered":"Would Sarath Fonseka Have Won the War Alone as he Boasts Without the Roles Played By Mahinda and Gotabhaya Rajapaksa?"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nBy<\/p>\n

Nirantha Edirisinghe<\/strong><\/p>\n

After seeing many remarks by Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka [SF] including those in his first speech in Parliament lately, I think the former General is trying to make us all believe that the former President Mahinda Rajapaksa [MR] did nothing at all in the war winning process. <\/p>\n

He insists that it was he who won the war and should be given all honors, leaving out not only MR but also Gotabaya Rajapaksa [GR]. <\/p>\n

I too had great respect towards SF as his innovative ideas and concepts played a major and significant role in winning the ground battle, which was absolutely necessary to win a war and his leadership was instrumental and clearly a great achievement.<\/p>\n

However, I would like to forward two questions and seek answers as to whether his assumptions are correct. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

First of all, what would have happened if MR didn\u2019t give him his first extension as the Army Commander, when he was severely pressurized by the then opposition after the completion of his first year? <\/p>\n

Mr. MangalaSamaraweera said in Parliament that SF was not fit even to lead the”Salvation Army.” Many members of the opposition accused him of leading a hit squad in Colombo and demanded his removal. Had MR listened to them and heeded, SF would never have become the war winning General. MR went a step further and gave SF his second extension because he honestly believed that SF was determined to end the war in his time.<\/p>\n

Further, when SF suggested that he needed at least 100,000 more ground troops to win the ground battle, GR endorsed and put it forward to MR who didn\u2019t think twice to make it happen. That was a huge political decision and the foundation in the march to our war victory. No leader took such a bold decision as it was a huge burden on the country\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n

My second question, what if MR buckled under pressure when India and many European countries tried to save the LTTE leaders and stop our march to victory in the last phase of the war? <\/p>\n

Former President J.R.Jayawardene had to give in to India\u2019s pressure in 1987 and the war dragged on for almost 30 years. If MR did the same in 2009, we would be still experiencing bomb blasts, and SF would have never ended up as the war winning General. <\/p>\n

So, there is no doubt that MR\u2019s courage in making that major political decisions made all the difference. Winning the war was the collective effort of all three forces, ably supported by the Police, and SF\u2019s Army should be given credit for the major contribution.<\/p>\n

This is the same army, which we had for more than 30 years, and how come they didn\u2019t succeed before? <\/p>\n

The truth is that the correct political decisions were never made by other leaders in their times or else our slain heroes such as Denzil Kobbekaduwa, Vijaya Wimalaratne and Janaka Perera may have made a big difference in the war front.<\/p>\n

It is so unfortunate that SF intentionally tries to make us believe that MR is no hero because of his political differences with him. He has even conveniently forgotten that MR appointed him as the first ever serving 4-star General in our country\u2019s history. <\/p>\n

As a Buddhist, he should realize that hatred is not in the Buddhist philosophy. Accepting the fact that MR, due to wrong advise given to him, made a major mistake in jailing SF, thus resulting a raw deal to a war hero. However, SF too was responsible in making it happen by putting his foot in his mouth in making degrading statements towards MR and GR in the Presidential election platforms.<\/p>\n

Yet, I believe that SF should be humble enough to give the due credit to MR in the war victory process, and earn that respect which we all have for him for the yeoman service he rendered to our country.<\/p>\n

Courtesy:The Island<\/em><\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Nirantha Edirisinghe After seeing many remarks by Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka [SF] including those in his first speech in Parliament lately, I think the former General is trying to make us all believe that the former President Mahinda Rajapaksa [MR] did nothing at all in the war winning process. He insists that it was …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Would Sarath Fonseka Have Won the War Alone as he Boasts Without the Roles Played By Mahinda and Gotabhaya Rajapaksa?’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45860"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45860"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45860\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45862,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45860\/revisions\/45862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}