Gen Sarath Fonseka Warns Military Against Dabbling in Politics

Colombo: Gen Sarath Fonseka Warns Military Against Dabbling in Politics, Amid speculation that the president of Sri Lanka Defense Gen Sarath Fonseka can fight the presidential election, the country’s army chief has warned of military personnel against meddling in politics, saying that soldiers in uniform does not are entitled to participate in political work.

Army Chief Gen Jagath Jayasuriya also made clear that action will be taken against any staff involved in political work.

“We should be partial to the government in power. All governments, at the end of his tenure to hold elections. Journal of the army or a soldier with a uniform has no right to participate in the political work with the candidates running,” Army website Jayasuriya quoted as saying.

“Any soldier or officer if it is (in violation of the consultation) will be subject to disciplinary action and faces a discharge of the Army,” he said when talking to senior military officers here last week.

“The support by the president (Mahinda Rajapaksa) and the Secretary of Defense (Gotabhaya Rajapaksa) to the victory of the war directly attributed to his victory over terrorism,” he said.

The opposition parties are courting Gen Fonseka, the war hero and man of the army, in the race in mid-presidential term polls, speculated to be held in the coming months.

“Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said there was nothing wrong with military personnel entering politics, but definitely not in uniform,” the island.

Defense Secretary Rajapaksa said the opposition seemed to be making a desperate attempt to challenge the president’s popularity, which was at the zenith of its’ “the newspaper reported.

“This is nothing but a despicable plot being hatched at the expense of the whole country,” he said.

“A Secretary of Defense angrily rejected the allegation of the opposition to the former commander of the Army (Fonseka) had been mistreated by the government,” the newspaper said.

“Let me tell you that General Fonseka was appointed as Chief of Defense (CDS), with their consent. Although I have not discussed this issue publicly before, I have no choice but to reveal what really happened,” said Rajapaksa.

The Secretary of Defense said that after taking into consideration general opinion Fonseka, the President had appointed former army chief as the CDS.

Russian Interior Ministry’s jet crash

Russian interior ministry plane with 11 crewmembers on board crashed several minutes after taking off in Moscow, Dunya News Sunday reported. “All 11 people died in the air crash,” a spokesman for the ministry’s regional centre said.

The spokesman said the plane, an Il-76 Candid strategic airlifter, bound for the city of Irkutsk, fell and caught fire about three kilometers from Mirny airport. Seven crew as well as four members from a replacement crew were on board.