Speaking at the National War Heroes Day commemoration held at the War Heroes Memorial in Battaramulla on May 20, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake delivered a candid message that directly addressed the controversial imprisonment of former Army Commander Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka.
“There was no valid reason for Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka to be imprisoned for more than two and a half years,” the President declared, adding that the decision had nothing to do with justice or the law, but was rather a political maneuver rooted in power struggles.
President Dissanayake, who once worked closely with Fonseka, described the imprisonment as a calculated act driven by the ambitions of those seeking to cling to or consolidate power, not a reflection of any legal wrongdoing.
“This conflict and war have been used repeatedly to seize, secure, and consolidate power,” he said. “These are not natural outcomes, but deliberately manipulated for political gain even to cover up crimes.”
The President further reflected on the human cost of these political games, emphasizing that children from both the North and South have suffered as a result of such power plays, being caught in the crossfire of decades-long strife and post-war political exploitation.
His remarks were among the most forthright acknowledgments yet by a sitting President about the politicization of Sri Lanka’s war narrative and the treatment of one of its most decorated military leaders.
