Colombo, Jan 27 (Inditop.com) “I am not afraid,” Sri Lankan presidential candidate and former army chief Sarath Fonseka said Wednesday after heavily armed soldiers threw a tight circle around his hotel.
“…Their (Sri Lankan government) plan is to deploy troops around my house, my office, the broadcasting corporation, the national television station and if he (President Rajapaksa) loses, the instruction he gave to army commanders and the security council, is to take me into custody and he will not hand over the power,” Fonseka told NewsX channel.
“Yeah… they have already surrounded … this is part of that operation that’s why we left our house, residence and office and came here all the opposition leaders they are threatening my security peoples and they have tried to enter the hotel, we managed to push them back”
Fonseka, supported by an opposition alliance, was pitched against President Mahinda Rajapaksa in the first presidential elections after the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were crushed following a 26-year long bloody war. Rajpaksa was headed for a landslide win.
Fonseka told the channel: “they wanted the army commander to arrest me and he told the air force commander to put air force people at their airport takeover their airport they have already sent the army to all broadcasting stations and television stations… they have sent all the people on leave; they have only some people and the army so these are indications of a military coup once he loses election, he wants to remain in power…”
Commenting on his fear of assassination, he said: “I am not afraid, but I know that is their plan we will fight back”
On being surrounded by the soldiers whom he had commanded till last year, Fonseka said: “It’s disgusting, the president today is behaving in a disgraceful manner, violating the law and order in the country, violating the constitution, he is not fit to sit in the seat anymore disgusting ”
The general was hopeful of the army supporting him.
“Army will not accept this they will not appreciate this, morally they are supporting me at the moment, they are still trying to remain disciplined within the army, but if they get the legal orders, army will not react but some unruly elements – they are people already outside – they will try to interfere, but not the total army.”
