Following is the full text of the letter. Sinhala Version here.

Anoma Fonseka
No 03/1 Rajakeeya Mawatha
Colombo 07.

22.03.2010.

His Excellency the President Mahinda Rajapakse

Your Excellency,

I was both shocked and saddened to note the contents of your interview with the Singapore Straits Times newspaper in which you call my husband a ‘politically immature’ fool. It was ironic to hear the words now more so since just over ten months ago, he was, in your eyes, the best army commander of the world.

Following the unprecedented victory over the LTTE last year, you and your Government had nothing but praise for the clear vision and leadership my husband gave the armed forces and the superior war craft he displayed in achieving victory. As my husband shared with me, your confidence in him was so pronounced that you wanted him to cut the cake of celebration, marking the end of the war. However, it is with deep sadness that I note you chose to forget all of that even before the glow of the war victory has gone from the people’s hearts.

I cannot perceive why you would want to fear someone as ‘politically immature’ as my husband and frame him under false charges. I believe that your behavior in calling a war hero who gave unyielding leadership to a war that beleaguered our nation for 30 long years, is unbecoming of a President and a statesman.

My husband was arrested along with many of those who supported him, based on false charges. By now, most of those have been released, reaffirming their innocence. Nevertheless, it is very clear that my husband is still being held because you fear that if he proves charges of fraud that took place in the Presidential Election, that your Government would lose the General Election.

I note at this time that even though the Singapore based newspaper pressed you to specify the charges against my husband, you failed to present an acceptable answer concerning such charges.

Yet you choose to keep terrorists such as Karuna, Pillayan, Daya Master and George Master who have been openly identified with shocking outrages such as the mass murder of Buddhist monks at Aranthalawa, the attack on the Sri Maha Bodhi devotees and many other crimes against humanity, close to your bosom, rewarding them with positions. Key LTTE leaders such as KP have found much favour with you. Given the circumstances, I am not surprised that you refuse to pardon my husband who bled for the nation, who carried his own bowels in his arms when he faced the terror of the LTTE at the hands of a suicide bomber and who chose to come back to lead the nation to victory, unscarred by it all.

Your conscience no doubt will convict you of the injustice meted out to my husband, being almost abducted by a posse of soldiers and now kept in an airless, sealed room that does not even allow air into his lungs. I have never heard of a war hero being treated in this manner in any other country. I wonder if anyone would ever want to serve this nation the way my husband did, given the way he has been mistreated by your Government. That’s why the injustice you have caused my husband to suffer is not his alone but that of the entire nation.

My husband gave a promise to the nation that he would ensure the Sinhala and Tamil New Year of 2010 is celebrated within a united, peaceful Sri Lanka. He kept his promise. While the entire nation and your family will be able to celebrate the New Year thus, it is very unfortunate that you have denied my family the same sense of celebration.

Your Excellency, Sri Lanka is a country you head having been elected by the people, a country where an independent judiciary ensures the rule of law. Yet when you confirm to the Singapore based Straits Times that you will not grant a pardon to an accused in a case yet unheard, what you tell us is loud and clear – that you have already delivered the judgement.

But please be assured that my husband will never seek your pardon because he has not done anything wrong that would qualify him to seek such a pardon.

Yours sincerely
Anoma Fonseka

Sinhala Version here

Courtesy: Lanka Truth