Fonseka wants his military salary and perks back

• Requests Speaker to intervene on his behalf, says salary and pension revoked unfairly 

By Ashwin Hemmathagama, Our Lobby Correspondent

United National Party (UNP) lawmaker Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka yesterday called on Speaker Karu Jayasuriya to intervene to re-establish his lost pension, allowances and other privileges suspended by a series of military tribunals he claimed were illegal.   

Raising a privilege issue in Parliament, challenging military tribunals appointed during the former Government, lawmaker Fonseka held he took part in the Presidential Election as the common candidate in January 2010 and was arrested illegally on the orders of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

“On 8 February, I was arrested by the army on false accusations to fulfil the requirements of the then ruler. I was brought before an illegal military tribunal where my status of General was removed, my pension suspended, and I was imprisoned at Welikada,” he said.

Following Fonseka’s defeat in the Presidential Election, he was elected to Parliament in the General Election that followed. Soon after, he was made a political prisoner and lost his parliamentary seat.

“I contested for the General Election held in April 2010 while being inside of the prison cell. I was able to obtain over 98,000 votes and was elected to the Parliament from Colombo District. I took oath as a lawmaker on 22 April 2010. Then the ruler took me before a military tribunal and I was sent to Welikada Prison in September 2010. Along with the allowances and privileges, my post of Member of Parliament was removed,” he added.

Fonseka was subsequently cleared from all charges. “The current Government which came into power on 8 January 2015 cleared my name of all charges. I was the victim of the cruellest revenge in history. I was deprived of my salary, allowances and other privileges. I request the Speaker to re-establish what was taken away from me,” he explained.

Fonseka supported common candidate Maithripala Sirisena in the 2015 Presidential Election and following his victory, the newly appointed President Sirisena gave Fonseka a full pardon, reinstating his civil rights, military rank and decorations. 

Later he was promoted to the newly created rank of Field Marshal on 22 March 2015, becoming the first Sri Lankan Army officer to be promoted to the rank.

On 9 February 2016, he was appointed to Parliament as a national list candidate and served in the Cabinet of Ministers from 2016 to 2018 as Minister of Regional Development, and thereafter as Minister of Wildlife and Sustainable Development until the 2018 Constitutional Crisis.