January 7, 2015, 12:00 pm
By Shamindra Ferdinando
The armed forces wouldn’t be deployed in the Northern Province or any other part of the country for today’s presidential poll unless police headquarters requested for assistance, Military Spokesman Brig. Ruwan Wanigasooriya told The Island yesterday. "The armed forces will be confined to barracks", he stressed.
The military spokesman was responding to accusations made by the Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) at Tuesday’s media briefing held at Colombo Hilton Residence.
CMEV spokesperson Dr. Pakiasothy Saravanamuttu and its chief coordinator D.M. Dissanayaka accused the government of instilling fear among the northern electorate by deploying the army in the guise of providing security. They predicted post-war military presence in the Northern Province could be detrimental to the electoral process.
Brig. Wanigasooriya insisted that such allegations were meant to tarnish the image of the country.
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The CMEV had conveniently forgotten that the army paid a very heavy price to pave the way for the first Northern Provincial Council poll in September 2013. The official said that four-party Tamil National Alliance (TNA) had comfortably secured a two-thirds majority, though in the run-up to that poll, election monitors as well as various other interested parties repeatedly accused the army of sabotaging the TNA’s campaign. There couldn’t be a better example than the outcome of the NPC poll to underscore the army’s neutrality, the official said.
Responding to CMEV accusations pertaining to heavy military presence as well as alleged intimidating tactics adopted by the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI), the military spokesman insisted that since the conclusion of the war in May 2009, there had been a substantial reduction of army presence in the Northern Province. Comparing the army deployment in the Jaffna peninsula at the last presidential poll in Jan. 2010 and Jan 2015, the Brig. Wanigasooriya said that the strength had been gradually reduced over the last five years. The spokesman said that the army was accused of sabotaging the electoral process in the Northern Province at the last presidential poll too.
The Northern Province consists of two electoral districts- Jaffna and Vanni.
Retired army commander Gen. Sarath Fonseka polled 113,877 votes (63.84 per cent) in the Jaffna electoral district, whereas incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa obtained 44,154 (24.75 per cent). In the Vanni electoral district comprising the administrative districts of Mannar, Vavuniya and Mullaitivu, Fonseka secured 70.367 (66.86)as against Rajapaksa polling 28,740 votes (27.31 per cent).
Fonseka also secured all three electoral districts in the Eastern Province at the last presidential poll, though with smaller margins than in the Jaffna electoral district.
CMEV alleged that 34 incidents had been reported from the Northern Province during the campaign (from Nov 20, 2014 to Jan 5, 2015). The CMEV categorized them as serious incidents. The Eastern Province logged 40 major incidents, with Batticaloa categorized as the worst affected due to election violence.
Brig. Wanigasooriya said that both local and foreign polls monitors could observe the situation in the Northern and Eastern Province. "They are on the ground in all parts of the country. They have access to all areas in the Jaffna peninsula as well as both east and west of the Kandy-Jaffna A9 road. Therefore, there cannot be any uncertainty as regards the deployment of the army."
The spokesman said that allegations pertaining to the conduct of the Sri Lankan military should be examined in the backdrop of war crimes allegations. The Brig said that the latest lie would probably be added to tarnish the country at the Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) at its next session in March 2015.
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