Ex-Lanka army chief Fonseka becomes Cabinet minister

Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka, the former Sri Lankan army chief who vanquished the LTTE, was today sworn-in as a Cabinet minister, days after he joined the ruling coalition.
Former Army General and Democratic Party leader Fonseka, who was elected to the Sri Lankan Parliament earlier this month, took the oath of office before President Maithripala Sirisena at the Presidential Secretariat here.
The 65-year-old was made the Cabinet Minister for Regional Development.
The United National Party of Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe named Fonseka to Parliament earlier this month as a national list member for a seat vacated by the death of Land Minister M K A D S Gunawardena.

Secretary to the President P B Abeykoon and Fonseka's family members were present during his swearing-in.
Today's developments come over a year after the change in government in Sri Lanka that was earlier ruled by former strongman Mahinda Rajapkasa, with whom Fonseka had a fall-out.

The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has asked for an investigation into human rights abuses by Fonseka's troops and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) during the final phase of the nearly three decade-long war that ended in 2009.
Sri Lanka has opted for a domestic inquiry while the UNHRC has asked for an international investigation.

The government is under pressure from the Sinhala- majority nationalists not to allow an international investigation.
The former general had a fallout with Rajapaksa, under whom he had served, following which he was charged in a number of cases, ranging from corruption to engaging in politics in uniform.
He was also sentenced to 30 months in jail after having mounted a failed bid to unseat Rajapaksa in his January 2010 re-election.
Fonseka, who was nearly assassinated by a LTTE suicide bomber in 2006, was pardoned by Sirisena days after he assumed office as the new president last year. All ranks and medals denied to Fonseka by the Rajapaksa regime along with his pension were restored.

The Human Rights Watch had earlier this month said Fonseka's appointment to parliament sends "worrying signals" on accountability and contradicts the government's pledges to probe atrocities allegedly committed under his command during the brutal civil war with the LTTE.