APSARA FONSEKA SPEAKS

• “It seems that our father will be released”
• “We know only what is been mentioned in the newspapers”
• “Most probably, he would come back to the political arena”
• “We don’t know which party he would select”

Apsara Fonseka speaks

Gossip Lanka news web site was able to get an interview with Sarath Fonseka’s eldest daughter, Apsara Fonseka who lives in Dallas in America about the various rumours that have spread in Sri Lanka about pardoning and releasing of Sarath Fonseka.
We spoke to her today (16th) on ‘Skype’ and the interview is as below:

How is your father’s illness?

“He is recovering. The doctors told us that his cough will be persistent for some time. .. That is something many people are experiencing and undergoing these days. They have told that it would take about another two months for him to recover fully. Recovery has delayed because of the damage to his lungs which as caused earlier during the bomb blast. As my mother told me, he is in the process of recovering.”

Have you come to see your father after he was sent to prison?

“No, I haven’t met him. My sister visited him several times but I didn’t get a chance to come.”

What do you know as to what took place while he was in prison?

“My father was a soldier, so he won’t fall so easily. He is strong both physically and mentally. People who are around him know how strong he is. As my mother told me, my father has had a plan and a schedule for the day for reading, exercising, watching news…etc He hadn’t wasted his time. He always worked according to a schedule each day.”

How did you send messages to your father?

“We could talk to him when he was in the Navy Base. When he could go to the parliament, we could speak on ‘Skype’. Apart from that father used to send letters and we sent him messages and letters through our mother.”

What is the rumour that says that your father will soon be pardoned?

‘I really don’t want to get excited because we have got disappointed several times. It is good if that happens. We have looked for it over the last few years. Not only us, but even the people were waiting for that day. We are hoping that day will come soon. We don’t know anything apart from what is been published in newspapers. We have got used to get to know everything through media over the last three years. We don’t know anything new other than that. We have promised many people that we will tell them the moment we hear of the good news. We haven’t still got a definite word about it”.

What will happen if he is pardoned?

“I hope that my father too will be pardoned like a normal person. We still have threats from the LTTE and from some others. We hope that my father will get sufficient security. We hope that our father will get house vice and security without house imprisonment so that he can live like a normal human being. I think that he should have that right. Whatever it is he has sacrificed many things in his life. Thus, we accept that he will get some kind of a justice on his behalf.”

What will he do when he is released? Will he go abroad or what?

“My father is not someone who would step back. He always keeps his foot forwards. Most of the time, he will be in the political arena. But I don’t think that he will do that in such way that it would be a problem to any other person I don’t know as to how the others will see that. The only aim of my mother, sister and I was to take my father out of the prison. If he comes out we will be the happiest and we will stop there. But we would lend our help to everything what our father wants to do. My father won’t forget the people. He might stay in the political arena.”

Which party will he select? JVP, Sajith’s  party or another liberal party?

“I can’t say that for sure because we have never spoken about his political career. All what we want to do is to take him out.”

If he is pardoned, will you think that your entire burden was over?

“I won’t say that we are the only people who have faced problems, but everybody knows that we had to undergo a lot of problems. Therefore we used to be happy even for the smallest thing. Therefore our biggest achievement would be to see the release our father one day. When we look at what we have lost at least we are left with our father’s life. We will be happy if our father could lead a normal life like everybody else.”

What will happen to the court cases?

“I don’t know. We haven’t done anything wrong. I hope that some good will happen to us. I can’t say anything about the court cases; I hope that everything would turn to its better.  I am ready to face things the way they come to us. We were strengthened during these three years. My sister, my mother and I trained ourselves to do not only to acquire women’s strength but also men’s strength. I think that my mother and my father can go far thanks to my father’s strength and my mother’s encouragement. I can face anything now.”

What is your sister and you are doing in America?

“I work in a bank as a Financial Analyst’. My sister is a Marketing Manager in a travel company. I have finished my MBA. My sister is doing LSAT exam as she wants to do law."

If your father is released, will you come to Sri Lanka who hasn’t been to Sri Lanka over the last three years?

“I hope to visit Sri Lanka if my father is released and that will be after I speak to both my parent s about the situation. I will take a decision depending on their word. I would love to come because I haven’t been to Sri Lanka in three years time. We used to visit Sri Lanka every six months and we used to stay at least for two weeks. We don’t get food like Sri Lankan food anywhere else and people are not friendly like the Sri Lankans. Even though I have seen my mother, I haven’t been able to see my father in three years. I love to see them but I won’t come without their permission.”

What do you have to tell the people who helped you during bad times?

“I would like to thank everybody because every time we were mentally down, people gave us enough strength over the face book or via e mails. They never let us fall. I would never forget those. I don’t know whether that was Sri Lankness that we never felt that we are alone. I thank all of them from the bottom of my heart.”

Listen to the video of the ;Skype’ call from BELOW: