By Ravi Velloor, South Asia Bureau Chief
Mrs Fonseka, who is allowed to visit her husband for an hour each day, has a rebuttal to every one of those allegations. — PHOTO: REUTERS

COLOMBO – IN THE courtyard of the rented bungalow in Colombo’s Queens Avenue, Jerfy, a two-year- old Dalmatian, howls for his master, General Sarath Fonseka. He is the only man Jerfy has never attacked.

Inside, Mrs Anoma Fonseka, wife of the Sri Lankan military hero who was picked up last week for treason and possible murder charges – two weeks after he mounted an unsuccessful bid for the presidency – is fighting to secure his release.

In between visits to the naval headquarters where he is housed, she has to do a hundred things. That includes assembling medicines Gen Fonseka requires, preparing the hot curries, seer fish and cod he loves and using Skype ever so often to calm her two daughters based in the United States.

Sri Lanka’s first four-star general, who successfully ended a quarter- century’s insurgent war, could be jailed for as much as five years under the Military Act, Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, brother of the President, told The Sunday Times last week. Besides, there could be civilian charges, including ordering murders.

Elegant at 51 with clear skin and perfectly shaped teeth, Mrs Fonseka, who is allowed to visit her husband for an hour each day, has a rebuttal to every one of those allegations.

One serious charge is that her husband was planning a military takeover and had placed officers of his parent Singha regiment in strategic positions. Another is that he was in contact with opposition leaders even as he held military office and was a key member of the national security council.