Sri Lanka opposition mulls move

Opposition politicians in Sri Lanka have begun talks to decide on their course of action following the arrest of the defeated presidential candidate.

General Sarath Fonseka was arrested at his office in the capital, Colombo on Tuesday evening.

The government said the general would be questioned and put on trial in a military court.

Gen Fonseka was defeated by incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa last month by six million votes to four million.

He rejected the results and vowed to challenge them in court.

Sri Lanka's defence ministry has said General Fonseka was taken into military custody in connection with what it called "certain fraudulent acts and other military offences."

An official told the BBC the general had violated armed forces rules by engaging in politics while still in uniform.

But opposition politicians, who rallied around the retired military man as their presidential candidate last month, said it had not been an arrest but an abduction.

'Despicable'

They described as "despicable" the operation in which, they said, a dozen military officers had dragged him from the room by his hands, feet and collar as he resisted.

Gen Fonseka and President Rajapaksa fell out bitterly and both fought the election boasting of their roles in defeating the Tamil Tiger rebels last year.

Shortly before he was detained, Gen Fonseka told reporters that he would be prepared to go before any international investigation into war crimes allegedly committed by Sri Lankan troops in the final stages of that war.

Defence secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, insists that the government is not open to any possible probe of that kind.

Gen Fonseka was in charge of Sri Lanka's army when it defeated the Tamil Tiger rebels last year after a destructive civil war lasting more than a quarter of a century.

However, he fell out with President Rajapaksa soon after and the pair fought a bitter election campaign.

The BBC's Charles Haviland in Colombo says the arrest was dramatic but not unexpected and there must now be questions about whether this is the start of a bigger clampdown on the opposition.

After the election, the government had accused Gen Fonseka of divulging sensitive information to the public, and of plotting both a coup and to assassinate the president and his family.

Gen Fonseka has vehemently denied the charges.

He said he feared an assassination attempt against him and had been told that airports would not allow him to leave the country.

Analysts had predicted a closely fought election contest between the two architects of the government's victory over the Tamil Tigers.

But in the end President Rajapaksa won the vote comfortably - capturing 57% of the vote, while Sarath Fonseka won 40%.