'Fonseka's whereabouts remain unknown,' says his wife

A day after he was hauled away from his office by military personnel, the wife of former army chief Sarath Fonseka said her husband's whereabouts remained "unknown" and she feared for his safety.Accusing the government of "abducting" her husband, his wife Anoma asked for help to trace his whereabouts, charging that the authorities had cut him off from even his family. Her charges came as the government said he would face court martial for plotting to overthrow President Mahinda Rajapaksa while still serving in the army."Fonseka would face a court martial even though he is not a serving officer," a brief official statement posted at the defence ministry website said. The government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella told PTI that 59-year-old-former army chief will be tried in a military court on charges of conspiring against Rajapaksa and planning a coup while in service."He was plotting against the president when he was the head of the armed forces with the idea of overthrowing the government and had established contacts with opposition parties," Rambukwella claimed.As the concern for the defeated Presidential candidate grew, a military official merely said, the former army chief had been moved to an undisclosed military establishment ahead of facing disciplinary action. Anoma accused the military of using third degree methods to haul up Fonseka, saying he was virtually dragged out by force, even when he was closeted with opposition leader. The wife charged that the Rajapaksa government had flouted rules and norms to arrest him by military, saying that the former army chief was a civilian and should have been arrested by a police after a proper warrant."Please help me find my husband. I've not heard anything from him. I hope I'm able to hear something from him," a distraught Anoma recounted before newsmen with tears in her eyes.Amnesty international, the global human rights body has lambasted the Sri Lankan government for the arrest of Fonseka, saying it indicated that "the government's post-election crackdown continues on political opponents.""His detention escalates post-election repression," the human rights body said in a statement released in London. Some of the political leaders who were present when Fonseka was taken away by the Army said "He was humiliated and disgraced and virtually dragged away."Rauf Hakim, the Sri Lankan Muslim Congress chief said he was eyewitness to the whole episode said, the Army personnel had acted in a high handed manner and even refused to reply on what charges the former army chief was being arrested.Fonseka's arrest comes as a dramatic fall from grace for a man who is regarded as a national hero for leading the successful military campaign to vanquish the Tamil Tigers.