Sri lanka’s newly elected President Maithripala Sirisena has pardoned and reinstated the rank of former Army chief Gen Sarath Fonseka, who was stripped of all ranks and sentenced to jail by ex-president Mahinda Rajapaksa. A presidential statement said that all ranks and medals denied to Gen Fonseka by the Rajapaksa regime along with his pension have been restored following a pardon granted to him by Sirisena. “The President has pardoned him under section 34 (2) of the constitution,” a spokesman said.