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| Army victory celebration: meritorious soldiers who were relegated to the garbage bin.. |
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(Lanka-e-News 01.July.2010 11.40 AM) It is reported that the present Govt. which celebrated the war victory recently, achieved after a 30 year ethnic conflict, had held the victory commemoration ceremony while bruising the feelings of a large section of the armed forces who contributed to the victory.
Among the Forces and the people there is a general disillusionment and disappointment over the large number of the members of the Army being not invited for the celebration.
It is a well known fact that Gen. Fonseka the former Commander who played the key role in winning the war is being kept in detention and was not invited. In addition, another large number of officers have also been thrown into the limbo of oblivion without being invited. Hereunder are some of those key officers….
1. 57th Divisional Army Commander Major General Jagath Dias who has been sent as the Deputy Ambassador to Germany . He was one of the Army Commanders made a big contribution to the victory.
2. Major Gen. Udaya Perera who was the Director operations and was actively engaged in the war operations, and is now the Deputy High Commissioner in Malaysia.
3. Athula Kodipilli and Ralph Nugera
It was the Special Force (SF) and the Army Commando Force which planned and launched attacks in the last phase of the war. It was Athula Kodippilli who was commanding the Special Force Brigades and Ralph Nugera who gave orders to the Commando Force. Indeed, Kodipilli suffered injuries on three occasions on the battle field. Kodipilli has been transferred from the offensive unit to the service unit, while Nugera has been sent to Oddu Sudan.
4.Mahesh Senanayake
Major General Mahesh Senanayake was the Director planning for the entire war. He was responsible for the supply of arms, ammunitions,vehicles and soldiers including guns and bullets. He had to decide exactly what the requirements are and make the supplies. He is now sent on pension.
5.Dhammika Liyanage
He was the former Director of the Army intelligence unit. He too has been sent on pension.
6. Mendaka Samarasinghe
Mendaka Samarasinghe was the Trincomalee Divisional Commander and 22nd Divisional Commander during the period when the first sensational Army victory at Marvilaru was registered. At the Mutur palaThoppur armed conflict in Trincomalee, he faced the LTTE attacks. He is now transferred to the Joint operations Headquarters
7.Sanjaya Wanasinghe
Army sniper unit played a major part during the final phase of the war to save the civil population .It was Lieutenant Colonel Sanjaya Wanasinghe was in charge of giving orders to the entire Sniper groups and sniper instructors. Sanjaya is a son of former Army Commander Hamilton Wanasinghe. It is speculated that Hamilton Wanasinghe figuring in support of Gen . Fonseka at the last Presidential elections led to he being not invited.
8. In addition , Major Gen. Gamini Hettiarachi, Brigadier Raj Wijesiri, Colonel Jayavi Fernando and several others who played a major role during the war and built the LRRP and Special Force for a long time and extensively, have also not been invited for the Army felicitation ceremony , and treated as discards deserving a place in the garbage bin.
The Govt.’s war victory celebration had not only offended the Sinhala groups of the South , but has also hurt the Tamil people who opposed Tamil extremists. A Univercity Lecturer of the North told ‘Lanka e news’ that the Govt. by disallowing the Tamil people to conduct religious ceremonies to commemorate their loved ones who died in the war in the North had trod on their corns and disappointed them deeply.
The Lecturer questioned , if the three lakhs Tamils in Jaffna, the ten lakhs Tamils in Colombo and the 7 lakhs Tamils in the camps had supported the war campaign of Prabhakaran , would it have been possible for the Govt. to carry on the war ?. These Tamils who opposed the extremists during the war cannot be forgotten. Why doesn’t the Govt. give thought to the fact at least when commemorating the war victory that, if the 3 lakhs Tamils have not crossed and come over to the Govt. zone , what would have been the disastrous result ?, he asked. |
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When this question was posed to the new Army spokesman Brigadier Medawala , he said ,he is taking up the new appointment only tomorrow, and he cannot make a statement in this regard. He wished that Prasad Samarasinghe be questioned on this. An Army officer who spoke to Lanka e news and did not disclose his name speaking on behalf of the Major general Samarasinghe explained that Major General Gamini Hettiarachi referred to in our news item was invited and he was present at the celebrations.
Prasad Samarsinghe clarified that the invitations were sent by the Defense Ministry , and he cannot comment until he has seen the name list .
He added that he is aware that the retired Army Commanders were invited. The President of the working Army officers association also was invited. Major general Mendaka Samarasinghe was in the Army procession. Among those who had been mentioned as having been in the special task Force and the operations Force, some of them had gone on retirement, and they did not participate in the final humanitarian operations, he pointed out.
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