Sri Lanka Army: Four soldiers forced to work for ex-officer’s sordid guest house

( July 10, 2016, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The Commanding Officer of an Army unit is in hot water after he failed to recall four soldiers attached to a retired Major General.

The fact that these four soldiers were ‘working’ in a guest house owned by the retired officer, who served in key locations, came to light when Army Commander Lt. Gen. Crisantha de Silva received a telephone call.

The caller, one of those who were ‘deployed’ at the Guest House in the outskirts of Colombo said he and his colleagues were being forced to work on things which were below their dignity. It was alleged that the guest house had been rented out by the hour to young couples.

Lt. Gen. de Silva directed the Military Police to arrest the four soldiers and later a court of Inquiry was appointed to probe the incident.

Meanwhile, Army Headquarters has adopted a new policy in respect of promotions for officers who had been absent without leave (AWOL) before May 20, 2009; the date coincides with the death of Velupillai Prabhakaran and the military defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

The LTTE leader was killed on May 19. The war years, an Army source said, saw a spike in officers and other ranks being absent without leave, especially as the war intensified in May, 2009.

In terms of instructions sent out by Major General N.J. Walgama, Military Secretary (on behalf of the Commander of the Army), officers in the rank of Majors and below will be considered for promotion to Lieutenant Colonel “if all other perquisites are completed.” However, they will not be considered for career courses/foreign visits/UN deployment. They will still be eligible for non-career courses with duration of less than 90 days.

Officers who have already been promoteof Lieutenant Colonel and commanding a battalion will be promoted to the next rank of Colonel a day prior to their retirement. They will not be considered for further command or granted career or other courses exceeding 90 days.

The Army circular comes after a Board of Officers was named to recommend policy for promotion purposes since such criteria did not exist in an expanding Army. The policy has different criteria for different ranks depending on those who were AWOL for less than 14 days and between 15 and 21 days before 20 May, 2009. ~ Sources; The Sunday Times, Colombo