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Discharge certificates for Army deserters

by Ranil Wijayapala

The Sri Lanka Army has decided to stop hunting deserters and instead issue them discharge certificates after recovering dues, Defence officials said yesterday.

This decision will affect some 58,000 men who have deserted the Army.

The Army will publish newspaper advertisement this month calling all Army deserters to obtain their discharge certificates after settling all their due payments to the government. They also should surrender all their weapons taken with them while deserting the Army. Initially the Army will inform all the District Secretaries, Divisional Secretaries and Gramaseva Niladharies about the move and provide the lists of Army deserters to them.

The deserters will be required to settle all due payments and hand-over weapons if they are to be issued discharge certificates.

Thereafter, these deserters can present themselves before the Army and have their discharge confirmed after producing the receipt issued by the Shroff of the respective District Secretariats certifying all payments. Contacted by the Daily News Army Commander Lt. General Lionel Balagalle said yesterday that a Cabinet memorandum in this regard has already been approved and they are awaiting instructions from the Ministry of Defence to implement their plans.

"There is a delay in the process as the Ministry expects the Sri Lanka Navy and the Air Force to come up with similar proposals regarding their deserters", the Commander said.

The move comes in the wake of the rising crime rate in the country involving Army deserters, he said.

The Army deserters have resorted to robberies and various types of other crimes as they see no clear future in their lives since they are barred from joining any other job in Sri Lanka or abroad.

"We expect to re-absorb a section of deserters who respond to our call, after considering their commitment to the service", the Commander said.

The Army is expecting to implement this plan while at the same time the personnel already in the service by strengthening the Army welfare programs.

The normal army recruitment procedure will continue without any disruption.

The Army will carry out an islandwide operation to arrest all the army deserters who do not respond to their call.

The Sri Lanka Army records the highest number of deserters, 50,000 prior to the signing of the ceasefire agreement and another 8,000 after the ceasefire agreement.

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