Maj. Gen. Sanath Karunaratne to retire

Major General Sanath Karunaratne RWP RSP USP psc who is due to retire from the Sri Lanka Army on May 25 after completing his service, handed over his duties as the Overall Operation Commander of Anuradhapura to his successor Major General Nandana Udawatta yesterday.

An old boy of Dharmasoka College, he was enlisted to the Sri Lanka Army as an Officer Cadet on May 25, 1976, commissioned as Second Lieutenant on December 22, 1977. He retires from the SLA after completing 33 years.

He was popular among local and foreign media during his tenure as the Military Spokesman of the Defence Ministry and Director Media-Army Headquarters from July 24, 2000 to January 15, 2004 when he was in the rank of Brigadier.

It was during his period as the Military Spokesman, the Sri Lanka Army launched its first official website, www.army.lk on Jan. 01, 2001 as Director Media of the Sri Lanka Army. The website gained popularity and received wide acclaim as a credible information source within a short period of time.

He was promoted to the rank of Major General on May 1, 2005. During his illustrious career in the Sri Lanka Army he was conferred with many gallantry medals. He was conferred with the laurel Rana Wickrema Padakkama (RWP) for defending the Elephant Pass garrison in the capacity as Battalion Commander in 1991. The Battalion was under siege for 24 days.

Later he also held a key position as Director Operations and Logistics, of the Secretariat for Co-ordinating the Peace Process (SCOPP) from May 21, 2004 to May 12, 2005.

He also held key commanding appointment as General Officer Commanding of the 51, 52 and 55 Divisions and later as the GOC of the 11 Division in Panagoda before being appointed as the Overall Operations Commander, Anuradhapura.

The initial attack on the Muhamalai Forward Defence Lines came under LTTE attack when he was commanding the 55 Division and he played a key role to foil successive attempts by the LTTE to overrun Muhamalai defence line in 2006.