New changes in the Defence establishment

The changes in the high command of the Armed Forces except for the Sri Lanka Air Force came as a surprise to many, last Sunday although a majority of the people were aware of the fact that there may be changes in the defence sector in the post conflict scenario.

Although many were aware that new Chief of Defence Staff will soon be appointed with wide range of powers there was no indication as to who was going to be appointed for the post with the retirement of Air Chief Marshal Donald Perera.

With the implementation of the Chief of Defence Staff Act, a serving commander has to be appointed as the Chief of Defence Staff.

Although top defence brass was aware that such changes were going to take place by Friday it was on Saturday they were asked to be present at the President’s House to accept their new appointments from the President.

Diamond Jubilee

Army Commander General Sarath Fonseka and Security Forces Commander (Vanni) Major General Jagath Jayasuriya along with many other senior Army officials were there at the Army Headquarters discussing about the Diamond Jubilee of the Army to be celebrated on October 10 when they were informed to be at the President House the following morning.

On Sunday morning President Mahinda Rajapaksa handed over the Act of appointments, making key changes in the Defence hierarchy of the country in recognition of the services rendered by the Service Commanders in salvaging the country from the clutches of LTTE terrorism that was the number one priority of the Mahinda Rajapaksa administration.

The objective of the Government by making these changes was to sustain the great victory achieved by the Security Forces without allowing any terror movement to raise its ugly head once again.

Chief of Defence Staff

With this objective in mind President Mahinda Rajapaksa as the Commander in Chief, appointed General Sarath Fonseka as the Chief of Defence Staff in accordance with the powers vested with him under the Chief of Defence Staff Act as stipulated in the section 2 of the Act.

The formation of the new Chief of Defence Staff post with wide range of powers is timely step taken by the Government considering the rapid expansion of the three Armed Forces during the past few years.

With the creation of this new institution, directly under the Secretary to the Ministry of Defence, major changes are to take place in the three Forces as certain mechanisms are to be evolved to have joint operations plans, training and intelligence gathering by the three Armed Forces.

New appointments are likely to be made at the Joint Operations Headquarters or the Chief of Defence Staff office that is to be established at the second floor of the Ministry of Defence shortly.

The Staff of the Chief of Defence Staff will consist of members of the Armed Forces and others.

The Act also stipulates ‘Where Armed Forces personnel are deployed for service in the office of the Chief of Defence Staff, such deployment shall be done by the Secretary in consultation with the Commander of the Army, the Commander of the Navy or the Commander of the Air Force, as the case may be.”

Appointed

According to sources a number of senior officers from the Sri Lanka Army are to be appointed for the top posts in the CDS office. Accordingly Major General L.A.D. Amaratunga, Major General Mahesh Senanayaka, Brigadier Prasanna de Silva, Brigadier Dampath Fernando, Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe, Brigadier Amal Karunasekera and Brigadier G.S. Padumadasa are tipped to be appointed to the staff of the Chief of Defence Staff.

Brigadier Maithree Dias will be appointed as the Military Assistant to the CDS. Major General Jagath Jayasuriya who was serving as the Security Forces Commander, Vanni was made the Commander of the Army.

It came as a surprise to Major General Jagath Jayasuriya as he was not in the top of the Army seniority list as it was the tradition to appoint the most senior Army officer as the Commander of the Army when the vacancy fell vacant.

The appointment was made under the powers vested with the President as the Commander in Chief and may be the first time in the history of the Sri Lanka Army, a field Commander who had held no key appointment such as Chief of Staff, Deputy Chief of Staff at the Army Headquarters, being directly elevated to the post of Army Commander.

However, Major General Jagath Jayasuriya who had served in the Army for more than 30 years as an efficient and honest officer was lucky enough to reach this high post at the age of 50 although it came as a surprise to him.

Jagath Jayasuriya has earned reputation as a kind hearted and simple individual who is capable of handling things efficiently during his military career.

Vanni liberation

He was the key figure in the Vanni liberation operation although he had not directly been involved in the operational matters of the offensive Divisions but handled logistics and administrative matters during the entire operation. He was appointed as the Security Forces Commander Vanni after his senior command course in China in July, 2007 only a few months after the formation of the 57 Division which initiated the Vanni liberation humanitarian operation from Madhu area.

From then onwards he continuously held this position facilitating the Vanni liberation operation until it reached its final victory in Vellamullivaikkal area on May 19, 2009 and was present at the battle front encouraging the filed commanders and fulfilling their requirements. He has another four years service until his retirement at the age of 55.

Appointment

President Mahinda Rajapaksa also presented the Act of appointment to Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda as the National Security Advisor on the same occasion.

Admiral Karannagoda has done a unique service to the Sri Lanka Navy during his tenure as the 15th Commander of the Navy.

It was during his tenure the Sri Lanka Navy was able to increase its blue water capabilities having conducted operations in the deep seas in international waters to destroy LTTE floating warehouses. The destruction of ten such LTTE floating warehouses was carried out during his tenure bringing down the LTTE arms smuggling capabilities to its lowest level.

Rear Admiral Tisara Samarasinghe who was only a few days ahead of his retirement from the Sri Lanka Navy with the completion of 55 years was appointed as the successor to Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda, to become the 16th Commander of the Navy at the age of 55 with a one year extension granted to him.

Loved

Tisara Samarasinghe is reputed to be an officer displaying hundred percent efficiency and professionalism when handling Naval operations and other Naval matters. He is loved by his subordinates for his fatherly character.

He has also displayed his capability to handle things at diplomatic level when the Sri Lanka Navy was confronted with waves of allegations for harassing and killing of Indian fishermen, as he was the Commander of the Northern Naval Area.

It was he who under the guidance of Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda increased the efficiency of the operations of the troops carrier ‘Jet Liner’ by introducing a system to load and unload 3,000 troops plus cargo within a 15 minute period at the Kankesanturai harbour which was within the artillery range of the LTTE until Pooneryn was liberated by the Army.

With those appointments the President also made two other appointments. Major General G. A. Chandrasiri, the Chief of Staff of the Army and the Competent Authority of the Displaced Civilians was appointed as the Governor of the Northern Province and former Governor Dixon Dela was appointed the Sri Lanka High Commissioner to Maldives.

These changes in the defence hierarchy came when the nation is about to mark the completion of two months to its great victory that brought a sigh of relief to the entire nation.

Defeating terrorism

As the Government has already faced the challenge of defeating terrorism the next objective will be to sustain that victory without allowing another dark period to envelop this country. Therefore, the newly appointed commanders and the Chief of Defence Staff will be entrusted with restructuring the Armed Forces of the country to face this new challenge.

According to General Fonseka the three Forces and the Police will have to adopt new technology to face this challenge effectively if it is to be achieved without further increasing the man power of the Armed Forces.

For this, according to his opinion, the mobility and the surveillance capabilities of the all three Armed Forces have to be increased.

Apart from this objective the three Forces will also be entrusted with the task of the concentrating on maintaining the security of the newly liberated areas, the de-mining process and the resettlement of the displaced civilians in the North.

De-mining activities

The Army and the Police have already designed their security plan for Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu with the formation of new Security Forces Headquarters in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu and with the decision to establish new Police stations in the North.

In the same breath the Sri Lanka Army, has also taken the initiative to expedite the process of de-mining activities to complete that task as soon as possible. General Fonseka addressing the media at the Joint Operations Headquarters said that every soldier capable of de-mining will be deployed to complete this task very soon successfully.

Welcomed

He also welcomed the Indian Government’s move to send 500 Army personnel trained in de-mining activities to Sri Lanka to expedite this process to facilitate the speedy resettlement of the civilians.

Therefore, the new changes in the Defence hierarchy will go parallel to the Government objective bringing normality to the entire country.

As Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa stated very recently the victory achieved by the Security Forces will be meaningful only when normality is restored in the entire country.

The Chief of Defence Staff and the newly appointed Commanders also assured their support to the Government initiative to develop the North under the Northern Spring program and for all the other programs for development of the country to bring real benefits of the war victory to the people.

Therefore, the new changes in the defence hierarchy will undoubtedly bring positive results on the nation’s march towards prosperity as it is a move in the right direction to achieve overall the objective of the nation at last.