Army deserters to be delisted

The government has decided to delist around 60,000 army deserters in the country due to the involvement of many army deserters in serious crimes in the recent past.

A special programme in this regard has been introduced by Army Commander Lieutenant General Jagath Jayasuriya. According to Military spokesperson Brigadier Nihal Hapuarachchi, around 60,000 army personnel had deserted the service since 1982.

They have been categorized into four groups for delisting. The first category consists of about 55,000 deserters who do not have any financial or logistical obligations to the army.

They will be sent notices by the army informing that they have been delisted from the service. Around 4,500 with financial or material obligations to the army will fall into the second category and once they obtain clearance by settling the dues, they too would be delisted.

Brigadier Hapuarachchi said the other two categories consist of around 500 ex-servicemen wanted by the police and courts for involvement in criminal activities out of which about 25 are hardcore deserters wanted for committing grave crimes. Legal action would be instituted by the Police and Army. Courtesy news.lk