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Senior army officers to retire in protest over new appointments |
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2009-07-20 | 6.35 PM |
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A senior official at the Defence Ministry told Lanka News Web that a group of senior army officers have decided to retire in protest due to the ignorance of seniority when appointing the new Army Chief and the allegedly unreasonable changes made in the top posts in the force recently.
While the Chief of Defence Staff post has always been filled by forces personnel who have retired, General Sarath Fonseka has now become the first Chief of Defence Staff to be appointed while in active service. Therefore, Fonseka remains number one in the army’s seniority list. |
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According to the seniority list, next to Fonseka is Volunteer Corp Commander, Major General R.S. Balasuriya.
However, Fonseka believed and in fact proposed that former Army Chief of Staff, Major General G.A. Chandrasiri be appointed as his successor. At the time Chandrasiri was in the third position in the seniority list.
Major General Jagath Jayasuriya, who was appointed the new Army Chief after sending Fonseka and Chandrasiri on retirement at the time, was number 10 in the seniority list.
According to Army tradition, the officer appointed to the top post in the force was always from the combat and supportive regiments and never from the services regiment.
Although Jayasuriya was at number 10 in the seniority list at the time, he was the fifth in line to the top post in the Army.
Major General R.S. Balasuriya, Major General G.A. Chandrasiri, Major General N.A. Ranasinghe and Major General Parakrama Pannipitiya are all higher in seniority than Major General Jayasuriya.
Deputy Chief of Staff Major General Upul Perera, Major General L.B. Aluvihare, Brigadier H.M.W. Bandara and Major General W.R. Wasantha Kumara are also senior to Jayasuriya. However, they are all from the services regiments.
It is learnt that Jayasuriya was appointed as the Army Chief, overlooking the other senior officers, due to his close friendship with Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse.
With the appointment as Army Chief, Jayasuriya has been promoted to the post of Lieutenant General. Therefore, apart from Fonseka, Jayasuriya has now reached the second position of the Army’s seniority list bypassing the other senior officers.
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