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by Ramani Kangaraarachchi

The Sri Lanka Army will begin issuing certificates of discharge with a pilot project for 5000 Army deserters identified from Gampaha district. Major General Ivan Dasanayake, Adjutant General of the Army said that news paper advertisements calling for deserters in the Gampaha district to report to the respective Kachcheris will be published within two weeks. An Army team will be present there to do the clearance. The Army has already written to the Ministry of Public Administration requesting their support for this project. A meeting headed by Defence Minister Tilak Marapana was held recently to discuss the details of this process with the officials of Ministry of Public Administration.

Major General Dasanayake said that shortcomings of this project will be monitored and rectified before it is fully implemented.

The deserters will have to pay their dues including personal loans taken but not the cost of uniforms and training before they get the discharge certificates. The discharge is not applicable to officers.

Initially it was estimated that de-listing 60000 deserters would cost the Army more than Rs 3 billion. But to round up the deserters would cost more in terms of time, manpower and money.

The government decided to pardon all deserters following the alarming rise in crimes.

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