Col. Kumarasinghe’s funeral toady

The funeral of Colonel Nalinda Kumarasinghe of the 5th Gemunu Watch, will take place today, Jan. 11 at Ballapana General Cemetery with full military honours. At the time of death, Colonel Kumarasinghe was the Commanding Officer of the 5th Battalion of the Gemunu Watch under the Air Mobile Brigade, Jaffna.

Col. Kumarasinghe was posthumously promoted as he succumbed to his injuries due to an explosion of an LTTE cluster bomb in Pulopallai area. Cluster bombs are banned in present warfare under the United Nation Convention. Colonel Kumarasinghe will be the seniormost military official to lay his life in the Vanni humanitarian operation.

Colonel Nalinda Kumarasinghe born in Ratnapura on July 20, 1967 was a product of the Ratnapura Seevali Central College. He joined the Sri Lanka Army in 1987.

The brilliant senior officer was selected as an Officer Commanding in the first Gemunu Watch contingent and was sent for service in Haiti on UN Peace Keeping mission. Colonel Kumarasinghe was an excellent officer sharpened by foreign and local military training including a number of local advanced military and academic courses and Young Officers’ Course in Bangladesh and Junior Commanders’ Course in Pakistan.

He took part in many military operations such as ‘Balawegaya I’, ‘Balawegaya II’, ‘Riviresa’, ‘Hideout’, ‘Thrividha Balaya’, ‘Akunu Pahara’, ‘Gajasinghe’ and ‘Bhumikampa’ conducted against the LTTE. He was conferred with gallantry awards of ‘Rana Wickrema Padakkama’ and ‘Rana Sura Padakkama’.

‘Purna Bhumi’, North and East Operations, Riviresa Campaign Service, 50th Independence Anniversary Commemoration, Sri Lanka Army 50th Anniversary, Sri Lanka Armed Services Long Service and Peace Keeping Operations are among the other decoration medals he earned for his service. He leaves his wife Nilmi and 10-year-old son Nadil.