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CERTIFIED MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTANT 7

from a fighting army to a peace-time “
Before being appointed as the 20th
Army Commander, I was the Army
Chief of Staff for over three and a
half years since 10 January 2010, the
The
longest period served by anyone in that
position. When the war in the North
Government
was over, we had a huge army of about
250,000 soldiers. Transforming them
introduce
army was an onerous task, which took needs to
two years for me to accomplish. a proper

When His Excellency Mahinda State Policy
Rajapakse was elected President of for all its
the country in 2005, the ethnic conflict
had been dragging on for nearly organisations.
twenty-five years. His government
initially attempted to solve the problem
through peaceful negotiations, but
when his overtures were spurned by
the LTTE, His Excellency decided to
end the conflict once and for all and
launched an all-out offensive operation.
It was during this period a turning point
of my career occurred when I became
the General Officer Commanding of the
23rd Infantry Division in the East, where
I developed a major Humanitarian
Operation concept on my own in
early 2006 and 2007. I spearheaded
a relentless offensive against the LTTE
in the Eastern Province and was able
to liberate Vakare and Thoppigala, two
terrorist strongholds.

In addition, I held the posts of
Commanding Officer of Sri Lanka
Military Academy, Director Media, and
Military Spokesman for the Ministry of
Defence. While holding the position
of Commissioner General of General
Rehabilitation, I was able to rehabilitate
over 14,500 ex-LTTE cadres.

Sri Lanka Ports
Authority

The vast experience of 34 years in
the Sri Lanka Army, most of which in
war-time, stood in good stead when I
assumed duties as the Chairman of the
Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA).
The Colombo Port is a singularly
prominent place since over 99.7% of
all imports and exports to and from
the country passes through it. As
an island nation, it is the prime link
to the outside world with the other
major link, the Colombo International
Airport, rendered ineffectual due to

www.cma-srilanka.org | Volume 06 -No. 2 - September 2021