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The Sri Lankan Army Chief on the army’s role and challenges in the post-war context, efforts towards resettlement, and on international scrutiny
Lieutenant General Mahesh Senanayake took over as the 22nd Commander of the Sri Lankan Army in June 2017. The conduct of the army in the past, during the island’s civil war that it ended by defeating the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam in 2009, and its contentious presence and role in the country’s Tamil-majority north and east since then continue to dominate the discourse around post-war resettlement and reconciliation. Amidst growing calls from the Tamil political leadership and the people for demilitarization of the war-scarred areas, what is the army’s role and vision as Sri Lanka tries transitioning into peace? Excerpts from an interview in Colombo:
It is nine years since the civil war ended. The period has witnessed some crucial political developments, including a regime change in 2015. The current government came to power on the promise of strengthening democracy. In this post-war context, how do you see the role of the army?
The Sri Lankan army had been a traditional army, a ceremonial army, back in the 1970s, early 1980s. Due to the negative incidents that took place in the early 1980s, the army was expanded to face the challenges and threats that came in the way of the country’s territorial integrity and internal security. The army put in the main effort to ensure there is peace that the people aspired for, making many sacrifices. In recent history, Sri Lanka is the one and only country on the world map that has eradicated terrorism from its soil. We are a victorious army
Once the combat is over, it is the responsibility of the army itself to understand its role and task. The last nine years were very critical to understand what happened 30 years ago. What must this government and army do to ensure that we don’t go back to the roots of the conflict that began 30 years ago? We have to find a mechanism, a commitment within the country to satisfy our own people more than the people outside. Today, we are closer to a better solution. Democracy was restored, elections were held [in 2015], good governance was brought in.
In this context, we are right-sizing and building a capacity-based army. We have to give back to the people by right-sizing and ensuring that the war will not recur. We are engaging with the people in the north and east to identify our responsibility. The 30 years of war were brutal, many lives were lost on both sides. This is a sort of testing period for us. Maybe till 2020. I believe that will be the time to take a good jump. As Chief of the Army Staff, I can say that the army is the only organisation which has the biggest capacity, be it human resource or anything else.