Major General Chandrasiri to retire

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 December 2008, 13:17 GMT]
Major General Chandrasiri is to retire from his current position as Military Commander of the Northern district effective from 6th of January. Promotion to Sri Lanka's Highest Army post eluded Mr Chandrasiri due to the extensions provided to his friend Lt.Gen. Sarath Fonseka. Meanwhile, Maj.Gen. Mendega Samarasinghe is expected to become the new SLA commander for Jaffna, military sources in Jaffna said.

While military circles speculated that Mr Chandrasiri will be offered a senior post with the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Colombo, his retirement comes amidst complicity of the Jaffna SLA in scuttling investigations on more than 800 disappearances, and more than 1000 killings of Tamil men aged 18 to 30, widely known to have been carried out the by his soldiers and collaborating paramilitaries during his two year tenure in Jaffna.

Chandrasiri has invited representatives of International Non-Governmental Organizations, and the local NGOs for a meeting inside the Palali High Security Zone (HSZ) Tuesday afternoon at 3:00 p.m.

Civil sources speculated that the SLA Commander will formally announce his retirement during the meeting and will introduce the new Commander to the meeting attendees.

Chronology: