COLOMBO (PTI): The number of deserters from the Sri Lankan army rose sharply in August this year after the killing of nine top army navy brasses in a pressure mine blast in Kaytes Island near the Jaffna Peninsula.
Chief army spokesman Col. Sarath Moonasinghe told reporters at the weekly briefing that there were 840 desertions during August followed by about 500 in September and 160 in October. The present strength of the army is estimated to be around 80,000.
The number was high after the killing of the northern army commander Lt Gen. Denzil Kobbekaduwa Jaffna commander Maj. Gen Wijay Wimalratne and the northern navy commander Mohan Jaimaha with six others when their vehicle was caught in a pressure mine blast at the Kaytes Island on August 8.
Replying to questions he said desertions were common in armies everywhere. In many cases those who did not report for duty after going on leave were technically termed as deserters. Many such soldiers when they returned to duty were dealt with in accordance with the relevant rules.
The spokesman however declined to give details of desertions in the army after outbreak of fresh hostilities between the government troops and the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) militants in June 1990.
Col. Moonasinghe said an army court martial inquiring into the massacre of 67 Tamil civilians in June 1991 at Kokkadicholai in the eastern Batticaloa district had found a lieutenant guilty of failure of exercising control on his men and disposal of bodies of the victims.
The court martial however acquitted the officer and 19 soldiers of killing Tamil civilians for lack of evidence.
A presidential inquiry commission had earlier blamed the army for the massacre of the Tamil civilians following the killing of some army officers by the LTTE. It said the army should conduct its own inquiry into the incidence.
The spokesman said the court martial could not find evidence to fix the blame for the massacre and hence acquitted the soldiers. The final decision as regards the ruling was with the army commander he said.
Meanwhile reports said security in the border villages in the north central province would be tightened with the deployment of more police with paramilitary training to protect the Sinhala and Muslim villages vulnerable to attacks by LTTE militants in the north and the east.
The step follows the massacre of 161 civilians most of them Muslims allegedly by the LTTE in three neighboring villages of Palliyagodella in the north central Polonnaruwa district on Oct.15.
Article extracted from this publication >> November 13, 1992
