Major General K.A.D. Amal Karunasekara, RWP, RSP, VSV, USP, ndu, psc is a retired senior Sri Lankan army officer who served as 51st Chief of Staff of the Sri Lanka Army. Major General (Rtd) Karunasekara is also the first Commandant of the

National Defence College, Sri Lanka The National Defence College, located in Colombo, is the defence service training institute and highest seat of strategic learning for officers of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces, Sri Lanka Police and the Public Services. This is a very prestigiou ...

Education

Educated at

Nalanda College Colombo Nalanda College () is a Buddhist school in Sri Lanka that provides primary and secondary education for boys.cadet platoon. Having received his basic training at the

Sri Lanka Military Academy The Sri Lanka Military Academy () (SLMA or SLMA Diyatalawa), commonly known simply as Diyatalawa, is the oldest military academy in Sri Lanka, and trains commissioned officers for the Sri Lanka Army. It is located in the garrison town of Diyatal ...

, he is a graduate of the

Defence Services Command and Staff College The Defence Services Command and Staff College (DSCSC) is situated at Batalanda, Makola (South) 12 Kilometers away from Colombo and its aim to develop the professional knowledge and understanding of experienced officers of the Sri Lanka Army, Sr ...

, the

Defence Services Staff College The Defence Services Staff College (DSSC) is a defence service training institution of the Ministry of Defence, Government of India. It trains officers of all three services of the Indian Armed Forces – (Indian Army, Indian Navy, Indian Air ...

and the

PLA National Defence University The National Defense University is a national public collegiate military university headquartered in Haidian, Beijing, China, with constituent and affiliated military academies nationwide. Established in 1985 by a military order of Deng X ...

having studied Defence and Stretegic Studies. He also holds a MSc in Defence and Strategic Studies from the

University of Madras The University of Madras is a public university, public State university (India), state university in Chennai (Madras), Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1857, it is one of the oldest and most prominent universities in India, incorporated by an ...

; and a MSc in Defense Management from

General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University (KDU) ( Sinhala: ජෙනරාල් ශ්‍රිමත් ජෝන් කොතලාවල ආරක්ෂක විශ්ව විද්‍යාලය ''General Sir John Kotelawala'' ''Ar ...

Military career

Karunasekara enlisted in the

Sri Lanka Army The Sri Lanka Army (; ) is the oldest and largest of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces. The army was officially established as the Ceylon Army in 1949, though the army traces its roots back in 1881 when Ceylon Light Infantry Volunteers was created; ...

as an

Officer Cadet Officer cadet is a rank held by military personnel during their training to become commissioned officers. In the United Kingdom, the rank is also used by personnel of University Service Units such as the University Officers' Training Corps. Th ...

in 1981, going on to earn his commission as a Second Lieutenant in the

Sri Lanka Light Infantry The Sri Lanka Light Infantry (SLLI) is the oldest regiment in the Sri Lanka Army and the oldest infantry regiment in the army. It is made up of sixteen regular battalions and nine volunteer battalions, and is headquartered at the Panagoda Cantonme ...

after completing training at the

Diyatalawa Diyatalawa (), (), meaning ) is a former garrison town in the central highlands of Sri Lanka, in the Badulla District of Uva Province. It is situated at an altitude of and has become a popular destination for local holiday makers. It is home ...

in 1984. Over the next 35 years, he would rise through the ranks of the army, holding such key positions as Director Military Intelligence, Director Infantry, Master General of Ordnance Branch, and Military Secretary. Karunasekara has held both battalion- and brigade-level commands during the

Eelam War "Eelam War" is the name given to several phases of the armed conflict between the government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE: * Sri Lankan civil war, between 1983 and 2009 * Eelam War I, between 1983 and 1987 *Eelam War II, between 1990 and 1995 *Eelam ...

, and has commanded the 53 Division during its course. In addition, he was appointed the commander of the Sri Lankan contingent of the UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) when first deployed in 2004. He was the 15th

Colonel of the Regiment Colonel (Col) is a rank of the British Army and Royal Marines, ranking below Brigadier (United Kingdom), brigadier, and above Lieutenant colonel (United Kingdom), lieutenant colonel. British colonels are not usually field commanders; typically ...

of the

regiment, having occupied this position once temporarily between 2007 and 2009. He was an instructor at

and Directing Staff at the

. Karunasekara was appointed Commander of Security Forces Headquarters- Kilinochchi on 18 October 2015; he was promoted to Chief of Staff of the Army on 22 July 2017, after the promotion of

Mahesh Senanayake General N.U.M. Mahesh W. Senanayke, RWP, RSP, VSV, USP is a retired Sri Lankan Army senior officer who served as the Commander of the Sri Lanka Army from 2017 to 2019. Senanayake had previously been the Commander, Security Forces Headquarte ...

to Army Commander earlier the same month left the position vacant. He retired from service on 14 March 2018 with the rank of Major General.

Controversy

As commandant of the Sri Lankan contingent of

MINUSTAH The United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti (), also known as MINUSTAH, an acronym of its French name, was a UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti from 2004 to 2017. It was composed of 2,366 military personnel and 2,533 police, supported by int ...

since 2004, Karunasekara has been at the center of the child sexual abuse scandal that troops and officers under his command have been implicated in On 5 April 2018, he was arrested by the

Sri Lanka Police Sri Lanka Police (; ) is the civilian national police force of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. The police force is responsible for enforcing criminal and traffic law, enhancing public safety, maintaining order and keeping the p ...

Criminal Investigation Department The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is the branch of a police force to which most plainclothes criminal investigation, detectives belong in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth nations. A force's CID is disti ...

on charges of aiding and abetting the abduction and assault on

The Nation ''The Nation'' is a progressive American monthly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper ...

journalist Keith Noyahr in 2008. Karunasekara was accused of being part of a group of military intelligence operatives that functioned under the direction of the

Mahinda Rajapakse Mahinda Rajapaksa (; ; born Percy Mahendra Rajapaksa; 18 November 1945) is a Sri Lankan politician. He served as the sixth President of Sri Lanka from 2005 to 2015; the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 2004 to 2005, 2018, and 2019 to 2022; the ...

government between 2006 and 2010. He is currently under investigation for several related acts of state-sanctioned violence, including the assassination of

Lasantha Wickrematunge Lasantha Manilal Wickrematunge (, ; 5 April 1958 - 8 January 2009) was a high-profile Sri Lankan journalist, politician, Television presenter, broadcaster, and human rights in Sri Lanka, human rights activist who was assassinated in January 2009 ...

Personal life

Karunasekara is married, and has one daughter with his wife Dananjanie. Having been an avid hockey player at school level, he has represented Sri Lanka at national level in the sport and has gone on to be chairman of the Sri Lanka Army Hockey Committee 51st Army Chief of Staff Assumes Office
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Karunasekara, Amal Sri Lankan Buddhists Alumni of Nalanda College, Colombo Living people Sri Lanka Light Infantry officers Year of birth missing (living people) Sri Lankan major generals Sinhalese military personnel Defence Services Staff College alumni