Major General Ananda G. Weerasekara, RWP, USP (29 April 1943 – 28 December 2021) was a Sri Lankan military officer and monk. He served as the Military Coordinating Officer of the North Central Province during the

1987–1989 JVP insurrection The 1987–1989 JVP insurrection, also known as the 1988–1989 revolt or the JVP troubles, was an armed revolt in Sri Lanka, led by the Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, against the Government of Sri Lanka. Th ...

and Commissioner General for Rehabilitation. Born to Mendis and Sumana Weerasekera, he was the eldest of six siblings which includes Rear Admiral

Sarath Weerasekara Rear Admiral Sarath Weerasekara, RSP, VSV, USP, MP is a retired Sri Lankan admiral, politician and a filmmaker. He was a former Cabinet Minister of Public Security and a State Minister of Provincial Councils and Local Government Affairs, m ...

. He was educated at

Nalanda College, Colombo Nalanda College () is a Buddhist school in Sri Lanka that provides primary and secondary education for boys.Ceylon 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; t ...

in 1964 as a cadet officer and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the 1st Battalion,

Ceylon Sinha Regiment The Sri Lanka Sinha Regiment (SLSR) (Sinhala language, Sinhala: ශ්‍රී ලංකා සිංහ රෙජිමේන්තුව ''Śrī Laṃkā Sinha Rejimēnthuva'') is an infantry regiment of the Sri Lanka Army; it is the second o ...

following his basic training. He saw active service during the

1971 JVP Insurrection The 1971 Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) insurrection (also known as the 1971 Revolt) was the first of two unsuccessful armed revolts conducted by the communist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) against the socialist United Front Government of ...

. In 1986, Lieutenant Colonel Weerasekara served as the

commanding officer The commanding officer (CO) or commander, or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually give ...

of the 4th Battalion, Sri Lanka Sinha Regiment. He then served as the first commanding officer of the newly formed 6th Battalion, Sri Lanka Sinha Regiment from 1987 to 1988. During the

, Weerasekara served as the Military Coordinating Officer for the North Central Province and in 1990 served as the Commissioner General for Rehabilitation. He was implicated in 1997 in the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the death of

Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...

Denzil Kobbekaduwa Lieutenant General Denzil Lakshman Kobbekaduwa, RWP, RSP, VSV, USP (; 27 July 1940 – 8 August 1992) was a senior Sri Lankan Army officer who served in the 1971 Insurrection and the Sri Lankan Civil War. Having trained with the British ...

, Weerasekara along with Major General

Vijaya Wimalaratne Major General Vanigamuni Indrajith Vijeyakumar Mendis Wimalaratne, RWP, RSP, VSV, USP (; 25 August 1940 – 8 August 1992) was a senior Sri Lanka Army officer. One of the most distinguished field commanders in Sri Lanka, Wimalaratne raised ...

was accused of murdering Kobbekaduwa. Following his retirement from the army in 1998 with the rank of Major General, he served as Deputy Chairman of Airport and Aviation Services and was active in local nationalist politics associated with Sinhala Veera Vidahana which had links to the Sihala Urumaya. In 2000 he was arrested by police on accusations of the torture and murder of JVP suspects in 1989 in Anuradhapura. On 1 May 2007, he entered the Buddangala Ananda, a Buddhist monastic order. Ven. Buddangala Ananda Thera died on 28 December 2021, at the age of 78.

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Weerasekara, Ananda 1943 births 2021 deaths Sri Lankan Buddhist monks Theravada Buddhist monks Sri Lankan major generals Alumni of Nalanda College, Colombo Sri Lankan Theravada Buddhists Sinha Regiment officers Sinhalese military personnel