Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

Victor Joseph Harold Gunasekera, CCS (1921 — 1993) was a former Ceylonese civil servant. The former Controller of Imports Exports, Government Agent of

Kegalle Kegalle (; ) is a large town in Sabaragamuwa Province of Sri Lanka. It is located on the Colombo–Kandy road, approximately from Colombo, from Kandy, from Kurunegala and from Avissavella. It is the main town in the Kegalle District, which i ...

and Secretary to the Board of Control for Cricket. A reservist, he was a

in the Ceylon Artillery and was one of the accused of the attempted military coup of 1962.VJH (Harry) Gunasekara
/ref> Educated at the

Royal College, Colombo Royal College, Colombo also known as; Royal Colombo, Colombo Royal College or Colombo Royal) is a Single-sex education, boys' school located in Cinnamon Gardens, Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Started by Joseph Marsh (priest), Joseph Mar ...

, where he played for the

Royal–Thomian The Battle of the Blues (Also known as Royal–Thomian Cricket Encounter) is an annual Big Match in Sri Lanka played between Royal College, Colombo and S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia since 1879. It is known as ''The Battle of the Blues'' ...

and at Ceylon University College. He joined the Ceylon Civil Service and went on to serve as Assistant Government Agent in

Galle Galle (, ; , ) (formerly ) is a major city on the southwestern tip of Sri Lanka, south of Colombo. Galle is the provincial capital and largest city of Southern Province, Sri Lanka and is the capital of Galle District. Galle was known as ''Gi ...

Hambantota Hambantota (, ) is the main city in Hambantota District, Southern Province, Sri Lanka, Southern Province, Sri Lanka. This area was hit hard by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and underwent a number of maj ...

Kandy Kandy (, ; , ) is a major city located in the Central Province, Sri Lanka, Central Province of Sri Lanka. It was the last capital of the Sinhalese monarchy from 1469 to 1818, under the Kingdom of Kandy. The city is situated in the midst of ...

and was the Assistant Secretary in the

Ministry of External Affairs and Defence The Ministry of External Affairs and Defence was a cabinet ministry of the Government of Ceylon that conducted and managed all of Ceylon's relations with other countries and its military matters from 1947 to 1977. History The ministry was for ...

. He was instrumental in initiating the Maldive independence. Thereafter he served as He was Government Agent, Kegalle before taking up the post of Controller of Imports Exports. Since the formation of the

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 ...

he joined as a volunteer (reservist) in the 2nd Volunteer Coastal Artillery / Anti-Aircraft Regiment of the Ceylon Artillery. He was mobilized in 1958 due to the Galoya riots and was deployed to Jafna. In 1962, he was accused of taking part in the attempted military coup, arrested and tried. Later all convictions were over turned by the privy council.

References

Significance of the abortive 1962 military coup
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gunasekara, Victor 1921 births 1993 deaths Sri Lanka Artillery officers Sinhalese people Sri Lankan civil servants Sri Lankan Christians Alumni of Royal College, Colombo Prisoners and detainees of Sri Lanka Sri Lankan prisoners and detainees Alumni of the Ceylon University College Government Agents (Sri Lanka)