Major General Sanjaya Wanasinghe, who was tipped to be appointed as the next Commander of the Sri Lanka Army, has been axed from the force in an unceremonious manner without being granted a service extension.

There is now much controversy over Wanasinghe’s retirement last week (13 October) as the Chief of Staff of the Army as well as from the force given that he (Wanasinghe) could have been granted a service extension.

Neth News last week revealed that the Defence Ministry had failed to follow due procedure when seeking a service extension for Wanasinghe. The usual practice is for the Defence Secretary to send a letter seeking a service extension for the Army Chief of Staff by a letter.

However, this time around, a letter had been sent to President Ranil Wickremesinghe with three names of major generals of the Army, with the Chief of Staff’s name being listed in the second position, the Neth News report further stated. The first name in the letter had been Major General Deepal Puswella, with Major General Sanjaya Wanasinghe being listed in the second slot, followed by the name of Major General Hirosha Wanigasekera.

Successive governments had given extensions to officers who had earlier held the post of Chief of Staff of the Army, including Sarath Fonseka, Shavendra Silva, Dampath Fernando, Sathpriya Liyanage, and G.A. Chandrasiri.

Wanasinghe is the son of former Army Commander General Hamilton Wanasinghe and is married to the eldest sister of Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP Harshana Rajakaruna.