Allegiance Sri Lanka Rank Major general Service/branch Sri Lanka Army | Name Amal Karunasekara Years of service 1981 to date Unit Sri Lanka Light Infantry | |
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Commands held 53 Division (Sri Lanka), 233 Brigade (Sri Lanka) Battles/wars Sri Lankan Civil War, Eelam War Awards Rana Sura Padakkama, Vishista Seva Vibhushanaya, Uttama Seva Padakkama, ndu, psc, MSc Other work Director Military Intelligence , Master General Ordnance, Director Training, Military Secretary, Director Infantry, etc Battles and wars Sri Lankan Civil War, Eelam War I | ||
Maj. General K.A.D. Amal Karunasekara RWP, RSP, VSV, USP, ndu, psc, MSc is a senior Sri Lankan army officer and the current Chief of Staff of the Sri Lanka Army. In addition to his military awards, he also holds a MSc in Defence and Strategic Studies from the University of Madras, and a MSc in Defense Management from General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University.
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Education and military career
Educated at Nalanda College Colombo, Karunasekara was a Senior Cadet in the school's cadet platoon. 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
Karunasekara enlisted in the Sri Lanka Army as an Officer Cadet in 1981, going on to earn his commission as a Second Lieutenant in the Sri Lanka Light Infantry after completing training at the Sri Lanka Military Academy, Diyatalawa 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, 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 is the 15th (and current) Colonel of the Regiment of the Sri Lanka Light Infantry regiment, having occupied this position once before between 2007 and 2009. Being a double qualified officer, both from the Defence Services Command and Staff College Sri Lanka as well as the Indian Defence Services Staff College, he was an instructor at Diyatalawa and Directing Staff at the Defence Services Command and Staff College.
Karunasekara was appointed Commander of Security Forces Headquarters- Kilinochchi on 18th October 2015; he was promoted to Chief of Staff of the Army on the 22nd July 2017, after the promotion of Mahesh Senanayake to Army Commander earlier the same month left the position vacant.
Controversy
As commandant of the Sri Lankan contingent of MINUSTAH 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
Personal life
Karunasekara is married, and has one daughter with his wife Dananjanie.