Tuesday, Apr 30, 2002
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By Nirupama Subramanian
The deputy chief of staff, Major-General Lohan Gunawardena, said the army was looking for 5,000 new recruits to fill in a shortfall in the approved strength of the 120,000-strong force. ``Unless peace is achieved and cadre strength reduction is envisaged, we have to fill the shortfall. We are finding it difficult to perform all tasks because of the shortfall, so we want to stabilise ourselves,'' said Gen. Gunawardena. But the army was also discussing the possibility of downsizing the army if the current peace process was successful and was able to establish a permanent peace in Sri Lanka, he said. For now, the army is still recruiting. Educational requirements have been raised and the upper age limit lowered as the army tries to compensate for the largely panic-triggered recruitment of the last six years during which it was engaged in constant battles with the LTTE. ``Any army uses such periods to reorganise, train, restructure, and rebuild. We are also doing this, and our training, despite financial constraints, is at a far more increased pace now, may be 200 to 300 per cent than what we were doing earlier,'' Gen. Gunawardena said. The Sri Lankan army was also gearing to be a 21st century fighting force and a modernisation drive was in the pipeline, necessitating the raising of the educational requirements from grade 8 to grade 10, with a minimum pass mark for a soldier. With the luxury of a ceasefire, Sri Lanka has also reduced the upper age limit from 28 to 24 years, in order to narrow down on physically fitter and more committed recruits. ``We want to be more selective. We don't want people who have been idling for 10 years after school,'' the general, who is number three in the Sri Lanka Army and in line to become the Commander, said. The Army believes its peace-time recruitment drive will be more successful than the ones conducted during the height of bloody battles against the LTTE. ``Now with the prospects of peace, more people would want to join the army. Earlier, though youngsters wanted to join, it was the parents and other family members who prevented them because of the risks involved. We expect a better performance now,'' he said. Desertions, once a chronic affliction of the Sri Lanka army with nearly 30,000 soldiers absent without leave or truant at one time, have ceased completely. Now, there is a barrage of enquiries from deserters asking if they can rejoin. Gen. Gunawardena said the army would soon make a decision on whether to take them back. The army was also giving thought to downsizing itself if peace returned to the country. Soldiers would be free to leave the army after putting in 12 years. Vocational training would be provided to soldiers so that they would find jobs in the outside world, Gen. Gunawardena said. Sri Lanka was also rooting for peacekeeping assignments around the world for its soldiers.
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