Deputy Minister of Defence Major General Aruna Jayasekara (Retd) visited Army Headquarters on Wednesday and was briefed on the Sri Lanka Army’s current operations, its future plans and an ongoing restructuring process.
He was welcomed by Commander of the Army Lieutenant General Nilantha Premaratne and toured the Army Headquarters Operations Room, the Daily Mirror reported at 10.13 a.m.
Addressing officers, Jayasekara commended the dedication, professionalism and commitment of army personnel in safeguarding the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. He also met a cross-section of other ranks and civilian employees.
The one line worth reading twice
Most of the filing is the standard furniture of an official visit. The exception is the phrase “ongoing restructuring process.”
That is a confirmation, in passing, that the army is being restructured — not a proposal, not a review, but a process already under way and far enough along for a deputy minister to be briefed on its status. It is the first reference this archive has recorded to such a process.
What the filing does not supply is any of its content. There is no indication of whether restructuring means a change in force size, in formation structure, in the balance between operational and administrative units, or in the army’s post-conflict role. No target, timeline, cost or authorising decision is given, and nothing is said about personnel implications.
A deputy minister who is himself a retired major general receiving a briefing on it is a reasonable use of a morning. It is not, on this account, a disclosure.
Who the two men are
Jayasekara is a retired major general sitting as a member of parliament and serving as deputy minister of defence — a portfolio in which the ministerial post is held by the President.
Premaratne took command of the army this year, having previously served as its 69th Chief of Staff. This archive has covered him in command since the courtesy calls that followed his appointment.
The army’s visible commitments in recent weeks have run from a 498-strong troop and STF deployment to Haiti to the search for the tusker Agbo — an unusually wide spread of tasks for a force reported to be reorganising.
Not reported
The filing gives no detail of the restructuring, does not say when it began or when it is to conclude, and does not say whether it follows a cabinet decision or a defence review. It does not report what the operations briefing covered, name any other official present, or indicate whether the visit was routine or prompted by a specific matter.
This is a single-source report of a ministry-style announcement. A search found no independent filing from another verified newsroom. The primary record would be a Ministry of Defence or army release, but both defence.lk and army.lk return no response at all to this host, so neither could be checked. Readers should treat this as an account of an official visit rather than as independently reported news.