Deputy Minister of Defence Major General (Retired) Aruna Jayasekara announced new pension benefits for the families of war veterans in Parliament on Tuesday, on the day of the 17th National War Heroes Commemoration, alongside plans for a dedicated private security regulator to be set up within the year.
Speaking in the House, Jayasekara said the government’s primary responsibility is to prevent the recurrence of war and avoid the emergence of divisive conditions in the country. He emphasised that these efforts are being carried out with reconciliation at the forefront, without discrimination based on race, religion or caste — framing that drew politically pointed contrast on a day marked by Rajapaksa-NPP friction in Parliament over war hero symbolism.
On the pension front, Jayasekara said Cabinet approval had been secured to amend the widows’ and orphans’ pension scheme. Two specific changes were outlined. First, benefits will be extended to the families, children or close relatives of unmarried personnel who were injured by terrorist activities, subsequently retired on medical grounds and married after retirement — a group currently outside the scheme’s standard inheritance rules. Second, the law will be amended to ensure widows’ and orphans’ pension benefits extend to the close relatives of individuals who have legally divorced and remarried before reaching the age of 55.
Separately, Jayasekara said a significant number of retired war heroes and police personnel are currently employed in the private security sector, and that the government plans to establish a special regulatory authority within this year to oversee the sector. The move would create the first dedicated state regulator for an industry that has grown substantially in the post-war period and now employs a large number of ex-service personnel as guards and security officers.
The announcements run alongside an earlier government cycle of 5,289 tri-service promotions and the 17th National War Heroes Commemoration Ceremony at Battaramulla chaired by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake.
Jayasekara is also one of the two ministers behind the recently announced multi-ministry Marine Protected Area mechanism for Northern Province waters, placing him at the centre of both veteran-welfare and maritime-conservation tracks for the cycle.
