Tribute To Late Genaral Janaka Perera

Major General Janaka Perera was a Sri Lankan General and politician. He served as the Chief of Staff of the Sri Lanka Army and is coincided as one of the most distinguished generals in Sri Lanka. After retiring from the army he served as a Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Australia & Ambassador to Indonesia. He was the opposition leader of the North Central Provincial Council till his death on October 6, 2008.

Following the fall Elephant Pass in April 2000 which forced the SL Army units in Jaffna to fall back due to lack of fixed defence positions, Perera was appointed Overall Operations Commander (OOC) and tasked with countering the LTTE offensive. During this time there were fears in 40,000 troops in the Jaffna peninsula could be cut off, trapped and overrun, which lead to the government of President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga to negotiate with the Indian government for ships to evacuate troops from the peninsula due to the lack of transport ships of the Navy. However General Janaka successfully commanded troops for several effective counter-offensives that halted the LTTE advance, removing the treat to the Jaffna peninsula and succeeded in established the current defense line in the Jaffna peninsula.

Janaka Perera was killed by a LTTE terrorist suicide bomb attack on October 6, 2008 in Anuradhapura.

[ 07-Oct-2008 ]