Acting Director, Ministry of Defence Media Centre, Brigadier Jayanath Jayaweera and the Director Personnel (Administration) Brig. NA Dharmaratne were also present.
Speaking at the press briefing Adjutant General Maj. General Hathurusinghe stated that, necessary pre-requisites have been made to grant all deserters to leave the Army officially with proper clearance. A leaving certificate would also be given for the personnel those who are officially leaving the service.
The amnesty period would be from 02 April to 16 April 2015 and deserters have to be AWOL for more than 6 months as of 2 April 2015 to be entitled for the official pardon.
Meanwhile, responding to a question Maj. Gen. Hathurusinghe mentioned that, at present there are over 17 Officers and over 41313 Other Ranks have been listed as 'Absent Without Official Leave' (AOWL) and these absentees are allowed to report back to their regimental headquarters for the clearance.
Further elaborating the process he went on to say that, since 1995 Army has conducted 20 amnesty periods and over 67213 have been cleared thus far. Speaking further he noted that, absentees to be released have been categorized into four groups as mentioned below.
Category No: 01
Long-term absentees those who do not owe any amount of money to the Army or those who are not implicated in any legal matter are eligible to receive the direct discharge irrespective of paraphernalia (Q items) issued to the subject or any other legal matters, involved in the civil courts.
Category No: 02
Those who are not bound to legal obligations and those who are capable of settling their loans against the remaining balance of the Army Benevolent Fund, Suwa Sahana Fund and Compulsory Savings Fund or through the guarantors or relatives are eligible to receive the discharge, irrespective of paraphernalia issued to the subject or any other involvement in legal issues in civil courts.
Category No: 03
Under this category, those absentees without any legal issues or any loans that should be paid back to the Army or whose loans could be be settled against their balances in the Army Benevolent Fund, Suwa Sahana Fund and Compulsory Savings Fund either from the guarantors or the relatives, are eligible to receive discharge from the Army. (In this category, loan balance payment less than Rs 50,000 are not considered)
Category No: 04
Absentees accused for indiscipline, other malpractices or criminal acts could also receive the discharge in accordance with existing Army legal procedures and regulations.
However, all paraphernalia ('Q' items) issued to these absentees and any of their involvement in non-Army issues hearing in civil courts, would not be considered for all four categories specified above.
In concluding Maj. Generel Hathurusinghe stated that on completion of the amnesty period, Army would continue to arrest deserters and since 2013 Army has arrested over 14928 AWOL soldiers.
A Large gathering of media personal were present at the press conference.(MoD)
