Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

Ananda G. Weerasekara, RWP, USP (29 April 1943 – 28 December 2021) was a Sri Lankan military officer and monk. He served as the Military Coordinating Officer of the North Central Province during the

1987–1989 JVP insurrection The 1987–1989 JVP insurrection, also known as the 1988–1989 revolt or the JVP troubles, was an armed revolt in Sri Lanka, led by the Marxist–Leninist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, against the Government of Sri Lanka. The 1987–1989 insurr ...

and Commissioner General for Rehabilitation. Born to Mendis and Sumana Weerasekera, he was the eldest of six siblings which includes Rear Admiral

Sarath Weerasekara Rear Admiral Sarath Weerasekara, RSP, VSV, USP, MP is a Sri Lankan senior naval officer and politician. He was a former Cabinet Minister of Public Security and a State Minister of Provincial Councils and Local Government Affairs, member of p ...

. He was educated at

Nalanda College, Colombo ''Āpadāna Sobhinī Panñā'' , motto_translation = Character Illumines Wisdom , established = , founder = Patrick de Silva Kularatne , type = National , grades = ...

and enlisted in the

Ceylon Army ta, இலங்கை இராணுவம் , image = File:Sri Lanka Army Logo.png , image_size = 180px , caption = Emblem of the Sri Lanka Army , start_date ...

in 1964 as a cadet officer and was commissioned a

Second Lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

in the 1st Battalion,

Ceylon Sinha Regiment The Sri Lanka Sinha Regiment (SLSR) ( Sinhala: ශ්‍රී ලංකා සිංහ රෙජිමේන්තුව ''Śrī Laṃkā Sinha Rejimēnthuva'') is an infantry regiment of the Sri Lanka Army; it is the second oldest infantry re ...

following his basic training. He saw active service during the 1971 JVP Insurrection. In 1986, Lieutenant Colonel Weerasekara served as the

commanding officer The commanding officer (CO) or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitu ...

of the 4th Battalion, Sri Lanka Sinha Regiment. He then served as the first commanding officer of the newly formed 6th Battalion, Sri Lanka Sinha Regiment from 1987 to 1988. During the

, Weerasekara served as the Military Coordinating Officer for the North Central Province and in 1990 served as the Commissioner General for Rehabilitation. He was implicated in 1997 in the

Presidential Commission of Inquiry A Presidential Commission of Inquiry is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue ordered by the President of Sri Lanka to report findings, give advice and make recommendations. Types Two types of inquiries can be commissioned; * ...

into the death of

Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

Denzil Kobbekaduwa Lieutenant General Denzil Lakshman Kobbekaduwa, RWP, RSP, VSV, USP ( si, ඩෙන්සිල් ලක්ෂ්මණ් කොබ්බෑකඩුව; 27 July 1940 – 8 August 1992) was a senior Sri Lankan Army officer who served in t ...

, Weerasekara along with Major General

Vijaya Wimalaratne Major General Vanigamuni Indrajith Vijeyakumar Mendis Wimalaratne, RWP, RSP, VSV, USP, psc, GR ( si, විජය විමලරත්න; 25 August 1940 – 8 August 1992) was a senior Sri Lanka Army officer. One of the most distinguish ...

was accused of murdering Kobbekaduwa. Following his retirement from the army in 1998 with the rank of Major General, he served as Deputy Chairman of Airport and Aviation Services and was active in local nationalist politics associated with Sinhala Veera Vidahana which had links to the

Sihala Urumaya Sihala is a town and union council located in Islamabad Capital Territory, Pakistan, with a population of just over 25000. It is geographically situated on Kahuta Road and Islamabad Expressway. Sihala connects Rawalpindi, Punjab to Azad Kashmir v ...

. In 2000 he was arrested by police on accusations torturer and murder of JVP suspects in 1989 in Anuradhapura. On 1 May 2007, he entered the Buddhist Order by the name of Buddangala Ananda. Ven. Buddangala Ananda Thera passed away on 28 December 2021, at the age of 78.

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Weerasekara, Ananda 1943 births 2021 deaths Sri Lankan Buddhist monks Theravada Buddhist monks Sri Lankan major generals Alumni of Nalanda College, Colombo Sri Lankan Theravada Buddhists Sinha Regiment officers Sinhalese military personnel