Major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

Victor Joseph Harold Gunasekera, CCS (1921 — 1993) was a former Ceylonese civil servant. The former

Controller Controller may refer to: Occupations * Controller or financial controller, or in government accounting comptroller, a senior accounting position * Controller, someone who performs agent handling in espionage * Air traffic controller, a person ...

of Imports Exports, Government Agent of

Kegalle Kegalle ( si, කෑගල්ල; ta, கேகாலை) is a large town in Sabaragamuwa Province of Sri Lanka. It is located on the Colombo–Kandy road, approximately from Colombo and from Kandy. It is the main town in the Kegalle District ...

and Secretary to the Board of Control for Cricket. A reservist, he was a

in the

Ceylon Artillery The Sri Lanka Artillery (SLA) is the artillery arm of the Sri Lanka Army. It is made up of ten regular regiments and two volunteer regiments. The SLA is headquartered at Panagoda Cantonment, Panagoda. The emblem of the SLA is modeled after that ...

and was one of the accused of the attempted military coup of 1962.VJH (Harry) Gunasekara
/ref> Educated at the

Royal College, Colombo Royal College, Colombo is a selective entry boys' school located in Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Started as a private school by Rev Joseph Marsh in 1835, it was established as the Colombo Academy by Sir Robert Wilmot-Horton in Janua ...

, where he played for the

Royal–Thomian The Royal–Thomian (The Battle of the Blues) is an annual cricket match in Sri Lanka played between Royal College, Colombo and S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia since 1879. It is known as ''The Battle of the Blues'' due to the colours of the tw ...

and at

Ceylon University College Ceylon University College was a public university college in Ceylon. Established in 1921, it was Ceylon's first attempt at university education. The college didn't award degrees under its own name but prepared students to sit the University of Lo ...

. He joined the

Ceylon Civil Service The Ceylon Civil Service, popularly known by its acronym CCS, was the premier civil service of the Government of Ceylon under British colonial rule and in the immediate post-independence period. Established in 1833, it functioned as part of the ...

and went on to serve as Assistant Government Agent in

Galle Galle ( si, ගාල්ල, translit=Gālla; ta, காலி, translit=Kāli) (formerly Point de Galle) is a major city in Sri Lanka, situated on the southwestern tip, from Colombo. Galle is the provincial capital and largest city of Souther ...

Hambantota Hambantota ( si, හම්බන්තොට, ta, அம்பாந்தோட்டை) is the main town in Hambantota District, Southern Province, Sri LankaThe prominent Malays (මැලේ) most part of the population is to be partly des ...

Kandy Kandy ( si, මහනුවර ''Mahanuwara'', ; ta, கண்டி Kandy, ) is a major city in Sri Lanka located in the Central Province. It was the last capital of the ancient kings' era of Sri Lanka. The city lies in the midst of hills ...

and was the Assistant Secretary in the

Ministry of External Affairs and Defence Ministry may refer to: Government * Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister * Ministry (government department), a department of a government Religion * Christian mi ...

. He was instrumental in initiating the Maldive independence. Thereafter he served as He was Government Agent, Kegalle before taking up the post of Controller of Imports Exports. Since the formation of 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 ...

he joined as a volunteer (reservist) in the 2nd Volunteer Coastal Artillery / Anti-Aircraft Regiment of the Ceylon Artillery. He was mobilized in 1958 due to the Galoya riots and was deployed to Jafna. In 1962, he was accused of taking part in the attempted military coup, arrested and tried. Later all convictions were over turned by the

privy council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

References

Significance of the abortive 1962 military coup
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gunasekara, Victor 1921 births 1993 deaths Sri Lanka Artillery officers Sinhalese people Sri Lankan civil servants Sri Lankan Christians Alumni of Royal College, Colombo Prisoners and detainees of Sri Lanka Sri Lankan prisoners and detainees Alumni of the Ceylon University College Government Agents (Sri Lanka)