President Maithripala Sirisena, in his capacity as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and Minister of Defence, on the recommendations of the Ministry of Defence and the Commander of the Army, has offered a General Amnesty period from April 22 to May 10, to all Army absentees, enabling them discharge from service under four categories.
This is a newly-devised General Amnesty under the 1st Phase. Accordingly, it facilitates the discharge of all Army Officers who are absent without leave (AWOL) for more than 21 days, Other Rankers who are absent for more than 6 months (180 days) by April 22 and those absentees willing to rejoin the Army after their absence of more than 6 months.
Considering practical necessities, discharge of absentees is to be implemented under four categories such as; Category No 1: long-term absentees who do not owe any money to the Army or are not implicated in any legal matter, are eligible to receive a direct discharge, irrespective of paraphernalia (Q items), issued to the subject or any other legal matters, involved in civil courts, Category No 2 : those who have no legal obligation and are capable of settling their loans against the remaining balance money in the Army Benevolent Fund, Suwa Sahana Fund and Compulsory Savings Fund or through the guarantors or relatives, can be discharged, irrespective of paraphernalia, issued to the subject or any other involvement in legal issues in civil courts, Category No 3 : under this category, those absentees without any legal issues or any loans that should be paid back to the Army or whose loans can 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 a discharge from the Army and Category No 4 : absentees who have been charged for indiscipline or accused of other malpractices or criminal acts could also receive a discharge in accordance with existing Army legal procedures and regulations.
Likewise, all paraphernalia (‘Q’ items) issued to the absentees and any of their involvement in non-Army related civil court cases, would not in any way be considered under all four categories expecting to receive discharge from the Army as specified above.
Similarly, all those absent for more than 6 months from service but are still willing to rejoin, will be considered for reinstatement if requested so.
Under this new programme for delisting, absentees within this General Amnesty period are requested to directly reach their respective Regimental Headquarters either in person or by communication to receive their discharge from service within the specified period.
Those intending to use the facility should carry the Army Identity Card (if available), National Identity Card, documents related to injuries sustained in terrorist attacks, etc. before such discharge is obtained.
Add new comment