Army warns legal action against harbouring absentees, deserters

Sri Lanka Army yesterday said that they are continuing countrywide operations to arrest its absentees or deserters and warned legal action against those who would be harbouring them.

Issuing a statement Sri Lanka Army Headquarters appealed all concerned in earnest to desist from aiding or abetting the army deserters or absentees, harbouring or using them for any anti-social acts since such misdeeds as the Army could not hold any responsibility for such involvements.

“It has been noted that sections of Army deserters or those absent without leave (AWOL), some of them still in hiding, are reportedly involved in committing criminal acts, robberies and various anti-social acts in different parts of the island.

In many instances, most of those elements operate under the cover or patronage of businessmen, underworld leaders, employers and different other stakeholders and resort to such anti-social acts as per Police reports. Furthermore, some of them appear to seek refuge from some politically powerful elements and members of the clergy.

It is pertinent to remind here that provision of employment or harbouring of those Army absentees or deserters amounts to breach of the country’s existing law and is an offence punishable in Court (133 of the Penal Code).

Likewise, respective Police stations as well as Sri Lanka Military Policemen with the assistance of state agencies are continuing operations island-wide to arrest those elements since they have repeatedly failed to receive general amnesties for legal discharge or report back to their relevant Army formations for discharge procedures,” it further said.