Amal Karunasekara

Major General K.A.D. Amal Karunasekara, RWP, RSP, VSV, USP, ndu, psc is a retired senior Sri Lankan army officer who served as 51st Chief of Staff of the Sri Lanka Army. Major General (Rtd) Karunasekara is also the first Commandant of the National Defence College, Sri Lanka.

Education Educated at Nalanda College Colombo, Karunasekara was a Senior Cadet in the school's cadet platoon. Having received his basic training at the Sri Lanka Military Academy, he is a graduate of the Defence Services Command and Staff College, the Defence Services Staff College and the PLA National Defence University having studied Defence and Stretegic Studies. He also holds a MSc in Defence and Strategic Studies from the University of Madras; and a MSc in Defense Management from General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University. Over the next 35 years, he would rise through the ranks of the army, holding such key positions as Director Military Intelligence, Director Infantry, Master General of Ordnance Branch, and Military Secretary.

He was the 15th Colonel of the Regiment of the Sri Lanka Light Infantry regiment, having occupied this position once temporarily between 2007 and 2009.

Controversy As commandant of the Sri Lankan contingent of MINUSTAH since 2004, Karunasekara has been at the center of the child sexual abuse scandal that troops and officers under his command have been implicated in

On 5 April 2018, he was arrested by the Sri Lanka Police Criminal Investigation Department on charges of aiding and abetting the abduction and assault on The Nation journalist Keith Noyahr in 2008. Karunasekara was accused of being part of a group of military intelligence operatives that functioned under the direction of the Mahinda Rajapakse government between 2006 and 2010.

Personal life Karunasekara is married, and has one daughter with his wife Dananjanie.