Professor Nishan C Wijesinha 

Janaka Perera saw action against JVP communist insurgents in 1971 and steadily rose through the ranks being promoted Lt Col in 1986 and later, as a Colonel was the chief instructor at the Sri Lanka Military Academy. During the second JVP insurgency of 1987-89 he headed an operation which resulted in the capture of the JVP leader and he was promoted to Brigadier in 1989. 

On 28 June 1995 Tamil Tiger forces launched an attack on four army camps near Weli Oya using female suicide bombers as the spearhead. Perera, the local commander, led a disparate group of reservists, national guardsmen and support troops and routed the insurgents killing over 300 for the loss of only two Government troops. The control of the battle was a masterpiece of combined operations with the rebels attacked by both strike aircraft and fast patrol boats.

Soon afterwards, Perera took command of the elite Reserve Strike Force and later 53rd Division which was responsible for the recapture of the Jaffna Peninsular from Tamil Tigers. Initially advancing on a narrow front to minimise civilian casualties, as the battle developed, he committed three brigades to attack the enemy from different directions leaving them unable to coordinate a defence.

Promoted to Major General in 1996 a series of high-level appointments followed culminating in Chief of Staff of the Army in 2000. Overlooked for promotion to Army Commander, Perera retired the following year and was made High Commissioner to Australia while Several hundred Tamils protested outside the Parliament building in Canberra protesting against the appointment of a man they regarded as a war criminal. Four years later, he was appointed High Commissioner to Indonesia. 

On retirement from the Diplomatic Service, he turned to politics with the United National Party.  On the 6th of October 2008 a suicide bomber targeted the UNP office in Anuradhapura where Major General Janaka Perera  and his wife were killed in the blast. 

The government put the entire blame on the LTTE but the truth remains that it was a plot within the Army to oust him being becoming more popular and powerful than many within the higher ranks.

(“Voice for Truth” by  Professor Nishan C Wijesinha.)