Prasanna De Silva
Major General Prasanna de Silva, WWV, RWP, RSP is a retired Sri Lankan general officer, who served as the General Officer Commanding, 56 Division, Commander of Special Forces Brigade and he was the Colonel of the Regiment of the Commando Regiment. He was later appointed defence attaché to the Sri Lankan High Commission in London. De Silva has been accused by multiple international human rights organizations of alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity during the final stages of the Sri Lankan Civil War, including the deliberate targeting of civilians, attacks on hospitals and other designated “No Fire Zones”, and the use of internationally banned weapons. Diplomatic immunity prevented his prosecution while in the UK, and he returned to Sri Lanka amid calls for criminal investigation over these allegations.
Education
De Silva was educated at Ananda College in Colombo.Military career
He joined the Sri Lanka Army in 1982, during the early phase of Eelam War I.Brigadier Silva’s little-known exploits included the coordination of the Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol, which carried out most complex and dangerous military operations when he was a Lieutenant Colonel.
Silva was the ground commander for the Mavil Aru, Sampoor, Manirasakulam and then the famous Vakarai Operations.
He became a major threat to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam during the Sri Lankan Civil War because he was in command of the Army’s elite Brigade Special Forces, who were successful in assassinating several high-level commanders of the LTTE in LTTE-held territory.
The 55 Division under the command of Brigadier Prasanna De Silva marched more than 100 km, linking up with the Wanni front at Elephant Pass to reopen the A-9 road and clear the Sea Tigers bases covering the Eastern Coastal line from Nagar Kovil to Mullaitivu.
After the war, de Silva served as defence attaché to the Sri Lankan Embassy in London, UK. In 2012, the Global Tank Forum took legal action and presented a dossier on de Silva to the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, including accusations of war crimes. However, he completed the routine transfer back to Sri Lanka.