SRI LANKA ARMY, held in high esteem, throwing its full weight behind further promotion of reconciliatory gestures, enlisted the first-ever batch of 100 Tamil girls from Kilinochchi to the Sri Lanka Army Volunteer Force during a landmark ceremony at the 6 Sri Lanka Army Women’s Corps (6 SLAWC) Headquarters at Bharathipuram, Kilinochchi on Saturday (17).
Coloured with religious blessings, cultural features and military formalities, the historic event which added a new chapter to the chronicles of the Army recruitment, came about with full blessings of their parents or guardians, amidst a gathering of senior military officers.
Major General Udaya Perera, Security Forces Commander, Kilinochchi took part in the recruitment ceremony as the Chief Guest.
Though the Army has a fair number of Tamils and Muslims serving the organization, this was the first time such a mass scale direct recruitment of Tamil girls ever took place, either in the regular force or in the volunteer force. More than 200 Tamil girls from Kilinochchi applied for recruitment to the Army under the project and the SFHQ-KLN after three rounds of interviews selected the best out of them for enlistment.
Those 100 female recruits from Kilinochchi-based families after enlistment to 6 SLAWC in the Volunteer Force will commence their preliminary training at Kilinochchi today (17) itself at the Advanced Infantry Training School, managed by the 57 Division Headquarters. After training, these woman soldiers are to be deployed in Kilinochchi area to assist civil-military coordination work and other related administrative matters.
The decision to recruit Tamil girls to represent the Army was given all the support by the Secretary Defence and the Commander of the Army.
Unprecedented in the Army history, the day’s event grabbed wide media attention as all the 100 new recruits, accompanied by their parents and guardians walked in to the premises after they were warmly received by 6 SLAWC senior lady officers.
The day’s Chief Guest, seconds after their arrival made his appearance as trumpets began heralding his arrival at the venue. In accordance with military traditions, a Guard Turnout presented arms and saluted the Chief Guest after he was received. At the same moment, new recruits and their parents were conducted to the main hall in a procession, rich with Tamil cultural feats. Soon after the commencement of the proceedings with the National anthem, reverberating the air, everybody rose to their feet and respected the motherland.
Members of the clergy of Hindu and Catholic denominations, attaching religious importance to the maiden project, invoked blessings on the new recruits conducting separate observances on the occasion.
The next moment was exciting and solemn as parents and guardians, together with new recruits, lined up in conformity with Army traditions to formally hand over their beloved daughters to representatives of 6 SLAWC officers for enlistment. It was a moving scene as both adults and new recruits hugged each other as tears started rolling.
The day’s event received special recognition as the Tamil Culture Society in Kilinochchi offered its assistance to the occasion by presenting eye-catching features of Tamil performing artists. Recital of the Army Song towards the end of the day’s agenda signalled the culmination of the proceedings.
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