Parami Kulatunga

Sri Lankan army general

Lieutenant General Parami Sudammika Bandara Kulatunga, RSP, VSV, USP (Sinhala:පාරමී කුලතුංග) (9 October 1951 in Kandy – 26 June 2006) was a Sri Lanka Army general. He was serving as the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Sri Lanka Army and its third highest ranking officer at the time of his assassination. On the morning of 26 June, he was killed by a Tamil Tiger suicide bomber who drove an explosives laden motorbike into his staff car as it was driving to a military base at Pannipitiya near Colombo.

Born in Lewella, Kandy, to Lionel and Leela Kulatunga. He was the youngest of four siblings, Lumbini, Samantha and Indu. Kulatunga was educated at Trinity College, Kandy, where he played rugby and became the Senior Regimental Sergeant Major of the Senior Cadet Platoon.

Having joined the Ceylon Army on July 20, 1971, with intake 5A at the height of the 1971 JVP insurrection, receiving his basic training at the Army Tranining Center in Diyatalawa. Completing his training as the second in the order of merit, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant and posted to the 1st Battalion of the Gemunu Watch on October 14, 1972. He was promoted to lieutenant on July 24, 1974; captain on July 24, 1977, and major on June 1, 1982. This included a stint as the first aide de camp to Major General Tissa Weeratunga and active service in the northern province with the Gemunu Watch with the on set of the Sri Lankan Civil War, participating in the Vadamarachchi Operation in 1987. On September 6, 2003, he was appointed the director general of the General Staff, army headquarters and on August 10, 2004, he was appointed Commander of Security Forces HQ, Wanni. On December 6, 2005, he was appointed the deputy chief of staff of the Sri Lanka army, serving as the third highest ranking office in the army. He was also serving as Colonel of the Regiment of the Gemunu Watch from July 17, 2003. He had represented Sri Lanka in a number of international symposiums, including the Special Operations conference in the US, South Asia Peace Keeping Operations Seminar in Bangladesh, Pacific Armies Management seminar in Malaysia, Senior Military Officers’ Seminar in United Kingdom and United Nations medal awarding parade in Haiti.

On the morning of June 26, 2006, Major General Kulatunga was killed along with two other military personnel of his detail, Staff Sergeant Gomes and Corporal Buddhika and a civilian bystander, by a Tamil Tiger suicide bomber who drove an explosives laden motorbike into his Peugeot 406 staff car at Panipitiya as it was driving to army headquarters from his official quarters at the Panagoda Cantonment. He was age 55 at the time of his death. The government did not retaliate in force due to international press.

The State Intelligence Service and the Directorate of Military Intelligence had issued warring that despite the ceasefire agreement that was in place at the time, the LTTE was targeting senior military leaders. On 25 April 2006, the Commander of the Army, Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka was severely wounded by an LTTE suicide bomb attack on his unarmored staff car at the army headquarters. Fonseka was transferred to Singapore for medical treatment. Major General Nanda Mallawaarachchi, Chief of Staff of the Army, took over temporary command of the army and Major General Kulatunga became the second in command effectively. Having received warnings, Kulatunga had requested quarters within the Army Headquarters, however this request was turned down. This forced Kulatunga to commute 28 km daily to his office at Army Headquarters from his quarters in the Panagoda Cantonment in his unarmored staff car.

Police Criminal Investigation Department investigations into the attacks on Fonseka and Kulatunga, discovered LTTE links with organized crime groups in Colombo and military personnel who had collaborated with the LTTE for money. Major Manamendra Dassanayake was convicted of aiding and abetting the LTTE in the assassinations of Lieutenant General Parami Kulathunga and Colone Tuan Nizam Muthaliff, while Major Piyasiri Perera who was sentenced to death by a Court Marshall for treason was also implicated in the assassination.