Over 34,000 military personnel leave Tri-Forces in last five years

More than 34,000 members of Sri Lanka's Tri-Forces have legally resigned from service under two general amnesty programmes introduced over the past five years, Parliament was told on Wednesday.

Chief Government Whip and Health and Mass Media Minister Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa, responding on behalf of the Minister of Defence to questions raised by Badulla District NDF MP Chamara Sampath, disclosed the current strength of the armed forces and the number of personnel who left service during the amnesty periods.

The Minister said that as of May 18, 2026, the Sri Lanka Army comprised 130,851 personnel, including 8,311 officers and 122,540 other ranks.

The Sri Lanka Navy had a total strength of 34,990 personnel, consisting of 3,067 officers and 31,923 other ranks, while the Sri Lanka Air Force had 27,299 personnel, including 2,140 officers and 25,159 other ranks.

Responding to a query on general amnesties granted to enable military personnel to resign legally from service, Dr. Jayatissa said two such programmes had been implemented during the past five years.

The first amnesty was in effect from November 5 to December 31, 2022, while the second was granted from April 20 to May 20, 2024.

The Minister said a total of 34,983 personnel had legally left the armed forces during the two amnesty periods.

Of them, 31,088 were members of the Sri Lanka Army, 2,501 belonged to the Sri Lanka Navy and 1,394 were from the Sri Lanka Air Force.

The figures were provided in response to questions seeking details of the occasions on which general amnesties had been granted to facilitate legal resignations from military service and the number of personnel who had availed themselves of those schemes.