effective employment of civil security department personnel in sri lanka
TRANSCRIPT
Proceedings of 8th International Research Conference, KDU, Published November 2015
189
Effective Employment of Civil Security Department Personnel in Sri Lanka
NC Karunarathne Faculty of Defence and Strategic Studies, General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University, Ratmalana, Sri Lanka
Abstract— Sri Lanka armed forces successfully eradicated
the decades lasting conflict between Government forces
and Liberation Tamil Tigers of Elam (LTTE) on May of
2009. The role played by the Civil Security Department
(CSD) was immense and one of the major factors for the
success of armed forces. Since then CSD personnel are
deployed in various parts of the country and are
performing their duties in terms of providing security for
government installations and also as a workforce for
numerous projects carried out under the supervision of
Ministry of Defence (MOD). For instance CSD can be
treated as a massive workforce which has numerous
resources and capabilities. Hence it can be utilized
effectively for the development of country. At present CSD
is carrying out several projects leads to earn money
thereby contribute towards country’s development. They
also are conducting some primary and preschools,
providing teachers for schools on volunteer base, assist
the Department of Archaeology on restoring
archaeological sites and functioning some garment
factories and blacksmith workshops. Even though CSD
was formed as a Paramilitary Force (PMF) it is now can be
considered as a massive workforce or a taskforce which
can employ for the development of country. In view of
above researcher is going to examine how best those
personnel from CSD can employ in the Eastern Province of
Sri Lanka in order to assist government’s developing
programmes. The primary role of Civil Security
Department personnel was to protect the civilians of
threatened/ boarder villages. They have successfully
carried out this task over the years. Most of the CSD
personnel are also from boarder villages. Hence most of
them have performed their duties within the area of their
own villages. After end of the conflict at present CSD
personnel are employed in various duties. Some of them
are still performing their primary role even though there
is no any boarder/threatened villages in present scenario.
Most of CSD personnel are engaged with many projects
that can earn profit in order to contribute the national
economy. In view of present context researcher will
examine how best those personnel can utilize as a work
force and how to employ them effectively in order to
develop the Eastern Province.
Keywords— CSD, Employ, Development
I. INTRODUCTION National security of a country would be the paramount duty of any government under the sun. As it is an important element in a sovereign state, almost all the countries have place utmost concern on their national security. In the present context, as security and its related features are dynamic, it is obvious that a country would treat national security as the first priority. For that matter countries around the world have maintained many types of forces including army, navy and air force. Paramilitary forces were extensively used to fill the troop requirements in World War II. Even after the World War II up to date many countries are maintaining a large force of paramilitary in order to meet the security requirements. Having engaged in a three decade long conflict with terrorist groups, Sri Lanka at present enjoys favourable conditions in national security. In the initial stage of the conflict Sri Lankan government had to deploy its armed forces all over the Jaffna peninsula. As conflict was gradually escalating, government had to expand the capacity of armed forces. In order to meet that requirement National Home Guard Service was established as a Voluntary Service in the mid 1980's to protect the border/ endangered villages. At the inception they got one month of military training and were issued with shot guns and brown coloured uniforms. They were not paid by the government as it was a volunteer service. However some rations were issued through co-operative outlets. Subsequently, they were paid a daily allowance and placed under the Police Department. Training was provided at Kumbuka camp, Horana. After the brief training, they were directly deployed in Northern and Eastern provinces, particularly at border & endangered villages. Their primary role was to guard those villages in order to release armed forces to concentrate heavily on counter insurgency activities. His Excellency the President Mr.MahindaRajapakse by gazette notification No. 1462/20 dated 13th September 2006 re-structured the whole Home Guard Service and established the Civil Security Department (CSD). Numbers employed increased to 41,500 and one month of military training was introduced. Furthermore, two types of uniforms similar to military uniforms were issued. A reasonable salary was paid for the employees. A military officer (Rear Admiral Rank) was appointed as the Director General of the Civil Security Department. The first
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Director General thus appointed was Rear Admiral Dr.Sarath Weerasekare. The Director General at present is Rear Admiral Ananda Peiris. Approximately 69 officers from the Armed Services and Police were attached to ensure a smooth administration.
Sri Lankan armed forces successfully eradicated the decades long conflict between Government forces and Liberation Tamil Tigers of Elam (LTTE) in May of 2009. The role played by the CSD was immense and was one of the contributing factors for the success of armed forces. Since then CSD personnel are deployed in various parts of the country and are performing their duties in terms of providing security for government installations and also as a workforce for numerous projects carried out under the supervision of Ministry of Defence (MOD). For instance, CSD can be treated as a massive workforce which has numerous skills & substantial resources. Hence these can be utilized effectively for the development of the country. At present CSD is carrying out several projects, continues to earn money, thereby contributing towards country’s development. They also are conducting some primary and pre-schools, providing teachers for schools on volunteer basis, assisting the Department of Archaeology in restoring/ safeguarding archaeological sites and operating some garment factories and blacksmith workshops. The primary role of Civil Security Department personnel was to protect the civilians of endangered/ border villages. They have successfully carried out this task over the years. Most of the CSD personnel are also originating from boarder villages. Hence most of them have performed their duties within close proximity of their own villages. After end of the conflict, at present CSD personnel are employed in various duties. Some of them are still performing their primary role even though there are no border/endangered villages in present scenario. Most of CSD personnel are engaged in many projects that could earn profits in order to contribute to the state coffers. In view of present context researcher will examine how best these personnel can be utilized as a work force and how to employ them effectively in order to develop the Eastern Province.
II. OBJECTIVES The primary purpose of this research is to examine, whether the Civil Security Department personnel are employed effectively to contribute towards the development of the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka? However, other specific objectives of this study are: a. To identify evolving roles, and tasks of the Civil Security Department personnel in post conflict Sri Lanka.
b. To identify what the economic development projects carried out by CSD in Eastern Province are. c. To obtain feedback and inputs from CSD personnel who are presently engaged with various profit earning projects. d. To evolve a new structure of organization in order to perform their future tasks effectively. e. To identify what the available schemes are, to turn this massive work force to an organisation which contributes meaningfully to the development of national economy.
III. DISCUSSION Development can be defined as the process of economic and social transformation that is based on complex cultural and environmental factors and their interactions. Many governments in the world have utilized military or paramilitary forces in the development process. Researcher in this chapter shall examine policies of GoSL to employ CSD effectively on developing Eastern province and also how other countries employ their PMF as per their intentions. In order to discuss the subject the following countries are taken in to consideration. Lieutenant Colonel MD Sherma has defined paramilitary forces in his book “Paramilitary Forces of India” as “paramilitary forces are whose purpose and functions are like those of professional military forces, but which are not regarded as having the same status”. Further he elaborates, in India paramilitary forces are those government organizations that help military forces, help in disaster management and control civil agitations. Paramilitary forces of India employed are under various ministries to perform numerous tasks. Some of them are Central Industry Security, performing border guard duties and providing Railway security. Pakistan has established PMF to provide security for country. Unlike India Pakistan is totally concerned on security. Their primary role is to safeguard the country from any external or internal threat. Current strength of Pakistan PMF is more than 430,000 personnel. Bangladesh is also maintaining PMF to meet the various emergencies in the country. They also have forces such as Border guards, Village Defence Party and Ansar Force. The main tasks of those forces are: a. Reinforcement to the police. b. Provide security for installations. c. Conduct of national duties Having examined the role of PMF in three neighbouring countries, the researcher identified that only India has deployed her PMF on non-military tasks. Pakistan and Bangladesh have deployed their PMF totally for providing
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security. Since its inception Sri Lanka also employed Home Guards (Present CSD) on various non-military tasks such as Disaster relief operations, running agricultural farms in smaller scale, voluntarily work at hospitals and schools and to assist government on several construction projects. However Home guards could not continue those tasks due to their heavy commitment to their primary role. Since the conflict has come to an end, GoSL has to examine new policies on tasking and employing of CSD. At present CSD is carrying out various profit making projects in several fields in order to contribute the development of country. Sri Lankan Coast Guard also can be treated as a PMF which was established in year 2012. After eradication of terrorism which prevailed for two decades in Sri Lanka, HE the President MahindaRajapaksa being the Minister of Defence presented a cabinet paper with regard to the establishment of Department of Sri Lanka Coast Guard. Coast Guard Act No. 41 of 2009 was enacted by the parliament on 09th July 2009 and formed the present Sri Lanka Coast Guard. Their responsibilities and functions are: a. Law enforcement, in the coastal areas, the territorial waters, and the maritime zones of Sri Lanka, and high seas. b. Prevention of illegal fishing in the coastal areas of Sri Lanka and the protection of fishermen including rendering assistance at sea. c. Providing assistance to the Customs and other relevant authorities in counter smuggling operations and border management. d. Prevention of illegal human trafficking. e. Prevention of piracy. f. Cooperating with the law enforcement agencies and armed forces by taking necessary measures for the suppression of destructive terrorist activities occurring in the maritime zones and the territorial waters of Sri Lanka. g. Prevention of trans-boundary movement of narcotics by sea. h. Rendering of necessary assistance to the relevant authorities in ensuring safety of life and property at sea. i. Participating in search and rescue operations at times of natural catastrophes and providing assistance in salvage operations in relation to vessels and other goods after such calamities and other accidents at sea. j. Rendering of necessary assistance in the preservation and protection of maritime and marine environment. k. Rendering of necessary assistance to the relevant authorities in the implementation and monitoring of measures required for the prevention and
control of marine pollution and other disasters which occur at sea. l. Rendering assistance in the conservation of marine species. m. Dissemination of information including warnings by radio or any other means in time of natural catastrophes. n. Providing security to maritime transportation and rendering assistance to ensure navigational safety. o. Performance of such other functions as may from time to time be conferred on or assigned to by the government.13
Keith E Bonn and Anthony E Baker argued in their book “Guide to Military Operations Other Than War” that military support to Civil Authorities is generally undertaken when an emergency overstretches the capabilities of the civil authorities. According to the authors there can be various tasks that military can perform such as temporary augmentation of postal workers and government clerks , provision of relief aftermath of natural disaster and special support to local authorities on developing projects.14 Researcher also agreed with these authors on employing the military. Instead of military in Sri Lankan scenario, the researcher observed CSD being employed on those tasks in Eastern province whenever the requirement arises. In the same book authors argued for effective employment of any organization, core values of the particular organization are playing a vital role. Core values are the fundamental beliefs of a person or organization. The core values are the guiding principles that dictate behavior and action. Core values can help people to know what is right from wrong; they can help organizations to determine whether they are on the right path and fulfilling their goals; and they create an unwavering and unchanging guide. There are many different types of core values and many different examples of core values depending upon the context. Hence CSD also should identify their core values when they are being employed to perform specific tasks. Researcher identified the under mentioned core values to inculcate among CSD personnel in order to produce a meaningful outcome: a. Identify personal relationships. b. Guide processes of particular task and outcome. c. Clarify who they are.
d Underpin the whole organization. e Guide them on decision making.
f. Creating an environment conducive to job satisfaction as well as finding work which is exciting and challenging.
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0
5
10
15
20
25
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35
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45
Farming projects Employee in
Government
Institutes
Construction
projects
Fishing activities Other
Core values mentioned above are directly enhancing the productivity through Teamwork, Honesty, Excellence, Commitment, Professionalism and Personal Development. Hence these will affect directly, once CSD personnel are employed for a specific task on their outcome. Presently CSD is engaged with under mentioned development activities all over the country: a. Agricultural projects. b. Manufacturing of bricks. c. Poultry farming
d. Assisting the Department of Archaeology in restoring the archaeological sites.
e. Development of roads and towns. f. Conducting of Primary Schools/ Pre -Schools. g. Training of private security personnel. h. Operating of Garment Factories and Blacksmiths workshops. i. Providing security to government institutes such as Banks, courts of Law and in wild life conservation etc. j. Special tasks assigned by the Ministry of Defence as the needs arise.
Figure 1: Projects that are carrying out by CSD
Table 1: Projects carried out by CSD in Eastern Province in year 2014
Area Agricultural projects
Farming projects Fishing projects Bricks projects Other (Black smith, clothing etc)
Kanthale 72 6 16 34 19
Ampara 144 19 13 6 48
Uhana 48 17 21 8 32
Mahaoya 134 - - 23 -
Seruwila 142 9 - 16 18
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IV. RECOMMENDATIONS The survey and interview clearly indicated a concerted belief amongst members of the CSD that training is essential to perform their tasks effectively. The research findings indicate that, training provided for CSD members is insufficient to perform their task effectively. Moreover there should be a scheme to develop their morale, values, attitudes if the organisation wants to achieve optimum results in time to come. In the light of the research findings following recommendations are drawn to employ CSD personnel effectively to develop the economy of nation: a. Since most of the members have identified the importance of their roles and functions to develop the nation, in order to exploit such conditions more projects should be carried out by the department. As the labour turnover is less and time taken to fulfil a task is fewer departments can afford for more number of projects. b. Since a considerable number of retired members are self-employed as small scale entrepreneurs, some of the projects can be handed over to them in order to complete maximum number of projects within a specified time period. That would facilitate not only the department but also those retired members and civil people serve under them too would benefit. c. If there would be criteria to recruit professionals in various fields who could be directly employed in the projects, cost for the training can be reduced. Those professionals can be employed as project supervisors and they are the suitable persons to lead particular teams. d. There should be a proper criteria to grant members required promotions at the right time. Researcher identifies the necessity of a new rank system into which members should be included. That would increase their morale and will build up confidence upon the organisation. e. There is no any proper prosecution system to deal with absentees. Since there are many avenues opened to members after serving for sometime in the department, they tend to get absent. In order to prevent this, a proper disciplinary code should be introduced. f. Since a considerable amount of members serve as teachers in coordination with Education ministry, a proper training should be given to them. Researcher suggests that these teachers should undergo their training at national education colleges and should be awarded a diploma by the national institute of education
V. CONCLUSION Even though CSD is a paramilitary force, at present it is mostly carrying out the development tasks assigned by Ministry of Defence. However stilla considerable amount of troops are engaged with security matters. In order to utilize this massive workforce meaningfully government
ha assigned them various development projects covering the entire country. Hence CSD can no longer be treated as an auxiliary force which is totally engaged in security matters. Since the government requires massive amount of manpower to rebuild war-torn towns & villages in Northern and Eastern Provinces, CSD could be utilised to rebuild those cities and to maintain the infrastructure facilities. At present CSD provides their manpower and other resources for development projects carried out by Ministry of Defence in Colombo district. Most of the CSD projects are making profits. Therefore it is evident that those projects are contributing to develop the economy of the country. Hence those projects could increase the GDP of the Sri Lanka too. By properly managing and supervising of this massive force, GoSL could utilize it to develop the nation and to achieve its vision -“Wonder of Asia”- in time to come.
REFERENCES MD Sherma Paramilitary Forces of India Delhi, Kalpaz Publication 2008 p16. Keith E Bonn and Anthony E Baker Guide to Military Operations Other Than War Mechanicsburg, Stockpiles Books p 32. Don Wicker Job Satisfaction- Faction or Fiction Bloomington Authors House 2011 p 3. CSD Annual report year 2011 CSD Annual report year 2012 CSD Annual report year 2013 CSD Annual report year 2014 Discussion with SP SADMP Gunasekara, Director (Personnel Administration) in CSD. Discussion with Colonel KTSS Gunawardane RSP IG Director, (Training) in CSD. Discussion with Mr Tikiri Dissanayake, CSD member in Kanthale Force Discussion with Mr Ananda Premasiri, retired CSD member from Seruvila Force, Rear Admiral Ananda Peris RSP VSV USP ndc psc DISS, Director General, CSD. Discussion with Mr Nalaka Jayatissa Poultry farm owner from Seruvila, Mr Riaz Farook a Grama Niladhari Kallar.
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www.csd.lk accessed on 22 February 2015. www.businessdiary.com accessed on 02 March 2015. www.wikipedia.org/paramilitary force of India. Accessed on 24 April 2015. www.bsf.in accessed on 26 April 2015. www.wikipedia.org/paramilitary force of Pakistan. Accessed on 28 April 2015. www.wikipedia.org/paramilitary force of Bangladesh. Accessed on 28 April 2015. www.slng.lk accessed on 12 May 2015. www.coastguard.gov.lk accessed on 13 May 2015.
www.everydaylife.globalpost.com accessed on 29 June
2014
BIOGRAPHY OF AUTHOR
Maj NC Karunarathne to Sri Lanka army as an Officer Cadet in year 2004 and trained at General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University and Sri Lanka Military Academy. Presently he serve as a Troop Commander of the Faculty of Defence
and Strategic Studies at the General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University Sri Lanka. I passed Defence Services Command and Staff College in year 2014 and obtained my Masters on Defence and Strategic Studies from General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University in year 2015.