Minister of Defence (Sri Lanka)

Minister of Defence of Sri Lanka
Incumbent Maithripala Sirisena since 12th January 2015
Ministry of Defence
Inaugural holder	Don Stephen Senanayake
Formation	24 September 1947
Deputy	Ruwan Wijewardene
Website	www.defence.lk

The Minister of Defence is an appointment in the Cabinet of Sri Lanka who is responsible for the implementation of the Government of Sri Lankas defence policy and the headquarters of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces. The post was first created in 1947 as Minister of External Affairs and Defence, in 1978 the Ministry of External Affairs and Defence separated into two ministries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defence. Prior to the separation of the post the Minister of External Affairs and Defence was held by the Prime Minister since 1947, with a Parliamentary Secretary for Defence and External Affairs who was an elected parliamentarian and was the de facto foreign minister.

List of Defence Ministers

Parties

      Sri Lanka Freedom Party       United National Party

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Name		Portrait	Party	Tenure	Head(s) of Government		Ministerial title
	Don Stephen Senanayake		United National Party	24 September 1947 - 22 March 1952		Don Stephen Senanayake	Minister of External Affairs and Defence
	Dudley Senanayake		United National Party	22 March 1952 - 12 October 1953		Dudley Senanayake
	John Kotelawala		United National Party	12 October 1953 - 12 April 1956		John Kotelawala
	S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	12 April 1956 - 26 September 1959		S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike
	Wijeyananda Dahanayake		Sri Lanka Freedom Socialist Party	26 September 1959 - 20 March 1960		Wijeyananda Dahanayake
	Dudley Senanayake		United National Party	21 March 1960 - 21 July 1960		Dudley Senanayake
	Sirimavo Bandaranaike		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	21 July 1960 - 25 March 1965		Sirimavo Bandaranaike
	Dudley Senanayake		United National Party	25 March 1965 - 29 May 1970		Dudley Senanayake
	Sirimavo Bandaranaike		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	29 May 1970 - 23 July 1977		Sirimavo Bandaranaike
	J. R. Jayewardene		United National Party	23 July 1977 - 4 February 1978		J. R. Jayewardene
	Ranasinghe Premadasa		United National Party	1989 -		Ranasinghe Premadasa
	Ranjan Wijeratne		United National Party			Ranasinghe Premadasa
	Dingiri Banda Wijetunga		United National Party			Dingiri Banda Wijetunga
	Tilak Marapana		United National Party	12 December 2001 -		Chandrika Kumaratunga
	Mahinda Rajapaksa		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	19 November 2005 – 08 January 2015		Mahinda Rajapaksa	Minister of Defence and Urban Development
	Maithripala Sirisena		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	12 January 2015 – present		Maithripala Sirisena	Minister of Defence

See also

• Ministry of Defence
• Ministry of External Affairs and Defence

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Defence Ministers of Sri Lanka.

External links

• Government of Sri Lanka
• Ministry of Defence Sri Lanka

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