Features
The Gunner Platoon at Weerawila Down South in 1971 – combating the JVP Insurgency
A personal story as recalled by Capt F.R.A.B. Musafer 4th Regt SLA (Retd)
Background
The year 1971 was ushered in with a very pleasing political utterance to the public that the Army did not need guns but needed plowshares – agricultural machinery and tools to support the food drive. It was at a time when the Army, an essentially peacetime operation entrusted with the internal security of the country, had turned its attention to assist with national paddy cultivation and other agricultural projects countrywide.
With an estimated strength of around 8,000, the army was not a well equipped force by any means. It was frugal in outlook and dependent on existing resources. The military hardware was virtually hand-me-downs of the British Army and of World War II vintage. The bulk of the small arms in use were the old .303 Enfield rifles the rest were made up of light machine gun (LMG), sten gun (SMC) and the sterling sub machine gun (SMG) and the .38 Smith and Wesson pistols. The infantry units were being re-equipped with the 7.62 mm self loading rifle (SLR’s), a sophisticated and automated weapon in use by the British Army.
The Armoured corp was the glamour regiment equipped with Ferret scout cars and Daimler armoured cars that were impressive and operational. The Artillery regiment had four 76mm mountain guns gifted by Yugoslavia that were also operational, though the need for their use was considered far fetched. The regiment also had a battery of 3.7 inch anti-aircraft guns used for ceremonial gun salutes and a battery of 40mm Bofor anti-aircraft guns that were obsolete.
The army was subjected to a fair share of austerity as was the rest of the country; petrol was issued on a quota basis, the use of ammunition for training strictly monitored and some basic military essentials hard to come by.
The State of the Nation
In May 1970 the Sri Lanka Freedom Party under the leadership of Mrs Sirima Bandaranaike was swept into power with an overwhelming majority with the help of the left parties with whom the SLFP ran as a United Front (UF). The JVP, though not a political party, gave its support to the coalition as it was socialist in outlook and totally opposed to the capitalist ideologies of the United National Party.
The victory instilled in the people a new hope and they labeled it as the “Apey Anduwa” (Our Government) hoping that there would be an improvement to their lives. However as time progressed the hardships faced by the people did not appear to improve as the economic situation only worsened. Strict import and exchange control regulations were in place. Basic items such as bread, sugar, dhal and infant milk were rationed. Food, clothing and vegetables were expensive if not scarce. The transport of rice and chillies was prohibited. The cost of living had sky rocketed and the people feeling its effects were a disillusioned lot .
The Prelude
At the beginning of 1971 there were instances of bombs accidentally going off in various parts of the country predominantly in the Kegalle and Kandy districts. The roof of one of the buildings in the Peradeniya campus was damaged as a result of one of these explosions. Mixed signals were beginning to emerge that there was trouble brewing and the JVP, often dubbed the Che Guevara Movement, was behind the plans to initiate an armed insurrection. Intelligence gathered by the police revealed that the JVP was operating via a network of cells where members were indoctrinated by “Five Lectures” and directed to collect firearms and funds by robbing banks and individuals. Political rallies and clandestine meetings held by the JVP were gathering momentum and causing some serious concern to the government.
Around the beginning of March security around the Army cantonment at Panagoda was strengthened. Rumour was rife that there were elements of officers and soldiers sympathetic to the cause, if not members of the JVP. Extra precautions were taken to double the security of the arms and ammunition held in the camps. There was an air of suspicion and a lack of trust among the rank and file. There was also some concern that food and water was to be poisoned, so much so that the stray dogs in certain camps were fed before the troops.
In mid March a state of Emergency was declared with special powers of search without a warrant being entrusted to the Police. In conjunction with this the Army was to be deployed to assist the Police in search and cordon operations. Captain Satchi Ratnasabapathy from the Regiment of Artillery was sent to Hambantota to reconnoiter the area and liaise with the Police and Government Agent to assess the threats posed in the event of any actions initiated by the JVP that would disrupt the internal security of the region.
Meanwhile suspected high profile JVP activists and their leader Rohana Wijeweera were arrested and imprisoned in Jaffna. There was an assumption that the “Che Guevara” as they were referred to had plenty of sympathizers and supporters as there were several well attended, popular public meetings conducted in the Hambantota region. Intelligence reported that secret meetings of cell members were being held and basic military type training was being given to trusted cadres. JVP plans to collect weapons and raise funds by robberies etc were not taken seriously and pursued. The Hambantota/Tissamaharama district was considered to be a hotbed of JVP activity and identified as one of the most likely trouble spots in the island.
The deployment
At that time I was a lieutenant posted to 10 Battery at Trincomalee but was temporarily stationed at Panagoda in preparation for the Army inter-unit rugby tournament. On the evening of March 15 whilst at rugby practices I was summoned by the adjutant, Capt Siri Samarakoon, to his office where he told me in a voice dripping with sarcasm that I had won the lottery and was to take an IS (Internal Security) platoon and leave for Weerawila in the Hambantota district at the crack of dawn on March 17.
At the same time two artillery platoons from Trincomalee under the command of Capt Tissa Tillekeratne and Lt Lionel Balagalla were also to be deployed to Polonnaruwa and Hingurakgoda. There were other deployments to the Kegalle, Kandy, Anuradhpura and Moneragala districts from infantry and armoured corp detachments.
. On March 16 I was given my operational orders. I was also briefed by Capt Ratnasabapathy who assured me that based on local intelligence provided by the police he was of opinion that there was NO significant information of violent JVP activity in the Hambantota area but cautioned me about the wild elephants that roamed in the vicinity of the salt pans at night.
The platoon consisted of 31 men, which included three sergeants as section commanders and a cook. The platoon was armed with .303 rifles. A light machine gun (LMG) and three sterling sub machine guns (SMG) . As an officer I had the least effective weapon, a Smith and Wesson .38 calibre pistol that was more of a status symbol of authority. I was also issued with a sealed box of a thousand rounds of .303 ammunition with strict instructions not to break the seal unless absolutely necessary. It was also emphasized that I be very mindful of my personal security and that of the weapons at all times.
My transport was an old Willys jeep AY 3665 which on independence day parades looked very impressive, freshly painted with its windscreen down and hood taken off although it was patched up with paper and spray painted over to hide the rust and holes. There were three trucks detailed to carry the troops of which one would return to camp and the other, a new Indian five ton Tata Benz and a Beep (smaller version of a truck), to be used for operations. I was to be supplied with additional transport by the Government Agent Hambantota on my arrival in Weerawila.
On March 17 morning I left Panagoda at the crack of dawn having been bid farewell by Captain Noel Weerakoon who was the Battery commander of 11 Battery whose men I had taken charge of. He wished me “Good luck and God bless and take care of yourself “. Sadly it was a last farewell. He was killed in an ambush on April 8 at Ambewewa/Welioya. I think he was the first officer of the Army to be killed in action in this conflict and perhaps in the short history of the Ceylon Army.
The designated route was via Ratnapura and en-route we stopped at an army camp at Embilipitiya. The soldiers here had conveyed to some of the platoon that there were threats made of possible attacks on the camp via open postcards and were on extra guard duty.
Our base at Weerawila was to be the Old Tuberculosis hospital complex which had been uninhabited and abandoned. The GA and his staff had done their best to make this building habitable by restoring electricity and water.
The building we occupied, devoid of any furniture or fittings, was located in the middle of nowhere, isolated and off the main road and surrounded by dense overgrown shrub. In unfamiliar surroundings and not feeling secure I came to the conclusion that I could take no chances of being taken by surprise. The first thing I did was to disregard my orders and break the sealed box of ammunition and distribute some of it to the men and instruct them to keep their weapons by their side at all times.
Espirit de Corps and loyalty of the Regiment
It was a decision I made taking into consideration the utmost trust and loyalty of the soldiers under my command. “The Gunners” as those belonging to the regiment of artillery are generally referred to, were a close knit family (the gunner tribe) . Their loyalty and espirit de corps were always talked about in the army, best described in a message in the centenary celebrations of the Artillery in Sri Lanka in 1988 by the late Lt General Nalin Seniviratne, the commander of the army which said as follows:
“In the rich and colourful tapestry of Gunner history, an unbroken golden thread that runs across the entire fabric is that vibrant vitality of the Regiment, is their sense of unity and their espirit-de- corps “.
” Gunners are a unique family; in our family we the officers are very close to our men. The well being of our men has always been close to our hearts. We are proud of them,” as said by Lt Gen Hamilton Wanasinghe a gunner and a former Army commander would aptly describe the relationship we enjoyed. It was a unique bond between the officers and the men which made my decision so much easier at this time of great doubt and suspicion.
At Weerawila
Late in the evening two soldiers from the Ridiyagama farm that was being dismantled turned up and requested a guard. They too had received open postcards that their camp was to be attacked but had no weapons to defend themselves. I obliged by detailing two men. Unfortunately it became a daily assignment and was seen as a punishment chore. Weerawila was to be our home and operational base.
On March 18 I reported to The Government Agent Hambantota, Mr Sonny Goonewardene, who briefed me on the situation and reiterated that even though a state of emergency had been declared I was there only to assist the police and had no other powers. I was to work in liaison with the Assistant Superintendent of Police Tangalle, Mr Jim Bandaranayake who would coordinate my daily activities, in the absence of the ASP Hambantota. I was provided with two additional vehicles with civilian drivers to carry out my tasks.
The presence of the army in the Hambantota district may have intrigued the general public curious about why we were there. It was after a long time that the public had seen an army deployment in their locality and were perhaps bemused at the gun toting soldiers. The last time a military operation conducted in the Hambantota/ Tanamalwila area was in the late 1950’s named ‘Operation Ganja” where armoured cars and troops were used to destroy illicit ganja plantations in Tanamalwila and surrounding areas.
It was an operation made infamous for the unsuccessful legal action taken to prosecute Lt. Eustace Fonseka, a gunner officer, for the ill treatment meted out to the village headman of Hambegamuwa. who was alleged to be the mastermind and king pin of the ganja cultivation in the area. This operation was of a different nature.
Whilst we made our presence felt and were quite friendly the locals kept a fair distance from us wondering what the hell was going on.
Commencement of Operations /Searches
Initially we assisted the police traveling around the countryside in the military vehicles displaying our weapons which the police did not carry. We accompanied them to search homes of people suspected of involvement with the JVP. There was hardly any credible intelligence as most of our searches were more of a routine show of force and nothing else. There was no intimidation of the general public and not a single arrest was made in these joint operations.
One day when accompanied by the police sergeant at Walasmulla I observed that he was using these searches to intimidate some people whose political alliances were not the same as the govt in power. Every home and shop he took us into had a photograph of the former prime minister. It was not the first time this had happened but the continuation of this routine irked me.
This was not something that I could tolerate or an action that I could condone as it was in breach of my orders and furthermore the searches were fruitless. I contacted ASP Jim Bandaranayake and told him what was happening and that I was not prepared to assist the Police any further if this was all the intelligence they had.
Incidentally some months after the insurgency had been quelled the sergeant concerned was charged for the murder of some insurgents who were fleeing from army operations in the Sinharaja and Deniyaya areas being conducted by the army. They had been taken into custody by the police and on the pretext of being released shot and buried in a mass grave.
We continued to patrol and make our presence felt in Beliatta , Middeniya, Walasmulla, Ambalantota, Tangalle, Tissa, Kirinda and Hambantota with the assistance of the Police. We searched Wijeweera’s home in Tangalle occupied by his mother and sister. There were magazines titled ” Red China” and nothing else in this very clean and neatly kept house. This magazine was found in a number of places we searched including temples. His mother told us that she detested what her son was doing and had advised him to keep clear of politics. He had been arrested and imprisoned in Jaffna. They had a small poultry shed which I presumed gave them some sort of income.
Whilst there was very little of any material evidence to support an armed insurrection we did come across some very personal revelations. There was an instance when we found a diary of a person who had virtually kept a daily record of his sexual exploits in an affair with a girl across the road. The Kama Sutra may have been his manual. The sergeant who found the diary did not find the contents to his moral satisfaction darted across the road to the school nearby and divulged the contents to the head master. His audience showed no concern as perhaps they knew what had been taking place but were no doubt amused by the colourfully detailed narrative.
(To be continued next weekweek)
Features
Citizenship, Devolution, Land and Language: The Vicarious Legacies of SJV Chelvanayakam
SJV Chelvanayakam, the founder leader of the Ilankai Thamil Arasu Kadchi, aka Ceylon Tamil Federal Party, passed away 49 years ago on 26 April 1977. There were events in Sri Lanka and other parts of the world where Tamils live, to commemorate his memory and his contributions to Tamil society and politics. His legacy is most remembered for his espousal of the cause of federalism and his commitment to pursuing it solely through non-violent politics. Chelvanayakam’s political life spanned a full 30 years from his first election as MP for Kankesanthurai in 1947 until his death in 1977.
Under the rubric of federalism, Chelvanayakam formulated what he called the four basic demands of the Tamil speaking people, a political appellation he coined to encompass – the Sri Lankan Tamils, Sri Lankan Muslims and the hill country Tamils (Malaiyaka Tamils). The four demands included the restoration of the citizenship rights of the hill country Tamils; cessation of state sponsored land colonisation in the North and East; parity of status for the Sinhala and Tamil languages; and a system of regional autonomy to devolve power to the northern and eastern provinces.
High-minded Politics
Although the four basic demands that Chelvanayakam articulated were not directly delivered upon during his lifetime, they became part of the country’s political discourse and dynamic to such an extent that they had to be dealt with, one way or another, even after his death. So, we can call these posthumous developments as Chelvanayakam’s vicarious legacies. There is more to his legacy. He belonged to a category of Sri Lankans, Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims, who took to politics, public life, public service, and even private business with a measure of high-mindedness that was almost temperamental and not at all contrived. Chelvanayakam personified high-minded politics. But he was not the only one. There were quite a few others in the 20th century. There have not been many since.
Born on 31 March 1898, Chelvanayakam was 49 years old when he entered parliament. He was not an upstart school dropout dashing into politics or coming straight out of the university, or even a hereditary claimant, but a self-made man, an accomplished lawyer, a King’s Counsel, later Queen’s Counsel, and was widely regarded as one of the finest civil lawyers of his generation. He was a serious man who took to politics seriously. Howard Wriggins, in his classic 1960 book, “Ceylon: Dilemmas of a New Nation”, called Chelvanayakam “the earnest Christian lawyer.”
Chelvanayakam’s professional standing, calm demeanour, his personal qualities of sincerity and honesty, and his friendships with men of the calibre of Sir Edward Jayatilleke KC (Chief Justice, 1950-52), H.V. Perera QC, P. Navaratnarajah, QC, and K.C. Thangarajah, were integral to his politics. The four of them were also mutual friends of Prime Minister SWRD Bandaranaike and they played a part in the celebrated consociational achievement in 1957, called the B-C Pact.
Chelvanayakam effortlessly combined elite consociationalism with grass roots politics and mass movements. He led the Federal Party both as a democratic organization and an open movement. Chelvanayakam and the Federal Party used parliament as their forum to present their case, the courts to fight for their rights, and took to organizing non-violent protests, political pilgrimages and satyagraha campaigns. He was imprisoned in Batticaloa, detained in Panagoda, and was placed under house arrest several times. His Alfred House Gardens neighbours in Colombo used to wonder why the government and the police were after him, of all people, and why wouldn’t they do something about his four boisterous, but studious, sons!
He was a rare politician who filed his own election petition when he was defeated in the 1952 election, his first as the leader of the Federal Party, and was rewarded with punitive damages by an exacting judge. He had to borrow money from Sir Edward Jayatilleke to pay damages. The common practice for losing candidates was to file vexatious petitions in the name of one of their supporters with no asset to pay legal costs. Chelvanayakam was too much of a principled man for that. As a matter of a different principle, the two old Left parties never challenged election losses in court, but Dr. Colvin R de Silva singled out Chelvanayakam’s uniqueness for praise in parliament, in the course of a debate on amendments to the country’s election laws in 1968.
Disenfranchisement & Disintegration
Although he became an MP in 1947, Chelvanayakam had been associated with GG Ponnambalam and the Tamil Congress Party for a number of years. GG was the flamboyant frontliner, SJV the quiet mainstay behind. Tamil politics at that time was all about representation. In fact, all politics in Sri Lanka has been all about representation all the time. It started when British colonial rulers began nominating local (Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim) representatives to quasi legislative bodies, and it became a contentious political matter after the introduction of universal franchise in 1931.
Communal representation was conveniently made to look ugly by those who themselves were politically communal. Indeed, under colonial rule, if not later too, Sri Lankans were a schizophrenic society where most Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims were socially friendly, but politically communal. The underlying premise to the fight over representation was that British colonialists were not leaving in a hurry and they were there to stay and rule for a long time. Hence the jostling for positions under a foreign master. It was in this context that Ponnambalam made his celebrated 50-50 pitch for balanced representation between the Sinhalese, on the one hand, and all the others – Tamils, Muslims, Indian Tamils – combined on the other. It was a perfectly rational proposition, but it was also perfectly poor politics.
But independence came far sooner than expected. The Soulbury Constitution was set up not for a continuing colonial state, but as the constitution for an independent new Ceylon. So, the argument for balanced representation became irrelevant in the new circumstances. The new Soulbury Constitution was enacted in 1945, general elections were held in 1947, a new parliament was elected, and Ceylon became independent in 1948. SJV Chelvanayakam was among the seven Tamil Congress MPs elected to the first parliament led by GG Ponnambalam.
The Tamil Congress campaigned in the 1947 election against accepting the Soulbury Constitution and for a vaguely formulated mandate “to cooperate with any progressive Sinhalese party which would grant the Tamil their due rights.” But what these rights are was not specified. In a Feb. 5, 1946 speech in Jaffna, Ponnambalam specifically proposed “responsive cooperation between the communities” – not parties – and advocated “a social welfare policy” to benefit not only the poor masses of Tamils but also the large masses of the Sinhalese.
So, when Ponnambalam and four of the seven Tamil Congress MPs decided to join the government of DS Senanayake with Ponnambalam accepting the portfolio of the Minister of Industries, Industrial Research and Fisheries, they were opposed by Chelvanayakam and two other Tamil Congress MPs. The immediate context for this split was the Citizenship question that arose soon after independence when DS Senanayake’s UNP government introduced the Ceylon Citizenship Bill in parliament. The purpose and effect of the bill was to deprive the estate Tamils of Indian origin (then numbering about 780,000) of their citizenship. Previously the government had got parliament to enact the Elections Act to stipulate that only citizens can vote in national elections. In one stroke, the whole working population of the plantations was disenfranchised.
GG Ponnambalam and all seven Tamil Congress MPs voted against the two bills. Joining them in opposition were the six MPs from the Ceylon Indian Congress representing the Malaiyaka Tamils and 18 Sinhalese MPs from the Left Parties. The Citizenship Bill was passed in Parliament on 20 August 1948. Ponnambalam called it a dark day for Ceylon and accused Senanayake of racism. But less than a month later, on September 3, 1948, he joined the Senanayake cabinet as a prominent minister and the government’s principal defender in parliamentary debates. Dr. NM Perera once called Ponnambalam “the devil’s advocate from Jaffna.”
Chelvanayakam remained in the opposition with two of his Congress colleagues. A little over an year later, on December 18, 1949, Chelvanayakam founded the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi, Federal Party in English. Not long after, joining Chelvanayakam in the opposition was SWRD Bandaranaike, who broke away from the UNP government over succession differences and went on to form another new political party, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party. As was his wont as a Marxist to see trends and patterns in politics, Hector Abhayavardhana saw the breakaways of Chelvanayakam and Bandaranaike, as well as the emergence of Thondaman as the leader of the disenfranchised hill country Tamils, as symptoms of a disintegrating society as it was transitioning from colonial rule to independence.
Abhayavardhana saw the Citizenship Act as the political trigger of this disintegration in the course of which “what was set up for the purpose of a future nation ended in caricature as a Sinhalese state.” Chelvanayakam may have agreed with this assessment even though he was located at the right end of the ideological continuum. “Ideologically, SJV is to the right of JR,” was part of political gossip in the old days. He saw “seeds of communism” in Philip Gunawardena’s Paddy Lands Act. For all their differences, Chelvanayakam and Ponnambalam were united in one respect – as unrepentant opponents of Marxism.
The Four Demands
Chelvanayakam had his work cut out as the leader of a new political party and pitting himself against a formidable political foe like Ponnambalam with all the ministerial resources at his disposal. Chelvanayakam may not have quite seen it that way. Rather, he saw his role as a matter of moral duty to fill the vacuum created by what he believed to be Ponnambalam’s betrayal, and to provide new leadership to a people who were at the crossroads of uncertainty after the unexpectedly early arrival of independence.
He set about his work by expanding his political constituency to include not only the island’s indigenous Tamils, but also the Muslims and the Tamil plantation workers from South India – as the island’s Tamil speaking people. It was he who vigorously introduced the disenfranchised Indian Tamils as hill country Tamils. In the aftermath of the Citizenship Act and disenfranchisement, restoring their citizenship rights became an obvious first demand for the new Party.
Having learnt the lesson from Ponnambalam’s failed 50-50 demand, Chelvanayakam territorialized the representation question by identifying the northern and eastern provinces as “traditional Tamil homelands,” and adding a measure regional autonomy to make up for the shortfall in representation at the national level in Colombo. To territorialization and autonomy, he added the cessation of state sponsored land colonization especially in the eastern province. Chelvanayakam and the Federal Party painstakingly explained that they were by no means opposed to Sinhalese voluntarily living in Tamil areas, either as a matter of choice, pursuing business or as government and private sector employees, but the nuancing was quite easily lost in the political shouting match.
The fourth demand, after citizenship, regional autonomy, and land, was about language. Language was not an issue when Chelvanayakam started the Federal Party. But he pessimistically predicted that sooner or later the then prevailing consensus, based on a State Council resolution, over equality between the two languages would be broken. He was proved right, sooner than later, and language became the explosive question in the 1956 election. As it turned out, the UNP government was thrown out, SWRD Bandaranaike led a coalition of parties to victory and government in the south, while SJV Chelvanayakam won a majority of the seats in the North and East, including two Muslims from Kalmunai and Pottuvil.
After the passage of the Sinhala Only Act on June 5, 1956, the Federal Party launched a political pilgrimage and mobilized a convention that was held in Trincomalee in the month of August. The four basic demands were concretized at the convention, viz., citizenship restoration for the hill country Tamils, parity of status for the Sinhala and Tamil languages, the cessation of state sponsored land colonization, and a system of regional autonomy in the Northern and Eastern Provinces.
The four demands became the basis for the Bandaranaike-Chelvanayakam agreement – the B-C Pact of 1957, and again the agreement between SJV Chelvanayakam and Dudley Senanayake in 1965. The former was abrogated by Prime Minister Bandaranaike under political duress but was not abandoned by him. The latter has been implemented in fits and starts.
The two agreements which should have been constitutionally enshrined, were severely ignored in the making of the 1972 Constitution and the 1978 Constitution – with the latter learning nothing and forgetting everything that its predecessor had inadvertently precipitated. The political precipitation was the rise of Tamil separatism and its companion, Tamil political violence. Ironically, Tamil separatism and violence created the incentive to resolve what Chelvanayakam had formulated and non-violently pursued as the four basic demands of the Tamils.
After his death in 1977, the citizenship question has finally been resolved. The 13th Amendment to the 1978 Constitution that was enacted in 1987 resolved the language question both in law and to an appreciable measure in practice. The same amendment also brought about the system of provincial councils, substantially fulfilling the regional autonomy demand of SJV Chelvanayakam. The land question, however, has taken a different turn with state sponsored land colonisation in the east giving way to government security forces sequestering private residential properties of Tamil families in the north, especially in the Jaffna Peninsula.
Further, the future of the Provincial Council system has become uncertain with the extended postponement of provincial elections by four Presidents and their governments, including the current incumbents. The provinces are now being administered by the President through handpicked governors without the elected provincial councils as mandated by the constitution. Imagine a Sri Lanka where there is only an Executive President and no parliament – not even a nameboard one. “What horror!”, you would say. But that is the microcosmic reality today in the country’s nine provinces.
by Rajan Philips
Features
Application of AI in Logistics in Sri Lanka can improve efficiency, reduce cost and enhance decision making
“AI increases profits while reducing un ethical intervention which is proven by Successful Global Business Models”
Artificial Intelligence(AI) is still only a buzz word in the Sri Lankan society, though many wanted to have an awareness of the concept the resources are scares, even still the IT industry has not formulated any awareness programs or a Degree yet to cope with the development. But world education warns that there want be any IT based jobs in future without learning the AI. AI has multiple use in any discipline and it has the ability to increase the efficiency of the work intern cut down the product or the service cost. Below description is how the application of AI can smoother the function of Logistic or the Supply Chain Management.
Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) in logistics can greatly improve efficiency, reduce costs, and enhance decision-making in simple enhance the profit margins. Below is a structured overview of how AI can be used in logistics, including key applications, tools, and real-world examples. Machine Learning(ML) is the foundation to AI but subsequently develops the capability of absorbing the information from the cloud (IT environment) and produce future behavior or trends by analyzing the fed data to the computers on a certain period of time. In some occasions vendors offer unbelievable discounts by using ML or AI, because it clearly understands the market behavior, human behavior, expiration and many other variables that gives the profits or losses to the product or the service.
Key Areas Where AI is Used in Logistics;
· Demand Forecasting
· Route Optimization
· Warehouse Automation
· Predictive Maintenance
· Inventory Management
· Supply chain Management
· Customer Service with Chat bots
· Fraud Detection and Risk Management
1. Demand Forecasting
AI can analyze historical data, market trends, and external factors (like weather or news) to:
· Predict product demand more accurately
· Optimize inventory levels
· Reduce stockouts or overstocking
Tools: Machine learning models (e.g., time series forecasting) and IT platforms/software like Amazon Forecast, Prophet by Meta. These are the software applications that helps to understand the future trends.
Amazon Forecasting software
Traditional forecasting methods typically rely on statistical modeling, but software like “Chronos” that treats time series data (data collected during a certain period of time) as a language to be modeled and uses a pre-trained FM (forecast Models) to generate forecasts, which similar to how “Large Language Models” (LLMs) generate texts helps you achieve accurate predictions faster, significantly reducing development time compared to traditional methods.
Prophet by Meta
Prophet is a very efficient and accurate procedure for forecasting time series data based on an additive model where non-linear trends are fit with yearly, weekly, and daily seasonality, plus holiday effects. It works best with time series that have strong seasonal effects and several seasons of historical data. This software adds many social, cultural and geographical variables other than internal information to decision making.
2. Route Optimization
AI-powered systems can calculate the most efficient delivery routes in real-time using:
· Traffic data
· Weather conditions
· Delivery time windows
· Vehicle capacity and fuel usage
Example: UPS (one of the largest Logistic companies in the world) uses its ORION system (AI-based) to save millions of gallons of fuel per year.
IT Tools: Google OR-Tools, Route4Me, Mapbox with ML integration.
The “Route4Me” IT platform automates and integrates mission-critical last mile workflows, empowering route planners, dispatchers, drivers, and managers to take the business to the next level. Distribution networks, passenger transportation networks can achieve much cost reduction by using above platforms. This is a good platform for the Sri Lanka passenger industry to reduce the overheads for the population. In Sri Lanka “Pick me” and “Uber” uses similar platforms in their transportation industry. Whole three wheeler industry can be regulating with this kind of software and transfer benefits to the passengers.
3. Warehouse Automation
AI enables:
· Robotics for picking, packing, and sorting
· Vision systems for scanning and inventory management
· Autonomous forklifts and drones for internal transport
Example: Amazon’s use of “Kiva robots” in fulfillment(distribution) centers.
Kiva Robots in Warehouses
Traditionally, goods are moved around a distribution center using a conveyor system or by human-operated machines (such as forklifts). In Kiva’s approach, items are stored in portable storage units. When an order is entered into the Kiva database system, the software locates the closest automated guided vehicle to the item and directs it to retrieve it. The mobile robots navigate around the warehouse by following a series of computerized bar-code stickers on the floor. Each drive unit has a sensor that prevents it from colliding with others. When the drive unit reaches the target location, it slides underneath the pod(Pallet) and lifts it off the ground through a corkscrew action. The robot then carries the pod to the specified human operator to pick up the items or subsequently hand over to the “drone” to deliver to the customer. Human intervention is minimal and accordingly overheads are reduced, Sri Lanka needs to achieve this kind of operational level in order to par with the international markets.
4. Predictive Maintenance
Traditionally Sri Lankans are week in maintenance, they basically wait until the machine stops in the other way bureaucratic too are much restrict on the maintenance and the procurement procedure. Applying this kind of maintenance software will eradicate all of these lethargies and the bureaucratic blocks. Subsequently continuing the smooth operations and productions.
AI monitors equipment (vehicles, conveyor belts, etc.) to:
· Predict when they will fail
· Schedule maintenance proactively
· Reduce downtime and repair costs
Tools: IoT(internet of things as cameras, sensors, GPS etc.) sensors + ML models (e.g., anomaly detection), IT platforms like IBM Maximo.
IBM Maximo is a multi-facet coordinator
“From equipment to factories, from fleets to infrastructure, Maximo Application Suite empowers users across verticals to coordinate maintenance and management for a broad range of asset classes”.
5. Supply Chain Visibility
AI can analyze data across the supply chain to:
· Track shipments in real-time
· Identify delays or bottlenecks
· Provide predictive ETAs
📦 Example: DHL (Logistic Company) uses AI to forecast transit delays and offer dynamic ETA updates.
This is an ideal tool for cargo management, ideal for sea ports and the air ports in Sri Lanka. This is one of the grave gray areas in the port system, though the port system is lacking the required information due to that the client has to pay the demurrages and warehouse cost for the ports. Also, cut down unnecessary delays and reduce bribes and corruption at all levels.
6. Inventory Management
AI helps optimize:
· Stock levels across multiple warehouses
· Replenishment timing
· Safety stock calculation
Tools: ERP (Entrepreneur Resource Planning) systems with embedded AI (e.g., SAP, Oracle), custom ML models.
These systems drastically reduce the human intervention and speedup the Supply management process.
7. Customer Service & Chatbots
AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants can:
· Handle customer queries 24/7
· Track orders
· Provide personalized delivery updates
Tools: Dialogflow, Microsoft Bot Framework, ChatGPT API
Dialogflow
“Dialogflow” is a natural language understanding IT platform that makes it easy to design and integrate a conversational user interface into the mobile app, web application, device, bot, interactive voice response system, and so on. Using Dialogflow, establishments can provide new and engaging ways for users to interact with the product. Dialogflow can analyze multiple types of input from the customers, including text or audio inputs (like from a phone or voice recording). It can also respond to the customers in a couple of ways, either through text or with synthetic speech.
AI Conversational Chatbots Platform
Above IT platforms control the human intervention and reduce the cost of employees. Chatbots are basically efficient than the humans due to the high memory power for the standard customer inquiries. Application to Government sector will reduce the burden for the general public.
8. Fraud Detection & Risk Management
AI detects unusual patterns in:
· Orders
· Transactions
· Supplier behavior
Helps prevent:
· Cargo theft
· Counterfeit goods
· Financial fraud
*”KPMG Clara” for Supply Chain Risk Management
“KPMG Clara” is an AI-powered IT platform offering supply chain analytics, risk detection, and compliance management.
Key Features:
· AI-driven risk modeling
· ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) and compliance monitoring
· Predictive analytics for disruptions
· Supplier risk scoring
“Geo Analysis” (AI based) IT platform in Supply Chain Access Control
Above IT platform Monitor access patterns across cross-border freight hubs, regional warehouses, and remote carrier logins. “Geo analysis” for supply chain authentication identifies impossible travel, geo-inconsistencies, and spoofed IPs to reduce credential abuse and unauthorized entry into logistics systems. This important IT platform can reduce corruption and many unethical practices, ideal tool for the Sri Lankan Government sector that can curb the mal practices.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a remarkable IT tool which can apply in almost all the sectors that can reap the Efficiency and Accuracy. In above paragraphs I have described the application in different stages of the Logistic or the Supply Chain Management. Application of AI tools can be done on stages as initially find the specific pain points pertaining to the supply chain and then, prepare data from the GPS, inventory systems, sales forecasts and supplier records. Subsequently can understand the specific AI platforms and ML models to suit the SCM operation. Further, can apply in a small scale as a pilot project and analyze impact as cost savings or efficiency gains. Once understand the model can roll out to other areas of operations in the establishment.
Final outcome will be “15% reduction in fuel cost, 20% faster deliveries, Increased customer satisfaction”
There may be many negative lobbies since this is new to the many sectors in the country and further ability to proof the corruption but proper education and understanding the world AI based business models, establishments can reach the required goal.
(Writer can be reached at, chandana_w@yahoo.com)
by Lt Col. Chandana Weerakoon.
Chartered Logistician
Features
Motherhood is not ‘giving up’
Since having my baby, I have been regularly met with the question, “Are you back at work?”
“No,”
I reply. “I am doing my PhD from home.”
Several emotions arise. I feel guilty that I am not back at work, that somehow I should be. I also feel relieved that I can justify my time at home by offering up the PhD as a worthy endeavour. Sometimes, the person responds in surprise, “Oh, so no work?” Other times, they are approving, “How lucky for you and your baby.” Occasionally, there is the advice, “Don’t give up work.”
At the back of my mind are certain thoughts. “Am I not ‘working’? Isn’t the work of motherhood also considered ‘work’? If it isn’t, shouldn’t it be?”
Although the questions, comments, and advice about returning to work are made innocently enough, mostly benevolently, they have prompted me to reflect on the idea of work and motherhood, and how mothers and society view both.
Motherhood, I believe, is a full-time, highly skilled, unpaid job that never ends. All mothers work at least two jobs. They do the work of mothering, and also work in either a paid or unpaid additional role. Many women will do even more. They mother, care for their elderly parents, work a paid job, voluntarily contribute to community building, and try to fit in creative pursuits, hobbies, or ‘self-care’ when they can.
Motherhood requires many skills. You are, effectively, the CEO of your family and home (with hopefully a supportive co-CEO by your side). There is the work of child-rearing, which requires patience, energy, creativity, presence, flexibility, courage, fortitude, knowledge, and the ability to research, learn, and unlearn. You are raising the future. Then there is the work of home and family life, which requires skills in leadership, organisation, prioritisation, delegation, negotiation, financial management, crisis management, and conflict resolution. There is also the internal work of being self-aware, forgiving yourself and others, practicing compassion, and accepting the inherent imperfections of ‘doing it all’.
This work of motherhood is now recognised as ‘unpaid caregiving and domestic work’ and ‘invisible labour’ by international organisations such as the United Nations. It includes physical labour, direct care labour, mental or cognitive labour, and emotional labour, and is mostly the work of women.
I am not complaining. Men have their own unpaid labour. I love being a mother and wife. I view it as a privilege and a blessing. Ideally, the job can also be supported by paid or unpaid help. My point is that the work of women, and specifically mothers, should be recognised and respected, not only by society, but also by women and mothers themselves.
I know it is not just me who has experienced conflicting emotions about ‘giving up’ traditional work to focus on family life. Within my social circle and more widely, mothers describe a loss of self-worth and identity unless they are ‘working mothers’, and feeling embarrassment and guilt when asked the dreaded question, “What do you do?” There is the loss of financial dignity that comes with taking on an unpaid job, no matter how important you may think it is. Dynamics with husbands also need to shift, where both members are viewed as equally valuable to making the business of ‘home’ successful.
Neha Ruch, the author of The Power Pause, is an American brand strategist-turned-full-time stay-at-home mother and home maker, who addresses this very issue. Many of my thoughts for this article are based on her book. She argues that the time a woman wishes to invest in this phase of life, motherhood and family life, is valuable, not just for the children or family unit, but for the mother herself. It is a time for growth, skill-building, and expanding networks and connections.
Often, it leads women in new, creative, and more fulfilling directions, and provides an opportunity for them to re-enter the workforce on their own terms. She also points out that ‘the pause’ is not a luxury for a lucky minority, as many women become the default caregiver for their children if childcare is too costly, or not the preferred option. Through the movement she has created, Ruch provides legitimacy, validation, and structure to this phase of life (because, after all, it is only a phase, not forever) that is often spoken of as mindless, monotonous, and unglamorous, and I am grateful for it.
I suppose what I am saying is, next time you meet a mother, consider asking her, “How are you?”, and next time I am asked what I do, I should proudly declare (using Ruch’s script), “Right now, I am on a career pause and get to be home with my baby, and I am exploring possibilities for the future.”
(Lihini Wijeyaratne Cooray
Lihini is rediscovering her love for writing while embracing first-time motherhood and her ‘Power Pause’. She is also navigating her roles as a doctor and PhD researcher. She hopes that her writing can inspire a fresh perspective on motherhood as being valuable, powerful, and exciting.)
by Lihini Wijeyaratne Cooray
-
News3 days agoMIT expert warns of catastrophic consequences of USD 2.5 mn Treasury heist
-
News5 days agoCJ urged to inquire into AKD’s remarks on May 25 court verdict
-
News6 days agoUSD 3.7 bn H’tota refinery: China won’t launch project without bigger local market share
-
Editorial3 days agoClean Sri Lanka and dirty politics
-
Editorial6 days agoDeliver or perish
-
Opinion5 days agoSecurity, perception, and trust: Sri Lanka’s delicate balancing act
-
Editorial2 days agoThe Vijay factor
-
News1 day agoSLPP expresses concern over death of former SriLankan CEO



