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

Name		Portrait	Party	Tenure	Head(s) of Government		Ministerial title
!align="center" style="background:Template:United National Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	Don Stephen Senanayake		United National Party	24 September 1947 - 22 March 1952	!align="center" style="background:Template:United National Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	Don Stephen Senanayake	Minister of External Affairs and Defence
!align="center" style="background:Template:United National Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	Dudley Senanayake		United National Party	22 March 1952 - 12 October 1953	!align="center" style="background:Template:United National Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	Dudley Senanayake
!align="centre" style="background:Template:United National Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	John Kotelawala		United National Party	12 October 1953 - 12 April 1956	!align="center" style="background:Template:United National Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	John Kotelawala
!align="center" style="background:Template:Sri Lanka Freedom Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	12 April 1956 - 26 September 1959	!align="center" style="background:Template:Sri Lanka Freedom Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike
!align="center" style="background:Template:Sri Lanka Freedom Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	Wijeyananda Dahanayake		Sri Lanka Freedom Socialist Party	26 September 1959 - 20 March 1960	!align="center" style="background:Template:Sri Lanka Freedom Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	Wijeyananda Dahanayake
!align="center" style="background:Template:United National Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	Dudley Senanayake		United National Party	21 March 1960 - 21 July 1960	!align="center" style="background:Template:United National Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	Dudley Senanayake
!align="center" style="background:Template:Sri Lanka Freedom Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	Sirimavo Bandaranaike		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	21 July 1960 - 25 March 1965	!align="center" style="background:Template:Sri Lanka Freedom Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	Sirimavo Bandaranaike
!align="center" style="background:Template:United National Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	Dudley Senanayake		United National Party	25 March 1965 - 29 May 1970	!align="center" style="background:Template:United National Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	Dudley Senanayake
!align="center" style="background:Template:Sri Lanka Freedom Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	Sirimavo Bandaranaike		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	29 May 1970 - 23 July 1977	!align="center" style="background:Template:Sri Lanka Freedom Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	Sirimavo Bandaranaike
!align="center" style="background:Template:United National Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	J. R. Jayewardene		United National Party	23 July 1977 - 4 February 1978	!align="center" style="background:Template:United National Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	J. R. Jayewardene
!align="center" style="background:Template:United National Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	Ranasinghe Premadasa		United National Party	1989 -	!align="center" style="background:Template:United National Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	Ranasinghe Premadasa
!align="center" style="background:Template:United National Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	Ranjan Wijeratne		United National Party		!align="center" style="background:Template:United National Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	Ranasinghe Premadasa
!align="center" style="background:Template:United National Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	Dingiri Banda Wijetunga		United National Party		!align="center" style="background:Template:United National Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	Dingiri Banda Wijetunga
!align="center" style="background:Template:United National Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	Tilak Marapana		United National Party	12 December 2001 - 2004	!align="center" style="background:Template:Sri Lanka Freedom Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	Chandrika Kumaratunga
!align="center" style="background:Template:Sri Lanka Freedom Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	Mahinda Rajapaksa		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	19 November 2005 – 08 January 2015	!align="center" style="background:Template:Sri Lanka Freedom Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	Mahinda Rajapaksa	Minister of Defence and Urban Development
!align="center" style="background:Template:Sri Lanka Freedom Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	Maithripala Sirisena		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	12 January 2015 – present	!align="center" style="background:Template:Sri Lanka Freedom Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	Maithripala Sirisena	Minister of Defence

See also

• Ministry of Defence
• Ministry of External Affairs and Defence

External links

• Government of Sri Lanka
• Ministry of Defence Sri Lanka