Speculations are high over reports that General Sarath Fonseka is to be named Field Marshal on March 22 at a ceremony in Army Headquarters.

While there has been no official confirmation, rumors were circulating on the appointment of Sarath Fonseka as Field Marshal from the days he was acquitted from the charges against him earlier this year.

A spokesperson of General Fonseka told ‘Asian Mirror’ that he will be appointed a Field Marshal but said that there was no official confirmation from the army.

Field marshal is a very senior military rank, ordinarily senior to the general officer ranks. Usually it is the highest rank in an army, and when it is, few (if any) persons are appointed to it. Promotion to the rank of field marshal in many countries historically required extraordinary military achievement by a general, usually a wartime victory.

No Sri Lankan military officer has been appointed to this rank in Sri Lanka’s military history.