Historically in Sri Lanka, the job of executioner has been difficult to fill.

Since 1976, when the government placed its moratorium on executions, the government has regularly advertised the hangman job, hoping to have a candidate trained and ready in case executions resumed. Before then, the post of hangman passed from father to son.

But since the moratorium, just three men have held the post, and all of them abandoned it before carrying out a single execution.

The last one, P.S.U. Premasinghe, 45, landed the job five years ago but resigned in shock at the first sight of the gallows at the main prison in the capital, Colombo, days after he began training. The prison authorities gave him a month to reconsider; he did not. The position has remained open since.

After Mr. Sirisena’s announcement this month that hangings would resume, prison officials began compiling lists of drug offenders on death row. And the Ministry of Justice and Prison Reforms decided this week to import a new noose; the one at the gallows now was brought in from Pakistan 12 years ago and has never been used in an execution.

Despite the 1976 moratorium, judges in this majority-Buddhist country have continued to hand down death sentences, none of which have been carried out. About 1,300 people are on death row, 48 of whom were convicted of drug crimes.