India offers more military aid to Sri Lanka

A Sri Lanka Army spokesperson said this could be in the areas of "human resources development and hardware", declining to provide further details.

India on Monday offered to provide technical assistance to the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) for “upgrading” its military requirements.

This was conveyed by Gen. Dalbir Singh, Chief of the Indian Army, during a meeting with his Sri Lankan counterpart, Lt. Gen. Crishanthe De Silva, according to a release hosted on the website of the SLA.

Asked about the offer, the SLA’s spokesperson said this could be in the areas of “human resources development and hardware”, declining to provide further details.

Gen. Singh, who is here at the invitation of Lt. Gen. Silva, highlighted the importance of modernising the SLA to suit international standards.

New areas of training

The SLA chief wanted the Indian Army to explore possibilities of new areas of training. The visiting Chief assured him of his support to continue training programmes. Gen. Singh was given a “comprehensive briefing” on the SLA by Maj. Gen. B.A. Perera, Director General-General Staff.

On his arrival on Sunday, the Indian Army Chief paid floral tributes at a memorial, set up in Battaramulla near here, for soldiers of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF), which fought against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) during 1987-1990.

Gen. Singh, who was part of the IPKF as a company commander during the ‘Operation Pawan’, which was launched to recapture Jaffna, is likely to go to the capital of the Northern Province on Tuesday and visit another IPKF memorial in Palaly.