NEW DELHI: Continuing with the upward trajectory in bilateral military ties with Sri Lanka, General Bikram Singh will be leaving for Colombo on Wednesday. Apart from top political and defence officials, the Army chief will also meet Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa during his four-day visit. Gen Singh will also be the chief guest at the passing out parade of the Sri Lankan Military Academy at Diyatalawa on December 22, apart from visiting other military establishments.
The last visit by the Indian Army chief to the island nation was in September 2010. The Indian government is trying to strike a fine balance between larger strategic considerations, in the backdrop of China making steady inroads into Sri Lanka, and domestic political considerations because discrimination against Sri Lankan Tamils by the majority Sinhalese in the island nation continues to be a hugely emotive issue in Tamil Nadu. Earlier this year, the UPA-II government had been forced to shift 27 Sri Lankan military personnel being trained at the Tambaram airbase near Chennai to neighbouring Karnataka after political parties in Tamil Nadu had kicked up a ruckus.
Though India trains soldiers from several countries, ranging from Maldives, Mauritius and Mongolia to Botswana, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, the facilities extended to Sri Lanka are much more. Around 800 to 900 Sri Lankan military personnel are trained in different Indian military establishments every year. The Indian Military Academy at Dehradun, for instance, has even run 'special courses' to train hundreds of 'gentlemen cadets'' from Sri Lanka.
India has trained thousands of Sri Lankan personnel over the last several years at its military institutions ranging from Counter-Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School at Vairengte (Mizoram) to School of Artillery at Devlali (Maharashtra), apart from providing specialised naval courses in gunnery, navigation, communication and anti-submarine warfare. Even when the Sri Lankan forces were earlier battling the LTTE, India had provided some largely defensive military equipment like L-70 guns, battle-field surveillance radars, Indra-II radars and mine-protected vehicles to Sri Lanka.
The two nations had also cooperated in intelligence sharing and undertaken 'coordinated' naval patrolling. Continuing with this diplomatic and military engagement, India and Sri Lanka in September-November last year had also held their first major naval combat exercise SLINEX-11'' in six years, with a total of 16 warships off Trincomalee. The Indian Navy, in recent times, has also done hydrographic surveys and salvage operations for Sri Lanka.
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