‘India,Pak rivals but they trained,helped us fight Tigers’

India and Pakistan have trained and equipped the Lankan army to prepare and fight its only enemy,the LTTE.

Behind the success of the Sri Lankan armys operations against the Tamil Tigers troops searching for LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran breached two rebel defence fortifications in the no-fire zone is an interesting little detail of Indo-Pak cooperation against terror. Separately but consistently,the two countries have trained and equipped the Lankan army to prepare and fight its only enemy,the LTTE.

The Sri Lankan army says the reason for its success is that we didnt reduce the momentum,planned the entire operation in advance and employed innovative counter-insurgency tactics to confront the Tigers.

I got training in both India and Pakistan. Both have been helping us a lot, said Brigadier Udaya Nanayakara,now the military spokesman. We send our officers regularly to India and Pakistan for specialised training. I did four courses in India and three in Pakistan. The last time,I trained in Secunderabad. He said Lankan forces have been procuring the latest technology from both countries. We know they are rivals but we have nothing to do with that. We have benefited from both India and Pakistan, he said.

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So how does Sri Lanka remain neutral in the rivalry of the armies of India and Pakistan,especially when it trains and works closely with both? We dont talk about it. Both are our friends, Nanayakara said.

Former Army chief General L Balagalle put this military cooperation in perspective. For me,80 per cent of my advanced training happened in India. I have been trained in Pakistan as well. There are vacancies for our officers and men in both countries. We generally send company commander-level officers for training, he said.

Balagalle said during his tenure,India had problems providing equipment to Sri Lanka and that was when Pakistan stepped in. India was not keen to provide certain equipment because of policy,so Pakistan helped. We have been procuring equipment from China as well. We wanted equipment and would pay later,China agreed. It was mostly ammunition and we have already paid for it.

According to Balagalle,the Americans too helped with the training. But they have trained very few,and only officers. Majority of our men are trained by India and Pakistan. We sent our officers and men to India for special training in jungle warfare and counter-insurgency.

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Nanayakara said India assisted by sharing intelligence during the current operation. India also helped by carrying out naval operations in the area. There were naval exercises too that helped. Here in Sri Lanka,we have had insurgency and terrorism. We had an insurgency in 1971,there is terrorism and it is similar to that in other countries,especially in our neighbourhood.

He said they,however,indigenised the military response to terrorism. For example,India and Pakistan have changing weather conditions,there are different terrains as well. Our situation is different. Even the LTTEs tactics have been different from other groups.

According to Nanayakara,superior training and availability of equipment played an essential role in the success of the operations against the Tigers. The first reason is the political will and the military leadership. We also got new equipment. From artillery detection equipment to radar detection equipment to BMP-type tanks,we had everything we needed. This time,we had no problem. From helmets to boots,there was no dearth of the basics.