Pakistan Sri Lanka growing military alliance

[mercenary2k]

@Punjabee_in_USA

Sri Lanka has canceled arms purchases from Pak (and China) now that its war with LTTE is over…

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Sri Lanka cancels arms purchase from Islamabad | Pakistan | News | Newspaper | Daily | English | Online

COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lanka has cancelled a $200 million purchase of ammunition from Pakistan and
China after the end of its war with the Tamil Tigers, the island nation’s new top military commander said
on Wednesday.
General Sarath Fonseka, who as army commander was one of the chief architects of the campaign to
destroy the separatist Tigers and end a 25-year war, on Sunday was named to the newly created post of
chief of defence staff.
“We stopped the orders of $200 million worth of ammunition from China and Pakistan with the war’s end,”
Fonseka said at his swearing-in. He is now in overall command of the military. The order would have been
enough ammunition to fire guns and heavy weapons at the rate seen during the climax of the war, which
ended on May 18, Fonseka said.
About 800 members of a breakaway Tiger group have also joined the armed forces, he said.
Sri Lanka wants a $1.9 billion International Monetary Fund loan to bolster foreign exchange reserves and
solve a balance of payments problem, and diplomats are closely watching to see if the military remains a
top government priority.
Western diplomats privately have frowned on plans to add 50,000 people to the security services, saying
that Sri Lanka should be spending its money on post-war rebuilding.
Overall defence spending this year was estimated at up to 200 billion rupees ($1.74 billion), accounting
for 17 percent of the country’s total estimated expenditure. The forecast came before the end of a war
that has always been a drag on Sri Lanka’s $40 billion economy.
Sri Lanka’s military and police, with a combined strength of 350,000, won one of the Asia’s longest modern
wars and declared victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam on May 18.

I think its a mistake to cancel…

LTTE might have been defeated but they might spring up again…the Sri Lankan Army needs to be prepared