As Sri Lanka slides closer to renewed civil war, the govt is tooling up. Interestingly, this is strengthening Sri lankan ties to Pakistan since India has abandoned the Sri Lankan government. probably fearing Tamil Tigers in Tamil Nadu.
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, May 3 (UPI) – Following India’s reluctance to supply them with arms as a result of the island’s Tamil conflict, Sri Lanka has approached Pakistan for defense supplies.
The Indian Express newspaper said Wednesday that while Sri Lanka sought to downplay the issue when President Mahinda Rajapakse visited Islamabad last month, Colombo is interested in buying a significant amount of defense equipment from Pakistan, primarily for use in boosting the capabilities of the country’s air force.
“It has even asked for satellite images and two unmanned aerial vehicles,” said an unidentified Indian diplomat, who added that on March 1, D.W.K. Sandagiri, Sri Lankan chief of defense staff, wrote to the Pakistan High Commissioner requesting he urgently send a technical team to Colombo for an immediate survey of T-55 tanks and C-130 Hercules transport aircraft.
The diplomat said Sri Lanka has been in urgent need of spare parts for their tanks and aircraft. According to his sources, a Pakistani delegation visited Colombo in February and offered to supply Colombo with 100mm T-55 tank ammunition free of charge.
It is believed that Sandagiri urged the Pakistani defense secretary to take up the offer as a matter of urgency.
Sri Lanka is on the alert following reports that Tamil rebels have been approaching sympathizers with requests for one-off donations, saying that this was the last time donors would be approached as the rebels were preparing for their final strike.
