Jaya’s protest may force India to shift SL officers

15 June 2013 05:22 am - 14 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

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Succumbing to pressure from Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, the Defence Ministry is planning to shift out the Sri Lankan officers who are undergoing the almost year-long course at the prestigious Defence Services Staff College at Wellington.

"The issue is being discussed ... the final decision is yet to be taken,'' said a defence ministry official, contacted on Friday evening. But sources said India has already told Sri Lanka that its officers - Wing Commander M S Bandara Dassanayake and Major C S Harishchandra Hettiarachchige - could be shifted to the ``technical staff officers course'' at the Military Institute of Technology in Pune.

"But the Sri Lankans have turned the proposal down. Now, the prospect of shifting the two officers to the `higher defence management course' at the College of Defence Management at Secunderabad is being considered,'' said a source.

If this happens, it will be the third time within a year that the Union government will buckle under pressure from political parties in Tamil Nadu. Last July, 27 Sri Lankan military personnel being trained at the Tambaram airbase near Chennai had to be abruptly shifted to Karnataka after the Tamilian political parties upped the ante. Then, in March, India had called off the defence secretary-level talks slated with Sri Lanka after the UPA government had come under severe pressure from its then ally DMK, which along with other Tamilian parties wanted India to take a strong stand against Lanka in the UNHRC.

This time, in a letter to PM Manmohan Singh on Sunday, Jayalalithaa expressed shock over the Union government's ``astounding insensitivity'' in inviting the two Sri Lankan officers for the course at Wellington despite the "continuing atrocities'' on civilian Tamils in the island nation.

Amid the strident anti-Lanka chorus, the Union government is trying to walk a tightrope. It has to keep larger strategic considerations in mind, with China making deep inroads into Sri Lanka. But the inflamed passions in Tamil Nadu over the continuing discrimination against Lankan Tamils by the majority Sinhalese in the island nation also have to be kept in mind.

India had cranked up military ties with Sri Lanka after it found that China had deftly stepped into the vacuum. While India trains soldiers from several countries, from the Maldives, Mauritius and Mongolia to Botswana, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, the facilities extended to island nation are much more. India every year trains 800-900 Sri Lankan military personnel in its military establishments, as reported by TOI earlier.

India had even provided some military equipment like 24 L-70 guns, 24 battle-field surveillance radars, 11 USFM radars, four Indra-II radars and 10 mine-protected vehicles to the Sri Lankan forces when they were battling LTTE earlier. The two nations also cooperate in intelligence sharing and undertake `coordinated' naval patrolling. (Times of India)

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Comments - 14

Jothipala Saturday, 15 June 2013 05:31 AM

Why do GOSL send them to Tamil Nadu ?

Grace Saturday, 15 June 2013 05:44 AM

For Indian politicians their political gains are more important then their policies and principles.

citizen Saturday, 15 June 2013 06:14 AM

I think it is time we say enough is enough and move out to a different country for training. perhaps Japan or Malaysia or Thailand.

Calistus Jayatilleke Saturday, 15 June 2013 10:08 AM

Looks like the fat lady is the defacto Queen of India whose orders and directives are heeded by the so called central government.

Sajin Saturday, 15 June 2013 12:43 PM

Gotha once said SL would train Indian forces. Why is he then sending his men to India? Why can't he train his own men??

Yuri Saturday, 15 June 2013 01:45 PM

soon or later she will make huge change in Island Politic incl Kachathivu

Phantom Saturday, 15 June 2013 01:54 PM

The same reason we show Jayalalitha running around the flowers chased by MGR!!!!

rajan uk Saturday, 15 June 2013 05:14 PM

my for those countries sl has to pay in usd. sl is still begging in the intl market.

ss Sunday, 16 June 2013 01:30 PM

fine, she is lesser fat than most of the srilanka politocs :-)

indujaya Sunday, 16 June 2013 03:02 PM

.....India had even provided some military equipment like 24 L-70 guns, 24 battle-field surveillance radars, 11 USFM radars, four Indra-II radars and 10 mine-protected vehicles to the Sri Lankan forces.......... news scrap....?

Everybody can say India helped us in the past Humentarian ops by providing war items but bit truth is that those eqiupment were not fit for the war. All were obselete items and had been discarded from thier defence. For the sake of giving us, they gave those.

indujaya Sunday, 16 June 2013 03:02 PM

India never be a good big brother all the times. By thanks to Pakistan and China our forces had modernized equipment to defeat the ruthless terrorists.
Military training being provied us by India, is not a real training. It is just like they want keep and show their power over us. If you ask any armd force member who under went training in that country, they will tell you how many lectures and training have they asked to rather not allowed to attend. Thats the fact.
We have the potential. We are leaders in counter insugency warfare. we can train others well.

Ranjith amarawansa Sunday, 16 June 2013 03:53 PM

@citizen people like you are embarrassing to SL. First these trainings are free and we can chose Japan or Malaysia. Lastly Japan has no military let alone training and mayasia don't have a good military. Please don't make such ignorant comments Please - dont say anything of you don't know.

KLO Monday, 17 June 2013 05:47 AM

Well I thin what we need to realize is that, unless we build our economy, we will be dictated by many other countries. We talk about India as not a big brother, but I will tell you that non of the countries that show interest in Sri Lanka are showing concern out of brotherhood or love... :-) they all have strategic intent and when they have had size of he share, you should see as to how they act..... So I think it is with us to establish and move forward, but knowing where we are, we need everyone in the work to support us to build our economy. So it has to be a humble approach, but not compromising our integrity and sovereignty

A.N Friday, 12 July 2013 05:41 PM

Pakistan, the country which armed the Taliban to destroy the Buddha statue in Afghanistan? How can you even think about calling them a friend of SL?

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Jaya’s protest may force India to shift SL officers

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