Sri Lankan army chief General Jagath Jayasuriya, left, shakes hand with visiting Pakistani army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani during a ceremony at the army headquarters in the capital Colombo yesterday.
IANS/Colombo
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The Sri Lankan army has sought more training opportunities for Sri Lankan officers in Pakistan, in addition to ongoing training programmes, the army media unit yesterday.
This was discussed when visiting Pakistan army chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani met his Sri Lankan counterpart, General Jagath Jayasuriya at the army headquarters.
Discussions between both army chiefs centered largely on military matters of mutual and training interest and possibilities for further enhancing bonds of goodwill and co-operation, Xinhua reported.
Participation in the Sri Lanka army’s defence seminar, higher education programmes in the two countries and Sri Lanka’s military exercise ‘cormorant’ were among other matters that were discussed.
The discussions also focused on possibilities of broadening bilateral understanding and goodwill among officers of both organisations further, the army said.
The request comes as Sri Lanka was forced to withdraw two army officers undergoing training in the southern Tamil Nadu state in India.
The Sri Lanka army had turned down an offer by India to train two Sri Lankan officers at another location as opposed to the Defense Services Staff Course (DSSC) in Wellington in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
The two officers who were following the Defence Services Staff Course (DSSC) in Wellington, India returned prematurely this week following stiff opposition in Tamil Nadu to the training given to them.
The army had said that due to some security concerns the Indian government had offered to transfer the two officers from DSSC Wellington to the Higher Defence Management Course (HDMC) in the College of Defence Management, Secundrabad in Andhra Pradesh.
However the Sri Lankan authorities, whilst appreciating the offer, declined to accept it as it was observed that the HDMC was not in line with the initial purpose of sending the two officers for training in India.