India likely to gift some military equipment to Sri Lanka

As a goodwill gesture, India is expected to gift some military equipment such as shoulder-fired missiles and radars to Sri Lanka when defence secretary Pradeep Kumar undertakes a two-day visit there from Monday.

The equipment, part of the assistance provided to Sri Lanka to fight Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), is planned to be gifted apparently to demonstrate India's efforts to help build the defence capabilities of the Island nation in the backdrop of Chinese attempts to make inroads there.

India had provided defence hardware including two ground-based radars and a large number of Russian shoulder-fired IGLA ground-to-air missiles to Sri Lanka on a temporary basis, sources said.

India had also lent a coast guard vessel to Sri Lankan Navy during the war but it was not clear whether this would also be gifted.

Some IAF personnel were also deployed there to operate the systems, which were meant only for helping the Sri Lankan armed forces in defending their bases and not for offensive roles, they added.

Kumar, who will hold talks with his counterpart Gotabhaya Rajapakse, is also likely to discuss the future defence requirements of the Sri Lankan armed forces.

The visit comes soon after navy chief admiral Nirmal Verma travelled to Colombo to take part in the 60th anniversary celebrations of the Sri Lankan Navy.

The delegation will include senior officers from the three services and the coast guard and is also likely to discuss ways of increasing service-to-service cooperation between the two countries.