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With India largely refraining from supplying weapon systems and platforms with "offensive capabilities'' to Sri Lanka in its bloody
fight against the Tamil Tigers, Pakistan and China deftly stepped into the vacuum.
In fact, Sri Lankan defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse, during a visit to Islamabad on January 19-20, profusely thanked Pakistan for its "continued support'' to his country's armed forces which had helped in virtually breaking the backbone of LTTE.
So, when Sri Lanka jumped in to send its cricket team to Pakistan after India refused to do so in the 26/11 blowback, it was seen in some quarters as "a thank-you'' message from Colombo to Islamabad.
Over the last few years, Sri Lanka has increasingly turned to Pakistan and China for weapon supplies, which has left India wringing its hands in despair at the strategic manoeuvring by Islamabad and Beijing in what it considers its backyard.
So much so that national security adviser M K Narayanan once even went public with the palpable unease in the Indian defence establishment over the matter, by stating that Sri Lanka should not seek weapons from China or Pakistan since India as the "big power in the region'' would fulfil its needs.
The remarks expectedly created a furore in Sri Lanka, especially since Narayanan added that India would not provide weapons with offensive capabilities to the island nation due to political sensitivities in Tamil Nadu.
India, on its part, has supplied "defensive or non-lethal'' weapon systems like automatic 40mm L-70 close range anti-aircraft guns and `Indra' low-flying detection radars to the island nation, apart from training hundreds of Sri Lankan military personnel.
But this twin-pronged strategy of arms supplies and military training, coupled with intelligence sharing and "coordinated'' naval patrolling, however, has failed to effectively counter Pakistan and China's ever-growing strategic inroads into Sri Lanka.
Both Pakistan and China have assiduously forged deep military links with Sri Lanka, coming to its aid with emergency military supplies whenever the need arose.
Even as India dithered, Pakistan has transferred huge amounts of automatic rifles, heavy mortars, multi-barrel rocket launchers, artillery and tank shells to Sri Lanka in recent years.
Sri Lanka is also getting JY-11 3D air surveillance radars, armoured personnel carriers, T-56 assault rifles, machine guns, anti-aircraft guns, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, missiles, bombs and the like from China.
Some sections of the Indian defence establishment have even called for India to bolster arms supplies to Sri Lanka to prevent a repeat of what happened in Myanmar, where too Pakistan and China stepped in with military and other supplies after India initially rebuffed the military junta there.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...g-arms-from-Pak-China/articleshow/4220337.cms
fight against the Tamil Tigers, Pakistan and China deftly stepped into the vacuum.
In fact, Sri Lankan defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse, during a visit to Islamabad on January 19-20, profusely thanked Pakistan for its "continued support'' to his country's armed forces which had helped in virtually breaking the backbone of LTTE.
So, when Sri Lanka jumped in to send its cricket team to Pakistan after India refused to do so in the 26/11 blowback, it was seen in some quarters as "a thank-you'' message from Colombo to Islamabad.
Over the last few years, Sri Lanka has increasingly turned to Pakistan and China for weapon supplies, which has left India wringing its hands in despair at the strategic manoeuvring by Islamabad and Beijing in what it considers its backyard.
So much so that national security adviser M K Narayanan once even went public with the palpable unease in the Indian defence establishment over the matter, by stating that Sri Lanka should not seek weapons from China or Pakistan since India as the "big power in the region'' would fulfil its needs.
The remarks expectedly created a furore in Sri Lanka, especially since Narayanan added that India would not provide weapons with offensive capabilities to the island nation due to political sensitivities in Tamil Nadu.
India, on its part, has supplied "defensive or non-lethal'' weapon systems like automatic 40mm L-70 close range anti-aircraft guns and `Indra' low-flying detection radars to the island nation, apart from training hundreds of Sri Lankan military personnel.
But this twin-pronged strategy of arms supplies and military training, coupled with intelligence sharing and "coordinated'' naval patrolling, however, has failed to effectively counter Pakistan and China's ever-growing strategic inroads into Sri Lanka.
Both Pakistan and China have assiduously forged deep military links with Sri Lanka, coming to its aid with emergency military supplies whenever the need arose.
Even as India dithered, Pakistan has transferred huge amounts of automatic rifles, heavy mortars, multi-barrel rocket launchers, artillery and tank shells to Sri Lanka in recent years.
Sri Lanka is also getting JY-11 3D air surveillance radars, armoured personnel carriers, T-56 assault rifles, machine guns, anti-aircraft guns, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, missiles, bombs and the like from China.
Some sections of the Indian defence establishment have even called for India to bolster arms supplies to Sri Lanka to prevent a repeat of what happened in Myanmar, where too Pakistan and China stepped in with military and other supplies after India initially rebuffed the military junta there.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...g-arms-from-Pak-China/articleshow/4220337.cms