India to gift military equipment to SL

24 December 2010 01:48 pm Views - 5299

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

The equipment, part of the assistance provided to Sri Lanka to fight 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.