Sri Lanka, Pakistan to enhance defence ties

Colombo, June 13 (Daily Mirror) - Sri Lanka High Commissioner to Pakistan Admiral Ravindra C Wijegunaratne (Retired), met Secretary of Defence of Pakistan, Lieutenant General (Retired) Hamood Uz Zaman Khan at the Defence Ministry in Rawalpindi and discussed ways for enhancing bilateral defence ties, according to a statement from the mission.

During the meeting, the two officials reviewed the progress on the discussions held during the Pakistan Defence Secretary’s visit to Sri Lanka on January 3, 2024, for the fourth Sri Lanka-Pakistan Defence Dialogue. The talks aimed to enhance bilateral defence cooperation and strengthen military ties between the two nations.

Admiral Wijegunaratne, a former Navy Commander and Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) of Sri Lanka, is an esteemed alumnus of the Pakistan Navy War College, having graduated in the 1995/96 batch. He is notably the only  Sri Lankan military officer to have been awarded Pakistan’s highest military honour, the Nishan-e-Imtiaz (Military), by the President of Pakistan in 2019.