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Sri Lanka orders emergency military supplies from Pakistan

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

New Delhi, April 3, IRNA
Sri Lanka-Pak-Arms
Faced with stiff resistance from Tamil Tiger guerrillas, Sri Lanka has ordered emergency military supplies from Pakistan, according to official sources here.

In a development noted with some concern by the Indian establishment, the Sri Lanka Army has sought 150,000 rounds of 60mm mortar ammunition and as many hand grenades for immediate delivery, IANS reported here quoting the sources. Sri Lanka has also requested $25 million worth of 81 mm, 120 mm and 130 mm mortar ammunition to be delivered within a month.

General Sarath Fonseka, the Sri Lankan army chief who spent six days in India last month, has conveyed the requirements to his Pakistani counterpart, General Ashraf Pervez Kayani.

The Pakistani military has apparently agreed to supply the ammunition on an emergency basis from its War Wastage Reserve maintained in various army depots.

The SOS comes amid escalating fighting in Sri Lanka where the military is desperately trying to gain control of areas the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) holds in the island's north.

The resistance the LTTE is putting up is making Sri Lanka turn to Pakistan to make up ammunition it is exhausting, the Indian sources said.

Sri Lanka started buying arms and ammunition from Pakistan from 1999. The total purchases until December 2007 worth $50 million while there has been a sudden jump in the quantity of merchandise ordered this year.

Pakistan's main military supplies to Sri Lanka include mortar ammunition, radio sets, hand grenades, naval ammunition and tanks.

The military links between Islamabad and Colombo worry New Delhi because this gives Pakistan access to Sri Lankan defence and intelligence establishments that analysts here fear would hurt Indian security interests in the long run.

India mainly provides what it says are non-lethal military supplies to Sri Lanka. And while refusing it offensive weapons, New Delhi has publicly expressed displeasure over Sri Lanka's military purchases from Pakistan and China.

Sri Lankan officials argue that they are free to go to any country for weapons supplies since India refuses to provide lethal weapons. Colombo says that in any case it keeps New Delhi informed about their shopping list.

A section of the Indian establishment feels that with so much military hardware pouring into Sri Lanka, the war in the island is unlikely to end any time soon.

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