Indian army chief in Colombo on Sunday

NEW DELHI, September 3: Indian Army Chief Gen Vijay Kumar Singh is arriving in Colombo on Sunday on a five-day official visit to Sri Lanka, The Island learns from informed sources here.


The visit is a part of defence cooperation enhancement between the two countries as envisaged during President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s visit to India in June this year. Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa was here last fortnight for discussions with Indian officials.

The focus of his deliberations will be on a post-LTTE security/defence paradigm, in which many aspects can be shared, exchanged and extended for mutual benefit.

"This is a very significant visit as far as defence cooperation between the two close neighbours," an analyst here said.
On Monday (September 6), Gen Singh is scheduled to call on President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Prime Minister DM Jayaratne, and Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. He will meet Army Commander Lt-Gen Jagat Jayasuriya, Navy Chief Vice Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe, and Air Chief Marshal Roshan Goonetileke.

He will also lay a wreath at the IPKF Memorial, built next to Parliament Complex in Sri Jayewardenepura in memory of personnel of the Indian Keeping Force who died while fighting the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to protect the island-nation’s sovereignty.

During the IPKF’s 32-month-long (July 1987-March 1990) operations in the island’s Northern and Eastern provinces, a total of 1,165 Indian soldiers and officers of other ranks were killed and 3,011 others injured—-many of them maimed for life by mines planted by the LTTE.

Incidentally, Gen Singh had served in the IPKF for two years. He was a major when he arrived by ship in Trincomalee. He had worked in Vavuniya, Mannar and Mullaithivu. By the time he left the island, he was promoted as a lieutenant colonel. Even two decades later, he remembers many Sinhala words he had picked up at that time.

On Tuesday, Gen Singh and his entourage will visit Anuradhapura and Vavuniya to see de-mining operations, as well as Trincomalee.

On Wednesday, the chief of the world’s second largest army (that boasts of 1.13 million personnel) will visit the Sri Lanka Military Academy at Diyatalawa, and Kandy.

On Thursday, he will deliver an address at the Defence Services Command & Staff College in Colombo, and return to India the same evening.
He will be accompanied by his wife Bharati and a couple of senior members of his personal staff. (The Island)